The Deans' Bible

Angie Klink

Description

Five women successively nurtured students on the Purdue University campus in America's heartland during the 1930s to 1990s. Each became a legendary dean of women or dean of students. Collectively, they wove a sisterhood of mutual support in their common-sometimes thwarted-pursuit of shared human rights and equality for all. Dorothy C. Stratton, Helen B. Schleman, M. Beverley Stone, Barbara I. Cook, and Betty M. Nelson opened new avenues for women and became conduits for change, fostering opportunities for all people. They were loved by students and revered by colleagues. The women also were respected throughout the United States as founding leaders of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARs), frontrunners in the National Association of Women Deans and Counselors, and pivotal members of presidential committees in the Kennedy and Nixon administrations. The Deans' Bible sheds light on cultural change in America, exploring how each of the deans participated nationally in the quest for equality. As each woman succeeded the other, they knitted their bond with a secret symbol-a Bible. The Bible was handed down from dean to dean with favorite passages marked. The word "bible" is often used in connection with reference works or "guidebooks." The Deans' Bible is just that, brimming with stories of courageous women who led by example and lived their convictions.
Foreword

Preface

Author’s Note

The Deans’ List

1. Celestial Chicken Salad

2. Carolyn Shoemaker, a Faraway Look

3. Artists of Life

4. Far Horizons

5. Dorothy Stratton Finds a Bible

6. Helen Schleman, Born in the Right Moment

7. If Walls Could Talk

8. Amelia Earhart, Cabbages and Kings

9. Lillian Gilbreth, the One Best Way

10. Ladies’ Agreement

11. Beverley Stone, a Lovely Light

12. Your Best Foot Forward

13. Be Interesting

14. Don’t Be a Spare . . . Be a SPAR!

15. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

16. In Sheep’s Clothing

17. Barbara Ivy Wood Cook, ’Tis a Gift to Be Free

18. Bible Bequeathed

19. Gospel of the Go-to-Hell Fund

20. B-Squared

21. Dean of Women Punch

22. At the Service of the President

23. Mixed Messages

24. Winter’s Death Rattle

25. Betty Mitchell Nelson, Message in the Hollow Oak

26. ’Twas Ever Thus

27. The Quiet Crisis

28. Uncharted Waters

29. Peace, Love, and a Bible Passage

30. Off Guard

31. Sit In, Stand Out

32. In Walks the Pantsuit

33. Hip Women

34. Entitled to Title IX

35. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Can Rock the Boat

36. Easier to Move a Cemetery

37. And She Did It!

38. Deanie Weenies

39. Bible Holding Pattern

40. Chicken Salad Reprise

41. The Main Thing

42. To Understand More Than One Knows

43. Hearing What Is Not Said

44. Helen’s Hankie Club

45. Betty’s Blast Off and Bible Hand Off

46. Hugging the Purdue Campus

47. By Your Leave, Sirs

48. The Place Just Right

49. Epilogue

Index

Sujets

• Midwest
• Histoire
• State
• History of the Americas
• United States
• History
• Local

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612493268
• Langue: English

Extrait

T HE D EANS ’ B IBLE
The Founders Series

 

Also by Angie Klink
Kirby’s Way: How Kirby and Caroline Risk Built their Company on Kitchen-Table Values
Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home
T HE D EANS ’ B IBLE
Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality
By Angie Klink
Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the support of friends and admirers of the deans depicted in this book. Without their generosity, the writing and production of this book would not have been possible .

 

Copyright 2014 by Purdue University. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Cataloging-in-Publication data on file at the Library of Congress.
Cover design by Natalie Powell.
In memory of my mother, Rosemary Lawhead Rhodes Lipp, because no one told her she could .
 
C ONTENTS
Foreword
Preface
Author’s Note
The Deans’ List
1 Celestial Chicken Salad
2 Carolyn Shoemaker, a Faraway Look
3 Artists of Life
4 Far Horizons
5 Dorothy Stratton Finds a Bible
6 Helen Schleman, Born in the Right Moment
7 If Walls Could Talk
8 Amelia Earhart, Cabbages and Kings
9 Lillian Gilbreth, the One Best Way
10 Ladies’ Agreement
11 Beverley Stone, a Lovely Light
12 Your Best Foot Forward
13 Be Interesting
14 Don’t Be a Spare … Be a SPAR!
15 Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
16 In Sheep’s Clothing
17 Barbara Ivy Wood Cook, ’Tis a Gift to Be Free
18 Bible Bequeathed
19 Gospel of the Go-to-Hell Fund
20 B-Squared
21 Dean of Women Punch
22 At the Service of the President
23 Mixed Messages
24 Winter’s Death Rattle
25 Betty Mitchell Nelson, Message in the Hollow Oak
26 ’Twas Ever Thus
27 The Quiet Crisis
28 Uncharted Waters
29 Peace, Love, and a Bible Passage
30 Off Guard
31 Sit In, Stand Out
32 In Walks the Pantsuit
33 Hip Women
34 Entitled to Title IX
35 The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Can Rock the Boat
36 Easier to Move a Cemetery
37 And She Did It!
38 Deanie Weenies
39 Bible Holding Pattern
40 Chicken Salad Reprise
41 The Main Thing
42 To Understand More Than One Knows
43 Hearing What Is Not Said
44 Helen’s Hankie Club
45 Betty’s Blast Off and Bible Hand Off
46 Hugging the Purdue Campus
47 By Your Leave, Sirs
48 The Place Just Right
49 Epilogue
Index
F OREWORD
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented .
—E LIE W IESEL , H OLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AUTHOR OF N IGHT N OBEL P EACE P RIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH , 1986

 

F IVE REMARKABLE WOMEN enlivened and enhanced Purdue University from 1933 to 1995. They shared profound concern for students and the educations they were receiving. In addition, they also were united by their efforts to expand opportunities for women, both at Purdue and nationally.
Purdue itself benefited immensely from their service, including their forceful and direct efforts to convince their boss, typically the university president, to modify policies that would make Purdue a stronger university. Often, though not always, they were successful.
Who was this quintet? They were the deans of women and then deans of students from 1933 to 1995: Dorothy C. Stratton, Helen B. Schleman, M. Beverley Stone, Barbara I. Cook, and Betty M. Nelson. In their early years they were part of a mere handful of adult women in positions of responsibility at Purdue. Thus, their concerns for women transcended student life to include opportunities for women as professors and senior administrators. Not surprisingly, many of their male colleagues did not share their enthusiasm.
Angie Klink has recorded their experiences in this lively volume, The Deans’ Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality . This is not simply a tale of five beloved servants of Purdue. Rather, Klink has embedded their efforts in the larger tale of women’s changing role in American society in the twentieth century. She places these women—from Missouri, Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia—in the national events influencing women’s experience as well as the service of three of them in the military during World War II.
This is a book for Boilermakers to remember some of our most impressive leaders. I am fortunate to have known and admired all of the deans as a child in West Lafayette and as a Purdue student (BS, 1955; MS, 1958; Litt. D., 1980). Additionally, it is a book for those who have not had the privilege of a Purdue education to learn about this dedicated group who sought and achieved improvements, both in women’s opportunities and in university education.
—P ATRICIA A LBJERG G RAHAM Charles Warren Professor of the History of Education Emerita Harvard University
P REFACE
F OR NEARLY A CENTURY , six Purdue women deans passed down a secret Bible. The Bible was the clandestine emblem of their shared profession and a symbol of their sisterhood. The many-layered story of their interwoven lives and their pursuit of equity for all people rings of fiction, but because it is true, the tale is relevant and inspiring today. We hunger to learn from women like Dorothy Stratton, Helen Schleman, Beverley Stone, Barbara Cook, and Betty Nelson. I was privileged to channel these women’s astonishing lives into this book.
Over the course of several years when I attended a University “women’s event” in the Purdue Libraries Archives and Special Collections, I saw the same photo of five women striding shoulder to shoulder in a grassy meadow. Repeatedly, the photo was printed on programs or posters to signify “women of Purdue.” It was as if this image was the representation of powerful women in Purdue’s history. The photo became iconic. I didn’t know much about the five, but every time I saw the picture, the women walked toward me, and I thought, “There’s a story.”
Then I was told of the secret Bible, originally held by Carolyn Shoemaker who became Purdue’s first part-time dean of women in 1913. When I heard of the hand-me-down Testament, I knew—there is a story, and I would love to write it.
While not all of the women were devoted churchgoers, each dean passed the Bible to her successor. The book remained tucked in the acting dean’s desk drawer where it emitted a quiet, formidable reminder that when the dean on duty met with obstacles, injustice, or good fortune, the deans were always there for one another in presence and in spirit, shoulder to shoulder in forward momentum.
The story of the five deans is a tale of women helping other women. The deans abetted each other, female students, faculty, and administrators. These women of great substance aided minorities, people with disabilities, and any student—male or female—who needed a good listener and a word of hope.
The Deans’ Bible spans one hundred years of women’s rights, women at Purdue University, and women in America. The book is about equality for all people. Dorothy, Helen, Bev, Barb, and Betty were cut from the same progressive, broad-minded cloth and wore the same mantel of parity and integrity throughout their lives.
Dorothy and Helen were friends with Amelia Earhart and Lillian Gilbreth. The aviatrix and engineer were profound influences on Dorothy and Helen who, into the twentieth century, carried forth the famous women’s philosophies that females can accomplish great feats.
Dorothy, Helen, and Bev enlisted to serve during World War II. Captain Dorothy Stratton was the founder and director of the women’s reserve of the United States Coast Guard, which she named the SPARs. Captain Helen Schleman was Dorothy’s “right-hand woman.” Many who knew Beverley Stone may not have realized that this ultrafeminine woman who wore pearls and fur coats had been a WAVE, a member of the women’s reserve of the United States Navy. Time spent in the SPARs and the WAVES proved to these three that females could accomplish anything; however, when the war ended, women were told to go back home, take care of their men, have children, and forget thoughts of careers. This cultural pressure for women to marry, stay home, and not pursue their dreams was something that the deans challenged on Purdue’s campus for decades.
Throughout her lifetime, Dorothy Stratton was honored as the director of the SPARs. Her contribution to America’s women and minorities spanned from her association with Eleanor Roosevelt, beginning in the 1940s, to her posthumous association with Michelle Obama in the 2000s, when the first lady christened and commissioned a United States Coast Guard cutter in Dorothy’s name. The USCGC Stratton protects America’s shoreline today.
I thank the staff of the Purdue University Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections for their steadfast assistance during my research for The Deans’ Bible . University Archivist and Head of Archives and Special Collections Sammie L. Morris was most helpful in opening the “vaults” for me to peer inside. A special thank-you goes to Stephanie Schmitz, the France A. Córdova Women’s Archivist, and Jonathan K. McCo