Reflecting on the Past, or Saint Mary's Continuing Growth, Elsinger
Saint Mary’s College is known as a women's college, which may sound like there are restrictions placed on the students, but in reality Saint Mary’s has always been and will continue to be a place for true advancement and exploration for its students. This project focused on the 1920s and the 1970s at Saint Mary’s College; these decades come with stereotypical ideas of what women were and what they were supposed to do. Through this project, I got the opportunity to explore the reality of Saint Mary’s supporting its students to challenge those stereotypes.
My research mainly focused on the 1920s and the Catherine Kennedy Journal (1919-1921). This journal plays an essential role in my journey through this project. I was immediately struck by Kennedy’s journal because it contained the voice, memories, and personal history of Kennedy at Saint Mary’s College. She made the history of Saint Mary’s real to me.
As a history student, I found the use of archival materials to be invaluable because they provide agency to those who have passed. Women have not always been given the privilege to speak; I think using Kennedy’s journal as a piece of this project gives Kennedy a bit of her agency back to speak of her experiences at Saint Mary’s College. This use of archival material is integral to this project because it allows for the past to speak for itself. Our role in this project was to listen and apply those voices to this project.
Kennedy allowed me to find a new connection to Saint Mary’s College. When I read her journal, I saw a person who was creative, powerful, independent, and loving. Kennedy is an example of a student who, I think if we met, would have been my friend. She shows me Saint Mary’s students have always been looking for advancement and independence. She shows me the power Saint Mary’s students have always driven for; this makes me even more proud to be a graduate of Saint Mary’s College. She is evidence that Saint Mary’s wanted to enable women to take control of their path.
I was able to see further additional growth in Saint Mary’s when I explored the newspaper clippings from the 1970s. In the 1970s, the feminist movement was spreading quickly across the United States. One side effect of this movement was that women’s colleges increasingly went coed or shut down because their students transferred to coed schools. Saint Mary’s almost fell prey to this coeducation movement. From the newspaper clippings, I saw Saint Mary’s tell its students that Saint Mary’s did not need to go coed. Instead, Saint Mary’s strengthened its own identity, rejected co-education with Notre Dame, and stated that women needed to be able to create their education the way they wanted to, without the interference of men. Saint Mary’s makes me proud, at this moment, because our presidents wanted to preserve Saint Mary’s and enable their students to take control of their future and education.
Working on this project has opened up possibilities to look at the Saint Mary’s identity from a historical perspective and in turn has strengthened my own relationship with Saint Mary’s College. I have a connection to the students who came before me from looking at these archival materials; I have seen evidence of a student body and institution that wants women to take control, gain agency, and seek advancement. The value of looking at this project and the archival material is gaining the knowledge to understand what Saint Mary’s College truly is.
Mary Elsinger
Class of 2023 Global Studies and History