Women at Dickinson College

Life for Women at Dickinson College By Rebecca Kinsley Class of 2010

The Carlisle Indian School and Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania have shared unique histories since the creation of the Indian School. Indian School students sometimes came to Dickinson in order to continue their education. Most students took courses at the Preparatory School first because in order to gain admittance to the college, they had to take courses in math and language, which weren’t offered at the Indian School. The majority of the students who came from the Indian School were male. Most often, female Indian school students either chose to not continue their education, or they weren’t allowed. In fact, only two girls from the Indian School chose to attend Dickinson, and only one was Native American.

Dickinson began admitting women in 1880, which was also the first year that Dickinson began admitting Indian School students. The first woman to attend Dickinson was Zatae Longsdorff. During Dickinson’s early co-ed years, female students would often face harassment from male peers and college employees. One professor wouldn’t even let women into his classroom. Women who enrolled in his class were forced to sit outside the door while he lectured.[1]

Despite the hardships, the number of women students at Dickinson steadily increased. Women at Dickinson also started excelling in the classroom, taking most of the top grades and academic awards. This infuriated their male counterparts, who demanded that the college stop allowing so many women to attend Dickinson. Due to the pressure, in 1909 the board of trustees placed a limit on the female population at Dickinson, declaring that no more than 20% of a class could be women.[2]

At the turn of the century, when female students from the Indian School began attending Dickinson, there were four women’s fraternities, two female literary societies, a YWCA and a women’s senate.[3] Unfortunately, these activities received very little attention on campus. There is no mention of any activities for women in the Microcosms or the Dickinsonians from the first decade of the twentieth century. Two women from the Indian School, Alice Denomie and Eva Foster, came to Dickinson to study during this century.

Alice Denomie was born in approximately 1886 as a member of the Ojibwe tribe in Wisconsin[4]. The Ojibwe ceded their land to the United States government in 1854 in return for reservations. There were four Ojibwe reservations in Wisconsin: Bad River, Red Cliff, Lac du Flambeau, and Lac Courte Oreilles. Around the time Alice was born, poverty on the reservations had forced most Ojibwe to work for white-owned lumber companies.[5] It is unclear when Alice left the reservation and traveled to Carlisle, but she is listed as being a member of the class of 1908 at the Carlisle Indian School. During her time at the school before graduation, Alice was a “pupil teacher,” often running classes at the school. An excerpt from the January 25, 1907 Arrow states under “Local Miscellany” that “Alice Denomie, a pupil teacher, substituted in No. 5 school room one day last week. It is a good class and she enjoyed teaching.”[6] While in Carlisle, Alice spent one year at the Dickinson College Preparatory School. The 1905-1910 Dickinson College Catalog lists Alice as entering as a “first form” student in the 1907-1908 school year.[7] While a student at the Prep School, Alice continued to live at the Carlisle Indian School. Alice did not return to the Preparatory School the following year, and where she spent the next three years is unclear. The next record of Alice was found in the October 6, 1911 issue of The Carlisle Arrow. The “General School News” section reports that “Alice Denomie, Class ’08, is now working in Supervisor Dagnette’s office in Denver, Colorado.”[8] “Superivisor Dagnette” was Charles Dagnette, himself a Carlisle Indian School graduate. Dagnette was the Supervisor for Indian Employment. It was his job to help students find work all over the country.[9] Alice worked in Denver until October 1911, when she transferred to Crow Agency, Montana to work as a stenographer[10]. Alice stayed in Montana for several months. The April 4, 1913 issues of the Carlisle Arrow states under the “Out at Work” section “A letter has recently been received from Alice Denomie in which she states how well she enjoys her work at The Crow Agency in Montana. Alice graduated from Carlisle in 1908. She is a good stenographer and clerk and has rendered good work in several places.”[11] At some point, Alice traveled to Washington D.C. She was there in April of 1913 and returned to Carlisle for the class of 1913 commencement.[12] However, Alice eventually rejoined the Crow Agency . On January 30, 1914 Alice married Frank S. Shively in Brule County, Montana. At the time, Alice was twenty-five and living in Buffalo County, Montana.[13] Her husband, Frank, was also Native American and grew up on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho.[14] After 1913, Alice does not again appear in any Indian School or Dickinson publications. The last known documentation of Alice’s life appears in an Indian Census taken in 1927, which lists Alice Shively as living on the Bad River Reservation in Wisconsin.

Eva Foster is the only other female student from the Indian School who attended Dickinson, although Eva was not Native American. Eva arrived at the Carlisle Indian School in 1902 when her mother became the new matron of the girl’s quarters.[15] Eva spent only one year at the Indian School before becoming a student at the Dickinson College Preparatory School in 1903. Like Alice, Eva continued to board at the Indian School while taking classes at Dickinson. The 1900-1905 Dickinson College Catalog lists Eva as entering the Preparatory school in 1903 as a second form student.[16] Eva spent the next three years at Dickinson. Her senior year, Eva was the only female class officer, serving as secretary. There were only three other girls in her graduating class.[17] During her time in Carlisle, Eva was known for her musical ability. A poem written about her in the 1907 Microcosm states “This is a young maid from the city/Who can play a love song or a ditty.”[18] Eva also entertained her friends at the Indian School, as the Man-on-the-Bandstand notes in the July 31, 1903 issue of The Redman and Helper: “Miss Eva Foster plays the piano and we are anticipating pleasant times.”[19] After graduating from the Dickinson Preparatory School in 1907, Eva went on to study at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis.[20] She returned to Carlisle often to visit her mother, who was still employed at the Indian School as a teacher, and her brother, who worked in Washington, D.C.[21] After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1911, Eva returned to Carlisle and spent one year teaching at the Carlisle Indian School with her mother as a temporary teacher.[22] No further record of her could be found.

Women students coming from the Indian School was not the only female connection Dickinson and the Indian School shared. Elizabeth Bender was a female student at Dickinson Preparatory School and Dickinson College who after graduating spent a year teaching at the Carlisle Indian School. Lizzie Bender and her twin brother Simon were born on June 13, 1865 in Bendersville, PA.[23] She was the daughter of a Methodist minister, Rev. Amos Bender and Elizabeth Sleicher Bender. Her Methodist up bringing would become an important part of Lizzie’s life. Before coming to the Dickinson College Preparatory School with her brother in 1884, Lizzie attended Chambersburg High School and Wilson College.[24] Lizzie was a very good student, earning the Patton Prize while at the Preparatory School.[25] Lizzie and her brother then entered the college. Lizzie was one of three girls in a class of twenty, however, she out shone many of her male peers. Lizzie became a member of Phi Beta Kappa on June 22nd, 1888.[26] She graduated in 1888, and started teaching at the Carlisle Indian School in August of that year. At the time of Lizzie’s graduation, an important aspect of a Dickinson education was missionary work. Lizzie would later embrace this job fully in Japan, and the Indian School served as a training grounds for this work. Lizzie spent two years teaching at the Carlisle Indian School before traveling to Japan where she would spend the next sixteen years as a missionary.[27] Lizzie returned periodically to the United States and Carlisle during these years to talk about her experiences. One such instance is noted in the October 32, 1986 issue of The Indian Helper: “Miss Lizzie Bender who after her graduation at Dickinson College was a member of our faculty and afterwards went to Japan as a Missionary, spoke in the Methodist Church in town on last Tuesday evening, and a number from the school went in to hear her. She has an exceedingly attractive manner as a speaker and her address was fraught with instruction and interest.”[28] Lizzie returned permanently to the United States in 1906. She continued to do missionary work, serving as secretary of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Church for the next twenty-five years. As Lizzie aged, her health declined, and she was ill for many years. She died in her sister’s home in Laurel, Md on May 13, 1942.[29]

Dickinson College and The Carlisle Indian School often shared students. However, those students were rarely female. The experiences of Eva, Alice and Lizzie help to illuminate the lifestyle of Indian School women who came to Dickinson at the turn of the century.

[1] Martha Slotter. “The History of Women at Dickinson.” (address delivered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 2 and 3November 1984), Women at Dickinson Drop File, Achieves and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. [2] Ibid. [3] Dickinson Women Students Pamphlet, Women’s Studies Drop File, Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. [4] Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S Indian Census Schedules,1885-1940, 1894. (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1894) [5]Milwaukee Public Museum, “Ojibwe Culture.” http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-51.html [6] The Carlisle Arrow, “Local Miscellany.” Friday, January 25, 1907. [7] Dickinson College Catalog 1905-1910 Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1910. [8] The Carlisle Arrow, “General School News,” April 28, 1911. [9] Indian Craftsman, “Helping the Indian Help Himself,” September 1909. [10] The Carlisle Arrow, “General School News,” October 6, 1911. [11] The Carlisle Arrow, “Out at Work,” March 15, 1912. [12] The Carlisle Arrow, “General School News,” April 4, 1913. [13] South Dakota Department of Health, South Dakota Marriages, 1905-1949 (South Dakota: 1914) [14] U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1900 Federal Census, 1900. (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900.) [15] The Red Man and Helper, “General School News,” Sept 5, 1902. [16] Dickinson College Catalog 1900-1905, Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1905. [17] Willard Amthor, ed. Microcosm, 1907, Achieves and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 316. [18] Ibid., 316. [19] The Redman and Helper, “General School News,” Friday July 31, 1903. [20] The Carlisle Arrow, “General School News,” September 10, 1909. [21] The Carlisle Arrow, “General School News,” September 5, 1913. [22] The Carlisle Arrow, “Faculty Rooster,” October 6, 1911. [23] Cindy Murdough, “Elizabeth Ryan Bender, Class of 1888,” (Unpublished Manuscript, Dickinson College, 1988.) [24] The Dickinson Alumnus, Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1942, 34-35. [25] Cindy Murdough, “Elizabeth Ryan Bender, Class of 1888,” (Unpublished Manuscript, Dickinson College, 1988.) [26] Dickinson College Phi Beta Kappa Minutes, 1887-1913. Record Group9/11, Phi Beta Kappa, Achieves and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. [27] The Dickinson Alumnus, Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1942, 34-35. [28] The Indian Helper, “General School News,” October 23, 1896. [29] The Dickinson Alumnus, Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1942, 34-35.

Bibliography

Amthor, Willard, ed. Microcosm, 1907. Achieves and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 316.

Bureau of Indian Affairs. U.S Indian Census Schedules,1885-1940, 1894. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1894.

The Carlisle Arrow. “Local Miscellany.” Friday, January 25, 1907.

—. “General School News.” September 10, 1909.

—. “General School News.” October 6, 1911.

—. “General School News.” April 28, 1911.

—. “Out at Work.” March 15, 1912.

—. “General School News.” April 4, 1913.

—. “General School News.” September 5, 1913.

Cindy Murdough. “Elizabeth Ryan Bender, Class of 1888.” Unpublished Manuscript, Dickinson College, 1988.

The Dickinson Alumnus. Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1942, 34-35.

Dickinson College Catalog, 1900-1905. Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1905.

Dickinson College Catalog, 1905-1910. Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1910.

Dickinson College Phi Beta Kappa Minutes, 1887-1913. Record Group9/11. Phi Beta Kappa, Achieves and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Dickinson Women Students Pamphlet, Women’s Studies Drop File, Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.�

Indian Craftsman. “Helping the Indian Help Himself.” September 1909.

The Indian Helper. “General School News.” October 23, 1896.�

Milwaukee Public Museum. “Ojibwe Culture.” http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-51.html.

The Red Man and Helper. “General School News.” Sept 5, 1902.

—. “General School News.” Friday July 31, 1903. Slotter, Martha. “The History of Women at Dickinson.” Address delivered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 2 and 3November 1984. Women at Dickinson Drop File, Achieves and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

South Dakota Department of Health. South Dakota Marriages, 1905-1949. South Dakota: 1914.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1900 Federal Census, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900.