Metzger Hall

In a letter dated March 1, 1922, Mary Dubson writes on behalf of the Women's Student Government to thank President Morgan for improvements to Metzger Hall and Denny Hall. Dubson wrote that President Morgan's "kindness and interest" was much appreciated.

This is a "Notice of Social Event Form" for Metzger Hall. One had to fill in the type of social event, time, day, number of people, character of the event, names of chaperons, and the committee in charge.

This document lists the names and addresses of thirty women who lived in Metzger Hall in 1921-1922.

This document lists the names and addresses of women who lived in Metzger Hall during the 1920-1921 school year. The list includes Names and home addresses. The women come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.

This document lists the names and addresses of thirty women who lived in Metzger Hall in 1924. The list includes names and home addresses. The women came from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.

In his letter dated September 29, 1920, President Morgan responded to a complaint mad by S. Louise de Vilaine, instructor of French and House Mother at Metzger Hall. According to the letter, de Vilaine believed President Morgan's decision to not promote her to a a full professor was unfair. President Morgan took offense to this and told de Vilaine to remain calm and explained his stance.

In a letter dated June 28, 1919, S. Louise de Vilaine, a French instructor at Dickinson College, accepts the house mother position at Metzger Hall. She wrote President Morgan requesting more information regarding the position, house rules, her teaching agenda, and whether or not she will recieve room and board.

On August 4, 1927, President Morgan responded to Frances Janney's letter requesting the name of the local woman who lives accross the street from Metzger Hall and boards female students. He explained that the woman's name was Mrs. J. W. Wetzel and she lived on North Hanover Street. He explained that with the college's recommendation, Mrs. Wetzel should accept Janney.

In August of 1927, a student named Frances A. Janney wrote to President Morgan requesting the name of a woman she could baord with in town. According to Janney, the woman lived accross from Metzger Hall and often takes in female boarders. The woman was recommended by Dean Meredith, the Dean of Women at the time.

The subsection entitled "Metzger Hall," in Dean Meredith's historical account of women at Dickinson,  gives a general overview of the physical layout of the building. This subsection is followed by  another, more detailed account of specific rooms, their inadecuacies, shortcomings and some scattered suggestions for improvement.
 

In her essay, "History of Women at Dickinson," Dean of Women Josephine Meredith included a section entitled: "Value of Types." In it Meredith defines three types of students that attended Dickinson College. The description of each type briefly accounts for the value each group brought to the campus.

 
Types of Students:

Written by Martha Slotten, this history of Metzger explains the building's early beginnings as a Prep School for Girls. After Drayer was built in the early 1950s, only freshman girls lived in Metzger until it was sold in 1963 and later dismantled. The completion of Drayer offered a local housing option for female students who would no longer have to walk many blocks to classes.

Telephone usage was only allowed during specified times during the day. The only phone in Metzger Hall was located in the Dean of Women's office.

Historical sign regarding Metzger Hall, a women's dormitory. "Metzger Hall: One of the Dormitories of Dickinson College, Erected in 1881 as the Metzger Institute, By the bequest of George Metzer of the Class of 1798.
Karen Barrowclough '66
Ruth Ann Dorfler
Mary Nolan
Priscilla Hinebaugh '66
Kim Larsen '66

Female students sunbathe outside behind Metzger Hall in May 1963, relaxing or perhaps studying. Swimsuits showing lots of leg obviously in style!

From the Wishmeyer scrapbook, this schedule of meals includes etiquette regarding when to say or sing Grace before meals, seating assignments, and dress code. All meals are family style and occur at specific times throughout the day, much unlike our modern cafeteria meal plans today.

President J. H. Morgan wrote to the Dean of Women, Josephine Meredith, about an instance of "class interference" at Metzger Hall informing her of what her actions should be. The President informs Dean Meredith that an incident of the sophomore and freshman classes terrorizing each other had occurred before, about thirteen years ago, and announced that no such interferences would be allowed. Any young woman who would participate in such events would be considered "Wise to withdraw from the College" because it is in the College's interest to keep up a good reputation.

Alice Watts, Priscilla Hinebauch (Class of 1966), Elizabeth Wagner (Class of 1966, and Joanne Harris (Class of 1965) dress up for Saint Lucia Day in Metzger Hall, January 1963.

Kim Larsen (Class of 66) returns indoors through a Metzger Hall window after being serenaded by a male student outside.

Jackie Jackson (Class of 1964) of Metzger Hall rushes to kill a bug that has found its way inside.

Kim Larsen (Class of 1966) and Sally Stevenson (Class of 1966) of Metzger Hall in its final years study for Spring semester courses.

Tardiness required suitable excuses or punishments were inevitable! This is report to the House Council in Barbara Wishmeyer's (the Dean of Women) Scrapbook for Zelda Clutch on January 4th, 1963. She was 5 minutes late on this Friday night for curfew because she had an argument with her date.

The only foreign student at Dickinson during the 1962-3 year was Hsiao Mei Tsou from Singapore. She remarks in this article on the differences between America and Singapore, most notably that girls never talked to boys back home. Very studious, she works often in the library but wishes that it were open later, but finds the Dickinson students very helpful. In Singapore, about half of children go to school and even less complete post secondary education. Hsaio loves the United States and thinks she wants to stay after graduation.

"Suggestions Considered Requisite by the Students of Dickinson College For the Improvement of the College," labelled the "Atrocity Sheet Circulated by Dickinson Students" in Marion Bell's 1941-1946 Scrapbook lists many student complaints including those against Dickinson's food, service, and need for a President, but most notable are those against the Women's Dean, Dean Josephine Meredith.

Included in Marion Bell's scrapbook is a song composed by the Metzger Girls about their Dean, Josephine Meredith:
I.
"We are the girls from old Metzger Hall,
We might as well be within prison walls,
For the "Creep" is always there,
Lurking behind each door and chair,
She never laughs and she never smiles,
She disapproves of us and our styles,
As we girls go screaming by
She utters with a sigh:
"Nice girls don't scream."
II.
In Metzger Hall we ain't got no mice,

Found in Marion Bell's personal scrapbook from her years at Dickinson College (1941-46), this document of six pages outlines female regulations in dress and socialization in games, bars, dancing, and dining, with a special section regarding social possibilities on Sundays. It also includes rules regarding curfews, tardiness, noise disturbances, and distinctions between freshman women and upperclassmen not "on rules- those having a 75 average." It even provides a section for transfer students.

Clipped from a newspaper between 1941 and 1946 and placed in Marion Bell's personal scrapbook, this snippet shows the rules and regulations regarding women's attire at Dickinson. Marion Bell was known to wear slacks and this made her quite a rebel against this school rule. See Marion Bell, the Anti-Anti Bifurcationist.

Circa 1942, The Metzger Council divided itself into three new councils in addition to a fire drill committee to better provide for Dickinson's female students. A fire drill committee was created of Helen Kretchmar, Arline Mills, Nancy Tatnall, and Nancy Person in which regular drills would be planned.

This candid shot of women singing at Metzger Hall was taken in September of 1950. The women in this photograph are as follows, from left to right, Jean McAnally (Class of 1954), Rebecca Simmons (Class of 1954), Ann Barnard (Class of 1954), Suzanne Ritter (Class of 1954), Barbara Winey (Class of 1954), Alice Hamer (Class of 54), Elizabeth Tivney (Class of 1954), Jean Rowe (Class of 1952), and Mary Shelley (Class of 1954).

Photograph of the 1923 Young Women's Christian Association on the Metzger Hall Porch. Featured in the photograph: Elizabeth DeMaris (Class of 1923), Louetta Green (Class of 1922), Erma Porteus (Class of 1926), Isabel Ward (Class of 1926), & Mary Elizabeth Chambers (Class of 1924).