Meredith, Josephine B.

In a letter to Dean Meredith, Mrs. J. Lynn Barnard informs the Dean of Women that the local chapter of the AAUW will be offering loans to female college students.

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.

In the subsection entitled "Women's Quarters at Denny Hall," Meredith gives us an insight to how rooms on the college grounds enabled day students (town students ?), commuters, and boarders to take advantage of the time spent on campus.
 
Located in the basement, the women's quarters at Denny Hall consisted of: a small washing room, a toilet, a small kichenette, and a rest room. Although she mentions that the rooms were clearly makeshift, she also says that they were comfortable and in good condition.

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:

After three years of being dormant, the Harman Literary Society was revived once again in the 1900s. In the Harman Literary Society Minutes, it documents the beginning of the society again in September 1900. The minutes list Josephine Brunyate (Meredith) as being the President of the organization, Ethelyn Hardesty as Vice-President, Helen Schaeffer as Secretary and Georgia Cranston as Treasurer. The society decided to meet every week at ten o'clock on a Saturday morning in Denny Hall.

The February 18, 1924 minutes for the Women's Senate documents the case of a female student brought before the senate to be reprimanded. The student in question was reprimanded by the President for "improper dancing at the last Kappa Sigma dance." Dean of Women, Josephine Meredith, was consulted about the proper punishment for the student's improper behavior. The Women's Senate "expressed themselves as against any improper dancing among Dickinson girls." Any punishments for the student's behavior were not mentioned in the minutes from this meeting.

Because of a recent tragic death of a female student at a nearby college, Dean Meredith and the College crack down on the rules regarding the female students' travel plans. Women are now required to get an "Absence from Metzger" card every time the student wishes to go on a trip overnight or late at night. This card supplies information both to the college and at home of where the student will be staying, with whom, who will be driving and when they will return.

Dean Meredith writes to the young women of Dickinson College about their first day back to school. She gives the ladies specific times to arrive on campus and methods for travel. Dean Meredith also gives answers to questions the new students will probably ask, such as recommended room equipment. She recommends certain things, such as white curtains for the windows, glass and spoon for medicine, cushion covers, hot water bottle and a napkin ring.

Dean Meredith writes to the Parents of Women Day Students about some suggestions for their daughter's benefit, as well as some strictly enforced regulations. She proclaims that during the first six weeks of college, "no freshman woman...is allowed to attend social functions in Carlisle and thereafter only when her work is of passing grade" If a woman is to attend a social function, it must be approved by the Dean of Women, Dean Meredith and be chaperoned by college chaperons.

President J. H. Morgan writes to the Dean of Women, Josephine Meredith, regarding the revision of the Self-Government rules for the young women at Metzger Hall. The President strongly feels that the revision of these new rules should be mostly designed by the young women of the college, but with Dean Meredith's discretion on the direction of the rules.

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.

An unsigned letter, dated February 18, 1920, to Dean Meredith comments on her communication with Dean Filler about the decision to allow, or not, the female students to go to the public dance. The unnamed writer criticizes Dean Meredith on her decision to possibly allow the ladies to go on the fact that the girls had in the past been allowed to go to such dances.

A letter between the Dean of Women, Josephine Meredith, and Dean Filler discusses the allowance, or denial, of female students requesting to go to certain local dances. Gertrude Chrisman was noted as requesting to go to a dance in Harrisburg with a Mr. Duffy, but is to be denied by Dean Meredith because "no men in that Fraternity are regular callers at this house." Another dance that Dean Meredith makes mention of is Mrs. Parker's dance, where about eighteen of the female students were invited.

According to an article in The Dickinsonian, Josephine B. Meredith will retire from Dickinson's faculty after serving the college for 29 years. The former dean had graduated from Dickinson in 1901, received a masters in English, and married Arthur Meredith. She became the dean of women of the college in 1919 and served as an English professor as well. Meredith's interests included knitting, chatting with friends, and studying John Wesley. She also travelled to England, Canada, and the European continent.

Josephine Brunyate who graduated from Dickinson with the class of 1901 later became Josephine B. Meredith, Dean of Women of the College.
At the time this issue of the Dickinson Alumnus was released, Dean Meredith planned to spend the summer of 1927 in Europe. She hoped to sail after the 144th Commencement.

President William W. Edel's annual report to the college recommended the retirement of Josephine Brunyate Meredith and her election as Professor Emerita of English. In response to her retirement and others, the college filled the vacancies with part-time instructors.

President Corson recommended to the Board of Trustees that the college give Josephine Brunyate Meredith "the honor of being the first woman elected to a full professorship at Dickinson College" in the English Department. Meredith had served as Dean of Women and an Associate Professor of English since 1922. The president added that offering the dean this position would not entail raising her salary or giving her a permament appointment as the head of this department.

According to Sara Andrews as explained in her interview, the Metzger Hall council was the established governing body for Metzger House. The council met on a regular basis as a means to address and simultaenously try to resolve any complaints presented by the student body. Dean Meredith often times reached the council in order to receive feedback or help in implementing disciplinatory regulations.

This document, provided by Dean Josephine Meredith, details the regulations for "automobiling." Regulations were implemented for daytime riding, evening riding, driving to distant places, and finally on maintaining vehicles at Dickinson. Female students were allowed to travel without securing permission during the day, as long as there were a minimum of two female students, and during the evening (as long as it was within city limits). Special permission was needed from the Dean of Women if female students were traveling long distances during the day.

The 1946-1947 Microcosm bids farewell to Dean Josephine B. Meredith, who served the college as dean of women for 25 years. The Microcosm cites her "philosophy and indefatigable sense of humor, together with her wisdom about youth and its trials" as what made her well-suited to giving female students advice. In this Microcosm, Dean Helen B.

Interviewed by the staff of the Dickinsonian, Dean Josephine B. Meredith is quoted as saying that she liked "teaching students who provide me with such a unique response." According to the article, the dean could not analyze the reason for the students' responsiveness. She congratulated the newly-formed Chapel Committee on its chapel programs. She advised the men to organize their own student senate separate from the women's student senate. The dean's interviewer also asked whether or not she would do anything about the "eleven o' clock rule at Metzger," or the women's curfew.

Miriam Riley Weimer (Class of 1940) recalls in an interview that she knew only one student who was thrown out of school: Bes Jones. Weimer calls her "a rebel in her time" who was caught sneaking out of Metzger Hall on multiple occasions. Dean of Women Josephine Brunyate Meredith threw her out of the college. According to Weimer, Jones became a librarian, presumably having finished her education.

"Suggestions Considered Requisite by the Students of Dickinson College for the Improvement of the College," distributed to faculty and trustees on December 15, 1945, documents the reasons for the appointment of a new dean of women.

Distributed to faculty and trustees on December 15, 1945, "Suggestions Considered Requisite by the Students of Dickinson College for the Improvement of the College" calls for the appointment of a new dean of women. The document cites the numerous occasions on which the dean "defamed the character of the women students" by ridiculing them and calling into question their moral judgement.

"Suggestions Considered Requisite by the Students of Dickinson College for the Improvement of the College," a document distributed to faculty and trustees on December 15, 1945, claims that the Dean of Women dealt with female students "in bad faith" by breaking promises. The document cites two cases in which the Dean of Women broke promises: in one case, the dean tried to discover who had disobeyed a ruling by promising to revoke disciplinary action for those who confessed.

In "Suggestions Considered Requisite by the Students of Dickinson College for the Improvement of the College" distributed to faculty and trustees on December 15, 1945, students explain the need for the appointment of a new Dean of Women, calling the Dean of Women Josephine B. Meredith "incompetent as a personal advisor." According to the document, she does not give women students sympathy in personal matters and places them on probation without adequate grounds.

A document entitled "Suggestions Considered Requisite by the Students of Dickinson College for the Improvement of the College" was distributed to faculty and trustees on December 15, 1945. The first "suggestion" was the appointment of a "recognized educator" as president to replace the committee of three ruling the college at the time. According to the document, the "lack of individual authority prevents decisions." The second and longest suggestion asks for the appointment of a new dean of women. The document calls Dean Josephine B.

Winona Mensch Gray (Class of 1948) admits in an interview that she helped to instigate Dean of Women Josephine B. Meredith's resignation. Gray recalls that Meredith resigned during her sophomore year (1946). According to Gray, Dean Meredith was strict--her father and husband had both been Methodist ministers--and forbade female students from activities on Sunday.

Included Audio: 

Dean Meredith's Resignation

The Male:Female ratio within the Dickinson Faculty was very disproportionate. In this picture you see Josephine B. Meredith - Dean of Women and English; Sophie Louise DeVilaine - French faculty; and Hazel Jane Bullock - French faculty as the only women amongst an otherwise entirely male faculty.