The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project, is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel guides, the series included suggested tour routes as well as essays on the history and culture of each U.S. state and territory. Major U.S. cities and several regions were also given their own separate guidebooks.
The state guides give a fascinating snapshot of American life in the 1930s. Written in a lively and approachable style, they detail and celebrate the rich diversity that our country displayed at that time. The writers’ enthusiasm is infectious and their guide is as much fun to read today as it must have been for travelers in the 1930s.
Several historians have written about the American Guide Series over the past 80 years, but no one, to my knowledge, has used them as current-day travel guides. That is just what I set out to do. I am an American historian, art photographer, and enthusiastic traveler. I have read each of these guides. I love them for their wonderful enthusiasm and their curiosity about every aspect of regional life—from food, to linguistics, to folklore, to statistics, to geography, to environment, to history—and especially for their liberal attitudes and respect for diversity. In this series, I will be posting photo essays and articles based upon tours recommended in the guides.
Fern L. Nesson
Until the 1960’s, the elite Ivy League colleges did not accept women students. Women who wanted the highest quality education sought and achieved it through the establishment of the Seven Sisters. All founded in the 1880’s and 90’s, the Seven Sisters schools are Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Vassar and Radcliffe. Today, the first five are still all-women’s colleges; Vassar is co-ed, and Radcliffe has been absorbed by Harvard College.
Most colleges now accept women, but the Seven Sisters advocate for the single-sex educational environment. In their schools, women have the opportunity to fill all of the leadership positions, they are encouraged to speak up, unfettered by traditional notions of women’s roles and stereotypes.
Statistics bear out these arguments. The honors and accomplishments of Seven Sisters graduates in academic fields ranging from science to art and in professions of every kind, are notable. Single-sex schools my have been a necessity prior to co-education; now they are privilege and a rare opportunity for women students in a co-ed world.
The New York City Guide describes the founding of Barnard but says little about its campus on Morningside Heights or the current state of education at the college:
“Barnard College, named for one of the outstanding presidents of Columbia University, Frederick A. P. Barnard, was established in 1889. At that time higher education for women was still considered generally to be unnecessary and inappropriate. Despite opposition on the part of trustees, faculty, and students, in 1883, [President ] Barnard succeeded in establishing at Columbia a course for women equivalent to that offered male students, although graduates received only a specially invented degree, Bachelor of Humane Letters. It was not until 1889, when a separate college was established for them that women were granted academic equality with men.”
NYC Guide, p. 384.
In fact, the campus is quite attractive in a traditional college style, augmented by a modern student center, library and science center. And, the education has always been superb.
I graduated from Barnard College in 1968. We were encouraged to think for ourselves and to advocate passionately for our ideals and to pursue our goals relentlessly. When I went on to Harvard Law school, women were greatly outnumbered by men (600 men in my class, 35 women) but I was not at a disadvantage. I could think and write and make a persuasive argument—and I wasn’t shy about doing so. Barnard had prepared me very well for the rigors to come.
It is a delight to see women striding through campus on their way to class and to overhear their lively conversations. When I revisited Barnard, I sat in on classes and felt the same energy that I had experienced: women thoughtfully expressing their opinions, arguing with fierce intelligence, heading clearly for untold successes in the future.
The Seven Sisters are now only five. Vassar is now co-ed and Radcliffe College is no more, having been absorbed into Harvard College in 1969. The Radcliffe Quad now houses a theatre and a library, but classes have moved to Harvard buildings and the dorms are now co-ed. Even single-sex women’s organizations are discouraged under Harvard’s rules.
If you want the full experience of a single-sex Ivy education, head elsewhere. You’ve still got five excellent colleges that do it wonderfully well. I recommend Barnard.
July, 2022
