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University of Pennsylvania. Office of the Dean of Women records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center [Contact Us] 3401 Market Street, Suite 210, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The first women students to attend the University of Pennsylvania were in 1876, but it was not until 1943 that the position of Dean of Women was established. Prior to this, women students had petitioned the Trustees in 1912 to appoint a Dean of Women, but no action was taken in this direction until 1920 when an Advisor to Women position was created. This was followed in 1925 with the appointment of Harriet Jean Crawford as the first Directress for Women, and the opening of the newly constructed Bennett Hall at Thirty-Fourth and Market Streets, which served as the home of the College of Liberal Arts for Women. The Directress was required to live in the women's residence, known as Sergeant Hall, to manage the women's Bennett Club, and to oversee "the activities of women students outside the classroom." The Bennett Club, also known as the Women's Student Union, occupied the fourth floor of Bennett Hall, and featured a lounge, soda fountain, sun deck, and a nap room.
The first person to be appointed Dean of Women was Dr. Althea Kratz Hottel, who also earned the distinction of being the first woman at Penn to hold the title of Dean. A Report from the Department of the Dean of Women from 1947 describes its primary function as serving the College of Liberal Arts for Women to "guide the student life, the organizations, the recreation, the housing and the welfare of women students." In addition to the Dean of Women, the department also included seven other professional staff, three secretaries, and three graduate student assistants.
The annual report from 1955 expanded on the mission statement as follows:
"The Department of the Dean of Women is a counseling and administrative division of the University concerned with the interests and the needs of women students. The activities, welfare, housing, and various educational programs for women outside the classroom are under the guidance of the Dean of Women and a specialized staff. Members of the department serve as guidance counselors working with students to develop their own resources and to make full use of those of the University. They interview each entering undergraduate woman and graduating senior and are available to all students for individual consultation regarding personal, cultural, social, vocational, and community interests, as well as long range planning for future responsibilities."
Dr. Hottel's tenure as Dean of Women lasted for sixteen years, concluding with her retirement in 1959. The next ten years would see three different women hold the position, beginning with Dr. Laura A. Bornholdt in August of 1959, followed by Dr. Constance P. Dent who served from July 1961 through June 1966. Dr. Dent was succeeded by Dr. Alice F. Emerson who held the position until April, 1969, at which time the Trustees voted to promote her to be Penn's first Dean of Students with overall responsibility for student affairs across the entire University. This change was similar to other changes happening across the University around the same time that saw Penn evolving into a coeducational institution. The new role of Dean of Students is comparable to the present-day Vice Provost for University Life.
Additional information:
The Office of the Dean of Women records (1914-1968) contains more than a half-century of files that document the lives of women students at the University of Pennsylvania. These records principally relate to the non-academic domain of student life, such as residence halls, campus events for students and alumnae, class year specific activities, new student orientation, student government, and sororities. While the focus is on student life, the activities that these records document come primarily from the Office of the Dean of Women, which had overall administrative oversight of these programs and events. The records contain budget reports and capital campaigns related to women's residence halls, correspondence and planning documents for events such as Freshman camp, Ivy Day and Hey Day, student and alumni surveys, annual reports, documents from the operation of the Bennett Club, and class apparel purchases for dink caps and blazers. Student perspectives are also represented with a variety of scrapbooks, as well as records from the Women's Student Government Association. Some of the materials predate the creation of the Office of the Dean of Women, which existed from 1943 to 1968. It is likely that these records came from the preceding Advisor to Women (1920-1925) and the Directress of Women (1925-1943), as well as scrapbooks and other ephemera that were received from alumnae.
The files are arranged alphabetically.
The Office of the Dean of Women records were transferred to the University Archives in multiple accessions in the following years: 1957, 1961-1969, 1971 and 1981.
The following finding aids/resource records were reprocessed and merged into this finding aid.
Dean of Women. Procedure Manual PU-Ar-UPE 7.1 Dean of Women. Scrapbooks PU-Ar-UPE 7.3 Dean of Women. Bennett Club/Union Records PU-Ar-UPE 7.9B Dean of Women. Staff and Personnel Records PU-Ar-UPE 7.7
The Dean of Women. Budget Records, PU-Ar-UPE 7.5 is noted in the control file as "missing since 2003."
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Kenneth Cleary
- Finding Aid Date
- November 12, 2025
- Access Restrictions
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Access to collections is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright for official university records is held by the University of Pennsylvania; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.