#mount holyoke college

With funds collected from selling apples, doughnuts, and later ice cream in the dorms, the Outing Club was able to purchase their own Chevy station-wagon in the spring of 1937. The much loved car was appropriately named ‘Mountain Time.’ 

Outing Club Car with Three Students on Campus ::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1938-40 

The purchase of Mount Holyoke College’s first “sound moving-picture machine” was made in 1932 and was announced to be “approximately of the same conditions as the silent machine in Hooker.” Since then, the Film Society on campus has sponsored thousands of showings both foreign and domestic. The programs above highlight just some of the numerous programs the club has produced.

Film Society Programs ::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1967-68, 1969, 1982, 1986, 1987

Did you know Mount Holyoke College was once home to five sororities? These so called ‘Greek Letter Secret Societies’ included Sigma Theta Chi (formed in 1887),  Xi Phi Delta (1986), Psi Omega (1897), Gamma Kappa (1898), and Chi Delta Theta (1902), each of whom had a private room, held banquets, conducted initiation rituals, wrote and sang songs, and kept news bulletins. Sororities were banned starting in 1910 due to complaints of social division, but their absence promoted the creation of new student traditions such as Elfing!

Sigma Theta Chi Society, 1900 ::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1900 

In addition to weekly flying lessons, members of Mount Holyoke College’s Flying Club took ground courses in radio, navigation, and “a little meteorology.” Students also participated in intercollegiate air meets as well as breakfast flights to neighboring airports during the two years the club was operational. Talk about rising above and beyond expectations!

Two Members of the Flying Club Posing with Airplane ::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1946-47

Members of Local College Flying Clubs ::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1946-47

Several Members of the Mount Holyoke College Flying Club and Other College Flying Clubs Posing with Aircraft::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1946-47

At Mount Holyoke College, the act of protesting is often as natural as breathing. From historical activism promoting curriculum change, women’s reproductive rights, and South African divestment to the ongoing work of LGBT+ students on campus, change has always been viewed as an expectation rather than an exception among these passionate students.

Even the smallest of issues may spark a massive response, such as is seen in the work of Joan Wilson (Class of 1969), Julie Donaldson (Class of 1969), and Bernadette Weston (Class of 1970) who, along with 1,200 fellow students, created a petition against “the misrepresentation of life on our campus.” The petition, which was formed in protest to the ‘Comparative Guide to American Colleges’’ categorization of Mount Holyoke student life as prudish (even going so far as to suggest that “short skirts are prohibited” on campus), measured twenty feet long at its completion.

To learn more about the history of Mount Holyoke College activism and protest, be sure to check out the opening of our student curated exhibition ‘Demonstration, Exposition, Exhibition: A View of Mount Holyoke Activism.’ The tour will begin in Archives and Special Collections today (Thursday 9/13) at 4:30.

Protesting Women’s Fashion in 1968 ::  Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Digital Images :: circa 1968