Dorothy Foster papers

The Dorothy Foster papers contain the correspondence of Dorothy Foster, Bryn Mawr College class of 1904. This collection contains approximately 120 letters Dorothy Foster wrote to her mother during her junior and senior years at Bryn Mawr.

The collection consists of one box containing nine folders. The letters are arranged chronologically within the folders, with the exception of the first folder, which contains miscellaneous items, including her academic records and an essay about May Day.

Dorothy wrote her mother on an average of five to six times a month about her daily life in college, her courses, social events, plays, and lectures. The letters cover a variety of subjects and give a good impression of what it was like to be a Bryn Mawr student in the early twentieth century. Subjects include visiting speakers and their lectures, formal dinners, teas, club meetings, exams, hosting prospective students, the formation of the English club, Self-Government meetings, personal forays into early science courses at Bryn Mawr, and trips into Philadelphia. Among the speakers she met was poet W. B. Yeats. Foster was senior class president in 1904 and often writes of meeting with President M. Carey Thomas, about class matters. Foster also wrote in-depth about concerts, plays, and operas she attended in Philadelphia.

Researchers interested in the intellectual and social culture of women's colleges in the early 20th century will find this collection to be of value. Those with a specific interest in English and Philosophy at Bryn Mawr, W.B. Yeats, and Bryn Mawr's traditions would find this collection of exceptional use.