Mount Vernon College - Bell Cote Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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the shoulder by an elderly faculty member who remarked severly: Oh, Mr Lloyd, you are a very great experiment for us He set a precedent for it is evident today that the college has not discriminated against male faculty or administrators. Despite the outbreak of the war, the school experienced its biggest enrollment ever in 1942. but in the same year the Navy informed Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd that the school property was to be requistioned for the duration of the war Mr and Mrs Lloyd supported by their students decided not to close the school, and after a difficult search, they were able to move the dormitories into a number of large, unoccupied homes in Spring Valley. The classrooms, library and assembly hall were housed on the top floor of the lulius Garfinckel store, which had just opened and could not be stocked because of shortages caused by war In the address made by Mrs. Lloyd for Founder ' s Day 1961, there is a very moving passage in which she describes her feelings about leaving the Nebraska Avenue campus: But if it was heartbreaking, it was funny too as night after night, the criminals , of our staff, Mr. Lloyd and Brooks, jim Platter and others, smuggled out blackboards and little stoves, hid the chemistrv equipment and all the things we felt the Navy could do without and we knew we couldn ' t. I think it is the only time in the history of Mount Vernon that the Navy has ever been unpopular! January the 15th came and the moving. Great vans were to go dowm the next morning, forty of them, truckload after truckload. The school seemed so desolate and our courage seemed so small. At twilight I got the key from the young ensign in charge and I went over to the School Chapel. There all was quiet and unchanged. Tor the Christmas wreath still hung in the window, and I went forward and knelt in a senior pew, which would be just one of the pews our college seniors are sitting in this morning. Somehow, as I knelt there, in the stillness the resentment and the hurt went out of my heart The quiet Chapel seemed filled: — Mrs. Somers was there, Mrs. Hensley, Miss Cole, faculty members, students, servants, and I felt for the first time in my life I knew the meaning of the words, Wherefore seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the path that is set before us. I got up from my knees w-ith a fresh faith and courage to go out into the cold January dusk, so down to Spring Valley to wait the return of the students At that moment, but not before. I knew that nothing we were leaving behind was important, that the intangible things, those things that really mattered were still ours, if we would prove worthy of the task entrusted to us. It is this spirit which keeps a school alive. You cannot realize, very few people do realize, how nearly in those days there was no more Mount Vernon. A search began for a permanent post war home which was found in the school ' s present location on Foxhall Road in 1944. In 1946 construction was underway but slowed by strikes, shortages and slow deliveries The opening of the school had to be postponed until October when the students from the preparatory division moved into Somers and Cole House was used for classrooms until the Administration building could be completed. The Refectory was unfinished so meals had to be served on paper plates in the basement of Somers. There were bathroom curtains instead of doors, makeshifts of all kinds and mud everywhere. Once the Refectory was completed, Lloyd Hall, Acheson, Post Hall and the Library beneath it. followed. In 1970, the Florence Hollis Hand Chapel was completed, and was the recipient of an award bv the American Institute ot Architects The New Dormitory was completed in 1971, and the swimming pool in the summer of 1975 Throughout the early decades of this century the school emphasized individual learning, small classes, a faculty primarily interested in teaching and in maintaining a close, friendly relationship with students The recent policy of clarifying the objectives in all the courses of study offered, is a continuation of the methods described in the twenties The course will be laid out in a series ot contracts or goals, progress from one to another to be made through a series of tests In 1962, Mr. Mrs. Lloyd retired and Mr Pelham became President. The decision to phase out the Seminary was made in 1965 so the last commencement of the Seminary was held in 1969 In the seventies the college has remained faithful to the principles of individualized education and has developed a calendar which encourages concentration on a smaller number of courses and allows students to enter the college at five different points in the academic year The college has encouraged the applications from adult women whose presence adds a new dimension to the institution The most important evidence of growth, however, has been the establishment of the four B.A. programs which has taken place over the past four years And tomorrow where will Mount Vernon be? Our future lies in maintaining the identity earned for us in the past and in the present so that the college may continue to be, as Liz Carpenter said in her Commencement address in 1974. “a jewel of a small liberal arts college educating young women in an admirable and exciting way for the kind of world we live in. Written by: Valerie Vesser

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A Glimpse of The Past . . . Mount Vernon College began its life in 1875 when Mrs Elizabeth Somers founded a small school which she called Mount Vernon Seminary using the name of a Methodist Church in Baltimore which had been restored by a brother of whom she was very fond. Mrs Somers ' school, as it became known in Washington, quickly attracted students, among them the daughters of Alexander Graham Bell who invited the students of the school to demonstrate his newfangled machines. The portrait of Mrs. Somers which now hangs over the fireplace in Post Hall is of a woman with unusual understanding, kindness, humor and grace. She gave our college a flying start. W hat was the pattern of life in those early years of the life of the institution? What did students do when they had no electric light, no stereos, no televisions, no movies and greatest mercy of all, no telephones or automobiles? They went to lectures and concerts, visited ice cream parlors, and, during the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes, they visited the White House, as Mrs. Somers was a close friend of Mrs Hayes. On Friday nights they could receive young men in the parlor where there was usually present Mrs Somers and the whole student body. If you think that Mrs. Somers ran a finishing school, think again. The preparation for college level work was so thorough that the President of Vassar wrote to Mrs Somers after receiving one of her successful pupils, to say that in the future Vassar would admit any student from her school without examination. In the 1898 catalog entry for the Collegiate Department of the school, the following subjects are listed: JUNIOR YEAR Required Art History, English Literature and Composition, Logic Physiology SENIOR YEAR: Required American Political History including Parliamentary Usage, English Literature and Composition, Psychology, Astronomy, Arithmatic Reviewed One cannot help wondering whether the young women of 1900 who survived this rigorous training were not in fact better educated than their counterparts today? It is interesting, too, to see evidence of the selective admissions policy pursued by the school in 1903-4. Pupils deserving admission to the school must be introduced favorably by present or past patrons, and must present certification showing progress in the studies pursued in the school last attended In 1880 the school moved from its original location on F Street ot 1100 M Street, and by that date there were 120 students Mrs Somers knew that the school would grow and so she bought a tract of land on Nebraska Avenue, and in 1914 she leased the school to Mrs Hensley who had worked with her for 15 years. In 1916 the school was incorpo- rated and the move was financed by unsecured notes guaranteed only by the good reputation of the school. This campus, which now belongs to the U S. Navy, was made up of brick buildings and boasted a Great Hall which was furnished with many of the pieces now in Post Hall A chapel dedicated to Mrs Somers was added in 1925 and a bell was given in honor of Miss Ames. In the school catalogs for those early years, there are some fascinating details of social and intellectural history. In the regulations for boarding pupils for the year 1875-76 there is the following statement: Pupils will receive such calls as are approved by the Princi- pal, on Friday evenings from 8 00 until 10 (X). and on Saturday afternoons. No visits will be made or received by students on the Sabbath or during any regular study or recitation hours ' What would these pupils have made of our open parietals? A glimpse of the very different standards of dress and decorum is also instructive. In 1912 the catalog reads The supply of underclothing should be generous, substantial, and simply made. For dinner wear, two or three simply made dresses of summer silk or voile, or some fabric easily laundered. It is a long way from wash and wear shirts, denims, and Dr Scholl ' s. The Year Books, as they were called, of those early years are written in an elevated style which reflect the highminded aims of those who served the school. In 1900 the entry under discipline read Fine ideals of womanly earnestness and dignity of character are kept constantly before the pupils, and the cultivation of the social graces and courtesies of daily life are ever emphasized. The system of chaperonage is cautious without being un-American and affected The relation between teachers and pupils is close, frank and cordial, and there is such harmony in the work of the school that almost no force is wasted, and few pupils can resist the steady, combined pressure in the direction of order, truth, and noble living. Miss Cole, who followed Miss Hensley was responsible for forming the Alumnae Council, and the appointment of the first alumna trustee to the Board She also presided over the Golden jubilee in 1925, the year in which the Nebraska Avenue Chapel was built as a memorial to Mrs. Somers. From the early years, a Mount Vernon student had to study for six years in order to earn a diploma; in the thirties the Junior College was established as a separate part of the institution Mr. George Lloyd, who had taught history for many years, became President of the whole school when Miss Cole retired in 1937. Mrs. Lloyd taught Mathematics and later became Principal of the Seminary. Mr. Lloyd had the distinction of being the first male faculty member of the school. On his first morning of teaching, he was tapped on

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Mrs. Beatrice Spottswood How can we thank you For the time you have spent For devotion And patience For the hours without rest. Kindness and pride Are yours by nature You have roots that run deep And love that is stable. You have seen Mount Vernon In good times and bad You have touched many lives And made many friends. The words are difficult But the thoughts sincere Thank you Bea For being here.