© 1997 Lawrence University Press
Preface
A liberal education consists in the acquisition and the refinement of standards of values -- all sorts of values -- physical, intellectual, emotional, aesthetic, and spiritual. . . . It does not depend upon materialistic measures of success or failure. . . . The values inhere in the educational experience itself, and that experience is both the test and the perfect justification of the process. -- Henry M. Wriston, President, Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin, 1937
Liberal education, President Wriston wrote in his volume of essays, The Nature of a Liberal College, is a profound experience that occurs within an individual, organically changing the structure of his life and thought, affecting personality development, and leaving him permanently different. Wriston's conception of the nature of liberal arts education, as well as his wholehearted commitment to it, was shared by other institutions, contemporaries of Lawrence, among which was a small independent college for women in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee-Downer College.
Part of Lawrence's recent history is, in fact, part of Milwaukee-Downer's history as well. In 1964 a consolidation of Milwaukee-Downer with Lawrence was effected, uniting two institutions with a common commitment to developing students' minds through liberal arts curricula and shaping their characters through support of non-materialistic value systems. The ways in which Lawrence's rich liberal arts heritage has been enhanced by this union can only be fully appreciated through knowledge of the particular liberal arts heritage Milwaukee-Downer brought to it. It is this heritage, embodied in the history of Milwaukee-Downer, that is the subject of the present work.
While the main focus of this monograph is on the period 1895-1921, when Milwaukee-Downer was founded and firmly established under President Ellen Sabin, the college's story is continued until the consolidation with Lawrence in 1964. The main theme is that the "Milwaukee-Downer Woman" is really the unintended consequence of the Milwaukee-Downer education. That is to say, even though the college's rhetoric subscribed to the notion of women confining their interests and activities to areas within a "women's sphere," there were other factors at the college that worked against students actually accepting this. Important among these were the role models provided by a faculty and staff of very independent women and the very nature of liberal arts education itself, which encouraged independence of mind.
To support this argument, the character of Milwaukee-Downer is first established as firmly within the mold of the small liberal arts college, in contrast to the burgeoning "utilitarian" university of the early 20th century. Even though Milwaukee-Downer appeared to offer programs designed to prepare students for "careers," the real motivation was to prepare women to serve society through intelligent performance of women's roles. This remained true even when the college acquiesced in an actual expansion of the "women's sphere" itself.
The expansion of "women's sphere," brought about by the needs of early 20th-century American society outside the college's gates, may have been one factor explaining the growth of independence among Milwaukee-Downer women. But certain factors within the institution during this period were important, too. These internal factors actually pulled in different directions: The daily life of the college was governed by strict rules and regulations that sought to stifle independence among students; the rituals and traditions of the college simultaneously kept students in line while encouraging them to see themselves as growing into increasingly responsible roles; the personnel at the college, strong models of independence, influenced students' development in that direction.
The Milwaukee-Downer story of the 1930s and 1940s, under President Lucia Briggs, sees the further growth of independence among students as related both to the personal development of the college's leader herself and to conditions brought about first by the Great Depression and then by the Second World War. Under President John B. Johnson, in the 1950s and early 1960s, the actual character of the school changed, such that the rhetoric of "women's sphere" was finally dropped and women's independence was openly and frankly encouraged.
This monograph on Milwaukee-Downer history is based upon the author's doctoral dissertation, "Milwaukee-Downer College: A Study in the History of Women and the History of Higher Education in America, 1851-1964" (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1991). Since the consolidation with Lawrence University in 1964, Milwaukee-Downer alumnae have had the university's consistent support in keeping alive the legacy of Milwaukee-Downer College. In no way is this better exemplified than in the publication by Lawrence of the present volume, as part of the celebration of the Lawrence University Sesquicentennial.
Lynne H. Kleinman
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
February 1997