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National Art Education Association

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STUDIES IN ART EDUCATION

The creative sister: An historical look at

women, the arts, and higher education Mary Ann Stankiewicz

This article is a nalysis of nineteenth century attitudes towards women, women's education, and the value of art education for women. When art was conceived as having moral force, art education became an important part of women's education. While focusing on the development of art education for women at one institution of higher education, the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse University, this paper also describes general nineteenth century attitudes toward coeducation and toward a woman's sphere, at that time defined primarily as home and family. The title is a quotation from one speaker at the inauguration of Crouse College, the Syracuse College of Fine Arts building, and refers to the relationship between fine arts and liberal arts.

Studying history provides an opportunity to create a perspective within which events can be examined to reveal their relative signifi- cance. Historical methods of research com- bine description, the result of identifying and verifying events, with interpretation and critical commentary to recreate the past as vividly and authentically as possible. This paper addresses the role of women in the arts, a role that has roots in the early history of education, but which has only recently been systematically investigated.

During the past decade, feminist writers on art and art education have pointed out that women and art are often perceived in analogous ways (Collins, 1979; Garrard, 1976; Wayne, 1973). While art is perceived as feminine, women's status within the art world paradoxically has been low (Packard, 1977). Whitesel (1975) notes:

more women than men are interested in art at the undergraduate level, but more men that women formalize their interests into advanced training . .. often preparation for serious career participation. (p. 22)

Harris (1973), Whitesel (1975), and Lovano- Kerr, Semler, and Zimmerman (1977) all have discussed the low status of women faculty in college art departments. Lovano- Kerr, Semler, and Zimmerman found that 50%7 of all undergraduate art majors in 1975 were women (p. 22). The same percentage of women was found in graduate art programs. Yet only 20?%o of higher education faculty in art at that time were women. If few women have risen to the top in art teaching and

research, even fewer have been recognized as artists. In her significant essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" (1971), Nochlin argued that our institutions and our educations have imposed on us a view of reality that has made it almost impossible for any woman to become a great artist.

These contemporary attitudes toward women and art have roots in the nineteenth century or even earlier. This article is an historical investigation of some of those beliefs as they were manifested at one institution for higher education in the arts. The College of Fine Arts at Syracuse University was founded in 1873, the first coeducational degree-granting College of Fine Arts in the United States. Although the college was an innovation in one sense, its ideology was con- servative. The prevailing nineteenth century attitudes toward women and art both in- fluenced and were mirrored in Syracuse's programs. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse University, under Dean George Fisk Comfort, performed two disparate functions. The College was first of all an institution for higher education in the arts, creative sister to the sciences, granting bachelor's and a few master's degrees to painters, architects, and musicians of both sexes. In addition to providing such professional education, however, the College of Fine Arts also served virtually as a women's finishing school, coordinate with the College of Liberal Arts at Syracuse. The story of the College of Fine Arts exemplifies how nine-

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The creative sister: An historical look at women, the arts, and higher education

teenth century beliefs about women and art interacted in the notion that collegiate art education was particularly suitable for women.

Nineteenth Century Attitudes During the nineteenth century most people

believed that woman was both finer and weaker than man. Like a fragile china tea- cup, she could be easily shattered by too much contact with the rough world. As one study of nineteenth century attitudes toward women puts it,

The Victorian woman was more spiritual than man yet less intellectual, closer to the divine, yet prisoner of her most animal characteristics, more moral than man, yet less in control of her very morality. (Smith- Rosenberg & Rosenberg, 1973, p. 338)

The prevailing ideology held that woman's physiology determined her personality. "Woman was thus peculiarly the creature of her internal organs, of tidal forces she could not control" (Smith-Rosenberg & Rosenberg, 1973, p. 336). Because woman was biologi- cally designed for child-bearing, she was perceived as destined for child-rearing and care of the home, center of family life. Woman's sphere was home and family, while man's work lay in the larger realm of politics, business, and industry.

If woman's sphere was home and family, then it followed that woman's education should prepare her for that sphere (Woody, 1929a, p. 92). Early proposals for women's education often emphasized domestic training. While the traditional role for women was accepted throughout nineteenth century America, social and economic forces were beginning pressure for change. In 1848, a group of women held the first Women's Rights Convention in the small upstate New York community of Seneca Falls. The Civil War opened to women occupations that had been limited to men.

Even more threatening to the tradition of woman's sphere was the fact that women outnumbered men in many Eastern states. The 1860 census showed that in New York state alone there were 74,360 more women than men of marriageable age (Woody, 1929b, p. 1). Although society regarded the home as woman's proper sphere, many people recognized that numbers of women would be unable to marry and therefore needed vocational education. Two fields

considered especially suitable for women were teaching and medicine. More men than women taught in American schools at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but by 1888 63%o of American teachers were women (Woody, 1929a, p. 497). Generally these women taught in the public primary schools for half or one-third the pay men received. Women's education thus had two major goals: to equip her to occupy her sphere of home and family and, should she be unable to marry, to train her in an occupation suited to her nature.

William Hosmer, editor of the Northern Christian Advocate, a Methodist paper in upstate New York, wrote a book of advice on the education of young ladies in 1851. Hosmer argued that woman's education should prepare her to live a virtuous life within her sphere. Hosmer proposed that women's education concentrate on moral, intellectual, physical, domestic, and civil studies. He strongly opposed any sort of ornamental education, that is, arts education, for young ladies. As he wrote:

Those branches of female education which are commonly deemed ornamental, and for which so much eagerness is manifested by many, have no essential relationship to the great events of woman's life; she is neither a better housekeeper, nor a better mother, nor a better member of society for these accomplishments. (p. 20) In Hosmer's view, arts education was too

expensive and took time away from more important studies. An even more crucial reason to oppose arts education was the ten- dency of art to stir up passions, to lead women to attract attention to themselves, and to mislead women as to the "true elements of character," that is, mind and morals. Hosmer declared that women should "adorn themselves with all the virtues, and all the sciences, but not with the frippery of fashion, or of the arts" (p. 300).

Hosmer's belief that women should be discouraged from studying the arts because both women and art had emotional, sensuous tendencies was common in early nineteenth century America. In his analysis of the artist in American society between 1790 and 1860, Harris (1966) argues that prior to 1830 most Americans feared art for its luxury, sensuous pleasure, and taint of corrupt manners.

Gradually, however, American ideas about art changed. Art came to be conceived as a

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means to embody universal truths. The idea often became more important than the form in American art, perhaps because so much American contact with visual art was second hand through critical writings or poor quality reproductions (Harris, 1966). Ac- cording to Harris, the years prior to the Civil War saw a further change in attitude when religion came to the support of art. Beauty was next to godliness; the artist was viewed as a moral person who shared the divine task of creation, imitating God's handiwork. Harris writes, "Art was, then, an instrument of unification, reconciliation, education, and control" (p. 311). If art was a means to teach morality, and women had a greater need for moral education than men, then it followed that art had a place in women's education.

Early women's colleges offered art to dis- cipline mental powers, to provide higher ethical culture, and to provide professional training, often for art teaching (Woody, 1929b). By 1880, reports of the United States Commissioner of Education listed 38 art schools in America. Seven of these had been founded by women; nine were especially for women students (Woody, 1929b). When the American attitude toward art shifted from dismay at its sensuousness to respect for its ideal qualities, art become suitable for women's education. That change set the stage for the growth of the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse University.

Coeducation and Collegiate Art Education Collegiate education in the fine arts was

George Fisk Comfort's life-long dream. Comfort's conception of what he, in the lan- guage of the period, called esthetic education embodied contemporary theories emphasiz- ing the ideal qualities in art and its power to appeal to the spiritual side of human nature. Perhaps it was due to Comfort's influence that when Syracuse University was chartered in 1870, one of the six colleges proposed in the By-Laws was a College of Fine Arts (Stankiewicz, 1979). Comfort joined the faculty of Syracuse University in 1872 as Professor of Esthetics and Modern Lan- guages. In March of the following year, he presented a plan for organization of the College of Fine Arts to Chancellor Winchell. In September, 1873, that college was inaugu- rated as the third academic unit of Syracuse University with Comfort as its first Dean.

The College of Fine Arts at Syracuse, like the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Medicine, was coeducational from the start, admitting women on the same terms as men. This policy was consistent with the traditions of Syracuse University and with contemporary educational trends. When Syracuse was established in 1870 it replaced Genesee Col- lege, which had been established in June, 1851, as a coeducational Methodist institution. The Syracuse College of Medicine was an outgrowth of Geneva Medical College from which Elizabeth Blackwell graduated in 1849 as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Syracuse Univer- sity inherited a tradition of coeducation during a period when coeducation was being tried at several universities. At the end of the Civil War, 24 American colleges were coeducational. By 1879 the number of coeducational institutions had grown to 154 (Trager, 1979).

One other factor probably helped swing Syracuse into the ranks of coeducational schools. Syracuse was founded on the model of the German university. Because it was a nonresidential institution of higher education, students were expected to find their own lodgings at local boarding houses. Earlier American colleges, such as Harvard and Yale, had been based on the model of the English residential college, a model conducive to single sex education. Since there was no dormitory at Syracuse, it was easier to open the colleges to women. Due to the surplus of women in the eastern United States, coeducation also gave Syracuse a better chance of economic survival.

When the College of Fine Arts was inau- gurated on September 18, 1873, speeches endorsed Comfort's notions of art and coeducation. A number of ministers from upstate New York spoke in favor of education in the arts as a means to the perfection of civiliza- tion, as necessary to the development of the higher powers of human beings, and as a lib- eralizing influence on the mind. The inaugu- ral speakers also addressed themselves to the type of students they envisioned for the new college. The college was aimed not only at cultural development for all students, but also toward the development of artists, those talented individuals who, without special instruction, might never realize their genius. The college was also expected to benefit young ladies. The Reverend A. F. Beard of Plymouth Church in Syracuse told the story

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of a young lady who, after a normal school education, became the wife of a senator. Rev. Beard mused on how much more cul- tured and esthetically pleasing her home would have been if she had had the benefits of education in fine arts (Syracuse Archives, Note 1). Although the College of Fine Arts welcomed both men and women, the rhetoric suggested that a collegiate art education might have special benefits for the fairer sex. The first Fine Arts graduate was male; the next two were female.

Most educational movements stir both support and opposition; coeducation in higher education was no exception. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century arguments against coeducation captured public attention. Perhaps the most influential of these was presented in a little book by Edward H. Clarke, a Massachusetts physician. Clarke (1873) argued that if women were educated in the same fashion as men, their health would be ruined. Clarke believed, as did many people of his day, that there was a close tie between women's intellect and their reproductive organs. Assuming that no system could do two things well at the same time, Clarke asserted that too much intellectual effort during the years 14 to 20 would harm women's reproductive capabilities. Female education should be so organized that girls could rest and refrain from study during the catamenial week. To Clarke it was "obvious that a girl upon whom Nature, for a limited period and for a definite purpose, imposes so great a physiological task, will not have as much power left for the tasks of the school, as the boy of whom Nature requires less at the corresponding epoch" (pp. 54-55).

Clarke's assertion that woman's physiology should determine her education roused indignation among feminists of the day. Julia Ward Howe (1874/1972) edited a book of essays refuting Clarke's theory. Feminists such as Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Eliz- abeth Peabody Mann, and others argued that Clarke presented insufficient evidence for his generalizations. Another book refuting Clarke came from the pens of George and Anna Comfort. Less than two months after Clarke's book first appeared, Dean Comfort was writing to solicit testimony from fellow educators that excessive study between 14 and 20 years of age did not cause ill health among women (Syracuse Archives, Note 2).

Anna Manning Comfort, one of the first graduates of the New York Medical College for Women founded by her aunt, Clemence Lozier, was the first woman physician to practice in Connecticut. Like most women doctors of her day, Anna Comfort limited her practice to women's ailments. After her marriage to George Comfort in 1871, she moved her practice to Syracuse. Although active as a feminist, Anna Comfort was first of all wife and mother. She took time out from her own career to raise her children and to bring up her husband's orphaned brother. When Dean Comfort left Syracuse in 1893 for a will-of-the-wisp venture of founding a fine arts college in Texas, his wife gave up her practice and followed him, against her better judgment. When the venture failed and the Comforts returned to Syracuse bank- rupt, Anna Comfort paid the debts created by the failure. In her professional life, she demonstrated her belief that childbearing was a woman's highest goal in life. When asked to perform abortions, Anna Comfort sent back strongly worded replies to the effect that she would not commit murder; she would do nothing to prevent the birth of a child (Syracuse Archives, Note 3). Anna Manning Comfort was a feminist who favored equal votes, education, and careers for women, but who also believed that a woman's greatest fulfillment came through marriage and family.

It seems likely that Anna Comfort's influence helped strengthen George Comfort's dedication to educating both women and men in his College of Fine Arts. Women's Education and Women's Health (1874), the Comforts' reply to Clarke, was a clear, logical exposition of the errors of Clarke's argument. The authors pointed out that Clarke reasoned a priori that education harmed women's health, then tried to sub- stantiate that assumption. Not only was Clarke guilty of logical errors, but he made physiological errors that the Comforts examined in detail. They pointed out that Clarke's prescription for rest during menstruation, if followed, would make any systematic education for women impossible, since no two students could follow the same schedule.

Dean Comfort and his wife favored educating men and women together and also perceived special benefits for women in esthetic education. Their recommendations for women's education bore the stamp of George Comfort's hand. Intellectual, es-

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thetic, moral, and physical education were all necessary for the healthy development of women. The Comforts argued that educated women were probably healthier than unedu- cated women because of their increased knowledge and disciplined schedule. Even a partial education, that is, courses taken without completing a degree, could be profitable for women. On the special value of esthetic education to women, the authors wrote as follows:

The feminine mind inclines naturally to the pursuit of esthetic studies. A refined and cultivated taste is one of the most potent elements in inducing a healthy tone of body and mind. Artists are proverbially long- lived. The study and contemplation of the beautiful in nature and art call a person away from grovelling and debasing pursuits and pleasures (p. 75). Opposition to coeducation continued

nationally into the early twentieth century; the Comforts probably faced opposition in their own college. Ely Van De Warker, a Syracuse physician who taught artistic anatomy in the College of Fine Arts from 1874 through 1886, wrote a book opposing coeducation that was published in 1903. Van De Warker's opposition centered on the po- tential for immorality inherent in an educational system that encouraged mingling between young men and women with un- formed characters. To Van De Warker, it seemed likely that single sex education might be better in disciplining woman's character.

Women in the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse

In spite of opposition to coeducation, Syracuse University continued to admit women equally with men in all its colleges, including Fine Arts. Women were especially welcome in Fine Arts because Dean Com- fort's moral conception of art made collegiate art education suited for a woman's nature. The converse was also accepted. Comfort believed that women, because of their sensitive natures, were suited for the arts. He was willing to offer partial, nonde- gree courses so that women could receive an esthetic education without committing themselves to four years of study for a degree. Due to Anna Manning Comfort's influence, Dean Comfort encouraged careers for women, especially in art teaching (Syracuse Archives, Note 4).

The general attitude at Syracuse was that women were naturally suited for esthetic education and that esthetic education would prepare them for their sphere of life (Syracuse Archives, Note 5). Given these beliefs, enrollment patterns in the College of Fine Arts are not surprising (Syracuse Archives, Note 6). After the first year or two women outnumbered men in total enrollment, sometimes as much as five to one. The typical College of Fine Arts student in the last quarter of the nineteenth century was female, a music major, and an undergraduate. Many more women entered the college than graduated. In 1896, for example, 136 women were freshman, 73 were sophomores, 58 were juniors, and 17 were seniors. Com- parable figures for male enrollment that same year were: 26, 13, six juniors, and seven seniors. The attrition rate for women was much greater than for men.

The Syracuse class that graduated in the spring of 1896 had only 11 women and four men remaining from the 94 women and 14 men who had entered as freshmen. Men in the College of Fine Arts were often architecture students; almost no women entered that department. Music, Painting, and Belles- Lettres were the courses in which women enrolled.2

Student attitudes displayed in drawings, stories, and poems in Syracuse yearbooks, show that coed was often synonymous with Fine Art. A dictionary of campus slang in the 1884 yearbook defined fine art as "sent from home to remove from gentlemen's society" (Onondagan, Note 7). In illustrations and poems art was often personified as a woman.

There were exceptions to these prevailing attitudes, however. Although only one woman received a master's degree from the College of Fine Arts in the period 1875-1898, compared to eight men, most postgraduate students were women. When the first Hiram Gee Fellowship for European study in painting was awarded in 1895 the recipient was a woman, as were the next three recip- ients. Of the 176 women who graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse between 1875 and 1898, 50 worked five or more years and 49 worked for a period of one to five years (Syracuse Archives, Note 8). Over half these women taught. Twelve of the 35 women who continued their studies beyond a baccalaureate entered graduate programs; others studied abroad, pursued a

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second baccalaureate, or took private art or music lessons. Sixty-nine of the 176 women who graduated married; three were married or widowed when they entered college. Twenty women described themselves working after their marriage, often giving art or music lessons. Although the stereotype of the Fine Arts coed matched the nineteenth century stereotype for women in general, some of these Fine Arts graduates broke the mold.

One reason why some women in the Col- lege of Fine Arts pursued careers may have been that they had role models. Sandell (1979) has pointed out that because women face so many obstacles in careers, women in art have needed a support system and role models. Women on the Fine Arts faculty were able to serve as inspirational models for those ambitious women students who sought a career. Although all Fine Arts college deans were men, approximately 20%o of the faculty were women (Syracuse Archives, Note 9). At the instructor level, the propor- tion of women to men faculty was one to three. The College of Fine Arts hired its first woman faculty member in 1884; the College of Liberal Arts at Syracuse did not hire a woman until 10 years later. Only one woman faculty member was married while she taught in the College of Fine Arts. Women faculty provided models for their students of single women successfully pursuing a career in the arts.

The belief, prevalent in the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse, that collegiate art education especially suited women seems to have reached its height when a building was erected to house the college. Fine Arts had been sharing quarters with Liberal Arts for over 10 years. The noise of music students, disorder generated by art students, and pranks played on Fine Arts students by the young men in Liberal Arts made it advisable for Fine Arts to have a home of its own.

During the summer of 1887 John Crouse, a wealthy benefactor of the university, privately notified Chancellor Sims of his desire to provide a new building for the university. That fall, during a drive around the campus, Crouse told Sims, "Save this hill for me, and I will put a building on it, such as you will not regret having" (Syracuse Archives, Note 10). Crouse superintended the construction, sparing no expense in building what he saw as a memorial to himself, his late wife, and his family. There

are no records that Dean Comfort was even consulted on the design of what was to be a Fine Arts building. Perhaps that is why he found fault with it from the first (Syracuse Archives, Note 11).

Or, perhaps there was another reason. Evidence suggests that some Syracusans favored turning the predominantly female Fine Arts college into a coordinate college.3 We have seen that opposition to collegiate coeducation continued until the 20th century in Syracuse.Coordinate colleges for women were first established during the 1880s at American universities (Woody, 1929b, p. 340). Such women's institutions, based on an English model, were a compromise between total separation of the sexes and coeducation. Although he believed esthetic education offered special benefits to women, Comfort was dedicated to providing an education for both sexes. If Crouse expected his gift to become a women's college, his desire was surely opposed by the Dean.

A compromise is suggested by a description of the proposed building found in the 1889 student yearbook: "While the college will be called a 'College for Women,' and will furnish special advantages for the higher education of that sex, it will be conducted in accordance with the principle of co-education of the sexes. . . . Thus, no one will be debarred from the advantages it will offer. (Onondagan, Note 12)

The new John Crouse Memorial College for Women symbolized the tie between woman's sphere and art. On its hill above the city, built with money honestly earned, Crouse College seemed to stand on the pede- stal a virtuous woman deserved.4

Addresses given at the dedication on September 18, 1889, concentrated on the benefits of the monumental gift for women's education. Professor C. J. Little began his remarks by noting that "every public building is a symbol of the civil life out of which it grows" (Syracuse Archives, Note 13). The new Crouse College symbolized the benefits higher education could offer society's work- shops and homes. Little declared:

This is a memorial college for women and because a college for women, it is a splendid contribution to the home and to the society of this grand Republic. But in one thing Syracuse University stands out distinct, unique; in the coordination of the sciences that sustain and perfect the workshop and the State, with the literature and the arts

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which adorn the home and glorify society. Here knowledge and the humanities dwell side by side, co-equal with the creative sister who first taught men to give permanence to fleeting form, to fling the secrets of the rainbow upon the answering canvas, to charm the glory of the forest on the upsoar- ing column and overarching roof; or who taught men to transform the tricksy sprites of common air ... into the music that lifts us to sublimer life. (Syracuse Archives, Note 14).

Even if no Millet or Giotto, no Beethoven or Shakespeare were educated in the college, "we shall be always working for the beauty and glory of the home and the society of the future" (Syracuse Arcchives, Note 15).

The other speakers shared Little's assump- tions that art education suited the feminine nature and aided women in fulfilling their sphere in life. Professor J. S. Riggs of Auburn concluded his address by comparing Crouse College to the Statue of Liberty; both "shall hold on high the light of refined, enlarged womanhood. . . . 'America' was then performed on the organ" (Syracuse Archives, Note 16). Reverend J. M. Buckley, editor of the Northern Christian Advocate, delivered the third major address of the day on the topic of higher education for women. Buckley argued that women's education could be as beneficial to society as men's higher education, especially when, as at Syracuse it was conducted under church guidance. Buckley, like Hosmer nearly 30 years earlier, believed that moral training was necessary to feminine education. The dedication ceremony concluded with the singing of a hymn composed by Professor Frank Smalley of Syracuse, which extolled

the relationship between God, first Creator, and the arts. Here is the second verse:

God speaks in Art: all beauty, grace, And symmetry their models trace In His perfections; there we view The Good, Beautiful, the True (Syracuse Archives, Note 17). Today the John Crouse Memorial College

for Women remains a part of the Syracuse campus, housing the College of Visual and Performing Arts. While the art gallery included in the original plans has been superseded by offices and classrooms, the auditorium with its stained glass windows and organ, the carved woodwork, and the reproductions of favorite nineteenth century art works remains. In 1976, a restored Crouse College was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. At that time, Crouse was rededicated as a symbol of fine arts in university and community, and as a reaffirmation of Syracuse's devotion to the training of young professionals in various arts (Syracuse Archives, Note 18).

The history of women in the Crouse College of Fine Arts at Syracuse reflects beliefs about women and art prevailing in nineteenth century America, some of which continue to affect art education today. In the microcosm of Syracuse, we can see how women's education was governed by stereo- typed beliefs about female physiology and morality. These stereotypes helped to justify a conception of art education as cultural refinement especially suited to the fairer sex. Although some role models of women with careers in art existed, the prevailing stereotypes discouraged most women from studying art as anything more than a means to such cultural refinement.

Mary Ann Stankiewicz is assistant professor, art education, University of Maine at Orono.

Reference Notes 1. CSDC Fine Arts 1887-1930, Syracuse University Archives. 2. Letter from G. F. Comfort to Dr. Irwinbaum (?), December 9, 1873, Box 3, RG 13, Syracuse University

Archives. 3. A. M. Comfort Correspondence 1868-1911, Box 12, RG 13, Syracuse University Archives. 4. Comfort, G. F. "Music, Painting and Architecture. A Suggestion to the Friends of Education," 1878,

AVC 6F49, Bulletins, College of Fine Arts, Syracuse University Archives. 5. Jennings, P. "Music in Syracuse University," University Forum, November 13, 1897: 328, CSDC Fine

Arts 1887-1930, Syracuse University Archives. 6. Syracuse University General Catalogs, 1873-1899, AVC 5.1, Syracuse University Archives. 7. Onondagan, Syracuse University Yearbook, 1884, p. 153.

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The creative sister: A n historical look at women, the arts, and higher education

8. Alumni Record and General Catalogue of Syracuse University 1872-'99. Syracuse, N. Y.: Alumni Association of Syracuse University, May 1899. AVC 8.1, Alumni Records, Syracuse University Archives. In compiling this record, the Alumni Association attempted to collect data on all Syracuse graduates. Although most alumni submitted biographical information, some did not. Figures here refer to those alumni who responded out of total number of graduates. 9. Alumni Record, 1899, pp. 191-205.

10. Clipping File: Buildings and Grounds, Crouse College, Syracuse University Archives. 11. Recollections of Frank Joseph Marion. Class of 1890, manuscript, AVC 1.2, General Histories of Syracuse University, Syracuse University Archives. 12. Onondagan, Syracuse University Yearbook, 1889, p. 104. 13. "A Grand Gift," Syracuse Daily Journal, September 18, 1889, CSDC Fine Arts 1887-1930, Syracuse University Archives. 14. Syracuse Evening Herald, September 18, 1889, Clipping File: Buildings and Grounds, Crouse College, Syracuse University Archives. 15. Syracuse Evening Herald, September 18, 1889, Clipping File: Buildings and Grounds, Crouse College, Syracuse University Archives. 16. "A Grand Gift," Syracuse Daily Journal, September 18, 1889, CSDC Fine Arts 1887-1930, Syracuse University Archives. 17. "A Grand Gift," Syracuse Daily Journal, September 18, 1889, CSDC Fine Arts 1887-1930, Syracuse University Archives. 18. Syracuse Herald American, March 28, 1976, Clipping File: Buildings and Grounds, Crouse College, Syracuse University Archives.

References Clarke, E. H. Sex in education; or, A fair chance for girls. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1873. Collins, G. Women and art: The problems of status. Studies in Art Education, 1979, 21(1), 57-64. Comfort, G. F., & Comfort, A. M. Women's education and women's health: Chiefly in reply to "Sex in education," Syracuse, N.Y.: T. W. Durston and Company, 1874. Garrard, M. 'Of men, women and art': Some historical reflections. Art Journal, Summer, 1976, 35, 324-329. Harris, A. S. Women in College Art Departments. Art Journal, 1973, 32, 417-419. Harris, N. The artist in American society: The formative years 1790-1860. New York: George Braziller, 1966. Hosmer, W. The young lady's book; or, Principles offemale education. Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, 1851. Howe, J. W. (Ed.). Sex and education: A reply to Dr. E. H. Clarke's "Sex in education. " New York: Arno Press, 1972. (Originally published, 1874.) Lovano-Kerr, J., Semler, V. D., & Zimmerman, E. A profile of art educators in higher education: Male/female comparative data. Studies in Art Education, 1977, 18(2), 21-37. Nochlin, L. Why have there been no great women artists? Artnews, 1971, 69(9), 22-39 &ff. Packard, S. An analysis of current statistics and trends as they influence the status and future for women in the art academe. Studies in Art Education, 1977, 18(2), 38-48. Sandell, R. Feminist art education: An analysis of the women's art movement as an educational force. Studies in Art Education, 1979, 20(2), 18-28. Smith-Rosenberg, C., & Rosenberg, C. The female animal: Medicinal and biological views of woman and her role in nineteenth-century America. Journal of American History, 1973, 60, 332-356. Stankiewicz, M. A. Art teacher preparation at Syracuse University, the first century. PhD Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1979. Trager, J. (Ed.). The people's chronology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979. Van de Warker, E. Woman's unfitness for higher coeducation. New York: The Grafton Press, 1903. Wayne, J. The male artist as a stereotypical female. Art Journal, 1973, 32(4), 414-416. Whitesel, L. Women as art students, teachers, and artists. Art Education, 1975, 28(3), 21-24.

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Woody, T. A history of women's education in the United States (Vol. 1). New York: Science Press, 1929(a). Woody, T. A history of women's education in the United States (Vol. 2). New York: Science Press, 1929(b).

Footnotes A version of this paper was presented at the NAEA Women's Caucus conference, Columbus, Ohio,

March 26, 1980. The author wishes to thank Amy Doherty, Syracuse University Archivist, and the staff of the George Arents Research Library of Syracuse University for their help. 1. The phrase creative sister, referring to the relationship between the fine arts and the sciences, was used by Professor C. J. Little at the dedication of John Crouse Memorial College at Syracuse University on September 18, 1889. 2. Painting and Architecture were the original fine arts courses of study. Music was added in 1877 and Belles-Lettres in 1894. This last was a general arts and literature program which seems to have appealed to a number of young ladies. 3. A letter from Anna Manning Comfort to her son Ralph in December, 1896, after Dean Comfort had left the College of Fine Arts, discussed reports that the university was considering a woman dean for Fine Arts. "Making it in short a Women's College: If so, Good-Bye to the architectural department." Anna Comfort declared that such a step would pervert George Comfort's efforts for collegiate arts education. (Anna Manning Comfort Correspondence 1868-1911, Box 12, RG 13, Syracuse University Archives.) 4. The phrase used in newspaper accounts of the dedication day was that no "boodle" had gone into Crouse College. In a society accustomed to political scandal and graft, John Crouse was an honest businessman. The purity of his money matched the purity of woman's nature. The newspapers were also quick to perceive symbolism in the weather for the day. The dismal morning followed by afternoon sunshine stood for the university's past and future prospects. (Clipping File: Buildings and Grounds, Crouse College, Syracuse University Archives.)

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Issue Table of ContentsStudies in Art Education, Vol. 24, No. 1 (1982), pp. 1-70Front Matter [pp. 1 - 2]Editorial: The Empty Center: Anthropological Methods for Art Educators [pp. 3 - 4]Aesthetic Response as Coping Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective [pp. 5 - 15]Constructing Grounded Theory: Reflections on a Case Study of a Professor of Architectural Design [pp. 16 - 24]The Classroom Art Teacher as Inquirer [pp. 25 - 32]Art Education in Correctional Settings [pp. 33 - 42]Using Interpretation Theory in Art Education Research [pp. 43 - 47]The Creative Sister: An Historical Look at Women, the Arts, and Higher Education [pp. 48 - 56]Naturalistic Evaluation: Its Tenets and Application [pp. 57 - 62]Participant Observation, Ethnography, and Their Use in Educational Evaluation: A Review of Selected Works [pp. 63 - 69]Research and Issues: Recent Publications: A Note of Change [p. 70]Back Matter

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