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Written by Anna C.
Does the variety of traditions throughout Wellesley’s history correlate with diversity in the student body? Did the changing student body (in terms of diversity and ethnicities represented) over time have any influence on which traditions stayed and which died out?
Does the variety of traditions throughout Wellesley’s history correlate with diversity in the student body? Did the changing student body (in terms of diversity and ethnicities represented) over time have any influence on which traditions stayed and which died out?
In terms of the demographic of Wellesley students at the time of the College Hall fire, most students in the graduating class of 1914 were from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, and generally from the eastern half of the US. However, there were still international students in the 1914 graduating class like Fung Hin Liu from Hong Loh, Canton, China, or Chi Che Wang from Soochow, China. Due to the small number of international students in the early days of Wellesley, the lack of cultural organizations logically correlates with the lack of cultural diversity at Wellesley at the time.
Rather than causing a rise in college traditions that might correlate with an increasing amount of diversity in the college’s student body over time, the college’s increasingly diverse demographic can most visibly be associated with an increase in cultural organizations on campus or student run events relating to cultural traditions. Some examples of such organizations or events put on by cultural organizations today at Wellesley include but are not limited to: Ethos, Yanvalou, Cielito Lindo, the Asian Student Union, Harambe House, Slater International House and their annual culture show, Wellesley Wushu, the Wellesley Asian Dance Organization, or Mezcla. Some of the annual events put on by these organizations could be considered Wellesley traditions, as clubs like cultural performance groups put on annual shows that regularly draw in crowds of students. At events like the Slater International Culture show, traditional forms of dress are highlighted in the fashion show component of the show, illustrating the intersection between style, ethnicity, and tradition at Wellesley.
NOTE: The contemporary names of the cities Soochow and Canton are Suzhou and Guangzhou
Pictured: Above: Portrait of a student named Chi Che Wang, Class of 1914, Below: Portrait of a student named Fung Hin Liu, Class of 1914
Pictured: Left: "Hansel and Gretel," with Elizabeth Pearson '48 as Hansel and Gwen Worth '48 as Gretel, Float Night 1947; Top Right: Flower Sunday service in Houghton Memorial Chapel, 9/19/1971; Bottom Right: Hoop Rolling, 1930-1970
Images from Artstor
Overall, the changing variety of traditions over Wellesley’s history does not seem to correlate with the changing diversity of the student body. The repertoire of Wellesley’s traditions, rather, seems to have included traditions that fade or gain popularity over time. Some of the most prominent traditions in Wellesley’s history include those that were a part of life for Wellesley students starting in the school's early history: Commencement, Flower Sunday, Step Singing, Hoop Rolling, Marathon Monday, etc. Many traditions that seemed to be defining moments of students’ time at Wellesley have faded, however, such as Tree Day, the Class Plays, Float Night, Junior Forensic Burning, Field Day, Pit Party, and more.
Students like Ruby Willis, in a 1908 letter to Miss Margery Willis, describe traditions like Junior Forensic Burning as an enchanting, albeit spooky, class-wide tradition in which they paraded across campus with candles and bedsheets to arrive at a Junior class bonfire to burn their schoolwork. At one point Ruby describes being watched by students of other graduating classes as her class paraded by College Hall. Similarly, Jane Cary, in a 1914 letter to Mrs. Wren B. Cary describes Float Night and the crew team forming a large W on Lake Waban, with canoes representing different types of fairies with “thousands of people...all along the shore.” Looking back at lost traditions like these, students today wonder why they disappeared — Float night, these ritualistic class bonfires, Pit Party, and others all seem like enchanting, interesting, and engaging ways to be more involved with the Wellesley community. Why would they die out when they seem like such defining moments of the college experience for these Wellesley students? To hazard a guess, most likely enthusiasm for the traditions was lost over time through Wellesley graduating classes, they were deemed unsafe, or they were not successfully passed on.
OBJECTS RELATED TO THIS PAGE
SU19-1165 Shoe heel: Maybe this shoe heel was a part of a costume for Float Night!
SU19-1137 Burnt wood fragments: Burnt wood like this would have been left after Junior forensic-burning.
Dresses like this traditional Afghan dress at the China National Silk Museum, made by Zarlashta Ialzai, would be showcased in the fashion show component of the Slater International Culture show.
Bibliography
Cary, Jane W. Letter to Mrs. Wren B. Cary (Windsor, Connecticut). 10 June 1914. Wellesley College Archives Digital Repository.Float. 1947. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/SS35279_35279_39840431Float. 1947. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/SS35279_35279_39840476Flower Sunday. 1971. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/SS35279_35279_21165555 Hoop Rolling. 1930-1970. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/SS35279_35279_15801614Jalalzai, Zarlashta. “阿富汗之舞Afghan Dress.” Celebration: Global Qipao Invitational Exhibition, 2019. www.chinasilkmuseum.com/zz/info_96.aspx?itemid=27535.Senior Class of 1914 Wellesley College. The Wellesley Legenda 1914. 1914. Wellesley College Archives Digital Repository.Willis, Ruby. Letter to Miss Margery Willis (Reading, Massachusetts). 29 January 1946. Wellesley College Archives Digital Repository."Student Orgs." https://www.wellesley.edu/campuslife/community/studentorg
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