Embedded Files
Written by Katharine G.
From the material discussed on our main page, it’s clear that the food served in the dining halls, as well as the dishes on which it was served, was a way of creating and sharing a community identity. But what about outside of the dining halls? How did food and the way it was served bring people together?
When the College was founded and through to the time of the fire, Wellesley students were technically not allowed to have food other than fruit in their dorm rooms. That obviously didn’t stop them.
Sardine can from the dig (SU19-1102)
This sardine can was found in the College Hall Dig. Unlike the meals passed around on fancy plates in the dining hall, this is a simple snack for one that does not require any utensils to eat. This is a kind of private snack that lacks preparation, to be enjoyed alone. Food wasn't necessarily always a community event. Outside of the dining hall, food could be private, not something that always had to be shared.
But at other times, food preparation and enjoyment in the privacy of dorm rooms was shared. The most famous instance of this was when students would make fudge in their rooms. Gathered around their lamps, students would melt chocolate, sugar, and butter in small tins and share the treats with the group.
One relatively dramatic article in the 1898 Legenda compares it to a religious experience:
“There were three of them, two active, one passive, but most inspiring. She, being a P.G., and concerned through the evening with French I and History of Art, could not be expected to give more than counsel and advice. The others, Freshmen, floundering in History and German I, had miserably caught each other’s eyes—astraddle the lamp chimney between them—and read apiece, two bottomless yearnings for that which was not speculation—two soulful desires for that which no board bill includes, no housekeeper furnishes, and no scholarship supports. The stifled cry of the fasting flesh had been heard, the eye responded, caught an answering gleam, and the moment was ripe. Memory was instantly active with one recipe which was to touch the aching spot with its healing fingers in the endless days to come. The contents of a tea-table offered themselves for trial and the movement had begun.”
Like the snack of the sardine can, fudge was a secret snack kept in the dorm rooms. But unlike sardines, fudge making was in no way private, but a community-building event for all students. Based on the language of this Legenda article, fudge making was a ritual that transcended socio-economic differences, as it fulfilled a desire that board costs, housekeepers, or scholarships could not. It is also clearly a shared moment, a way for students to connect with one another in preparing and eating together.
How was this fudge made? Here’s a recipe from a letter from Jane Cary to her friend Anna in 1912:
How was this fudge made? Here’s a recipe from a letter from Jane Cary to her friend Anna in 1912:
Text reads:
2 squares chocolate
2 cups of brown sugar
½ cup water
Boil until it is real brittle in water, then take it off the stove and stir in a ¼ cup of butter, don’t stir it any more then but put it in the pan.
By 1912, the ritual of fudge making had been set, given a recipe to follow. It went on to be even more a part of Wellesley’s identity, incorporated into Wellesley Fudge Cake, a popular tradition. But here Jane Cary is specifically sharing this recipe with a friend. It is a way for her to share a part of her Wellesley experience with a friend through the making of fudge.
How was this fudge served? The Legenda article describes the fudge being scooped into teacup saucers and chipped away at with a knife as it cooled.
Numerous ceramic pieces were found in the College Hall Dig, and while they might have been from dishes in the dining hall, some of them might have been from dishes kept in students’ rooms. Notice also the tea set in a dorm room in this photo from the 1920s.
A variety of ceramic sherds from the dig (SU19-1090)
More than just tea, these dishes could have been a part of these nights of fudge making. The sherds show a variety of colors and styles, perhaps because students had different designs on their tea sets and other dishes. For fudge making, not too unlike eating sardines right out of the can, students used the materials that they had in their rooms. They cooked on lamps and used saucers from tea sets as pans.
Even in the privacy of their dorm rooms, outside of the dining hall and without a fully-set table, students found ways to connect with one another through food. Snacks like sardines might have been only for one, but the entire fudge-making process, from preparation to eating, built a community in the dorms.
Fudge making might have died out at Wellesley, but today we still use serving and sharing food with each other as a way to make a community. After all, most people know what this cup means:
Red Solo Cup from Dig (SU19-1008), likely from graduation festivities two days before digging began
Red Solo Cups are an icon of college parties today. This cup signals having a drink with others, a way to share the good times of the party with others. It looks different from the teacup saucers of fudge making, but it’s the same concept. Wellesley students are coming together, sharing in a moment as a community, through food.
Bibliography
1943-1944. Tea in Stone Hall. image. https://library.artstor.org/asset/SS35279_35279_15799602. Letter from Jane W. Cary, Wellesley, Massachusetts to Anna. February 4, 1912, Wellesley College Digital Repository, https://repository.wellesley.edu/object/wellesley9373.The Evolution of Fudge Making in Wellesley College Legenda 1898, Wellesley College Digital Repository, https://repository.wellesley.edu/object/wellesley610 . 1924-1927. Stone Hall Dorm Room. image. https://library.artstor.org/asset/SS35279_35279_15800531.
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