Overview of Collection
Miss E. Elizabeth Dana's School for Young Ladies
Finding Aid to Miss Dana's School Records, 1873-1938; not dated. HM 51 Miss Dana
1873-1938; not dated
7.5 linear feet in 2 manuscript boxes, 2 oversized boxes and 4 volumes
History of Miss Dana's School
Incorporated as the Morris Female Institute in 1860, the school for young ladies was leased to Miss E. Elizabeth Dana in 1877. As the Gilded Age was just getting underway in Morristown, Miss Dana's school became an exclusive private institution for young women located at 163 South Street (at the present day site of a bank). The celebrated author and poet Dorothy Parker, best known for her cutting witticisms and one of the original founding members of the Algonguin Round Table, attended Miss Dana's School as Dorothy Rothschild. According to the Parker biographer Arthur F. Kinney, she graduated from the school in 1911, the last class to do so before the school closed in 1912.
In Kinney's biography of Dorothy Parker we learn that Miss Dana's School was
"in an imposing Victorian house furnished with Oriental rugs, heavy velvet curtains, overstuffed plush sofas, and large chandeliers. Her fellow students in the small, highly selective classes included wealthy cattle princesses, heiresses, Southern belles and Northern debutantes. The course of study was classical: ...four years of Latin and four required years of English and Bible as well as required courses in history, algebra, and geometry. Electives were chosen from botany, physiology, astronomy, music, studio art, Greek, French, logic, chemistry, physics, psychology, and banking, a traditional curriculum advanced as that of most junior colleges today". Classes were limited to 15 students and were taught only by seminar, thereby ensuring the girls received highly trained, personal attention.
At Miss Dana's, students were expected to follow strict rules: both going to the movies and smoking were forbidden. It was expected of the young women that they be able to recite poetry and attend evening lectures. One such lecturer was the Reverand William E. Griffis, a Rutgers University graduate and one of the first Americans to travel extensively to, and write about, Japan. Kinney also speculates that
"Miss Dana's may also have planted seeds for her [Dorothy's] later social and political interests. The entire school met weekly to discuss current events, and the senior year focused on such themes as exploitation in the slums, reports of muckrakers, and the growth of the Socialist party".
The exposure to current social and political topics, as well as the excellent classical curriculum, prepared them for enrollment in any one of the nation's leading women's colleges of the day. For a girl holding a Miss Dana's School diploma, entrance requirements were waived and acceptance was automatic at Vasser College. Even today, Vassar College still administers the Elizabeth Dana Memorial Prize (known today as The Elizabeth Dana Reading Prize) set up in honor of Miss Dana in 1911.
References:
Keats, John.
You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker; Simon and Schuster, 1970. pp 21-28.
Kinney, Arthur F.
Dorothy Parker; Twayne Publishers, 1978. pp 26-27.
Vassar College English Department:
http://english.vassar.edu/resources_prizes.html; accessed 6/12/2007
Related materials in this Repository
- Collection number - Item description and/or title, dates.
- H 929 - Hill Family Papers, 1841-1946.
- H 929 - John Rae Collection, 1868-2005.
Related materials in other Repositories
- William Elliot Griffis Collection- Japan through western eyes: manuscript records of traders, travellers, missionaries and diplomats, 1853-1941. [At Rutgers University Library: Special Collections and University Archives.]
Scope and Content of the Records
Miss Dana's School Records contain school programs, invitations, plays, songs, music and the student newspaper, the
Danaid. Six oversized file boxes house manuscript volumes containing student records from 1891-1911.
Arrangement of the Records
Series I: Subject Files, 1873-1938; not dated.
This series consists of a variety of material: school catalogues; invitations and programs to commencement exercises and school events; plays and songs; school souvenirs that include photographs of the school and grounds; information pertaining to Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association; as well as the student records of Dorothy Rothschild and Constance and Ursula Hill. Dorothy Rothschild would later be known as Dorothy Parker, American writer and poet famous for her caustic wit. The Hill sisters were daughters of T. Olney Hill, founder of a Wall Street brokerage firm and younger siblings to Alice Leslie Hill. Alice Leslie was an early feminist and activist, as well as a lifelong resident of Morristown [for more information see the Hill Family Papers]. The original letter from Vasser College, establishing the Elizabeth Dana Memorial Prize in 1911, is also included in this series.
Series II: Student Publications, 1896-1911.
The Daniad was the title of the literary publication of Miss Dana's students. Printed at the office of the local newspaper, The Jerseyman, the school newspaper cost $1.00 for a yearly subscription at the turn of the century. In the twentieth century it would become the voice of the student body, reflecting the civic minded and progressive education a student received at Miss Dana's. The paper's motto was virtus in actione consistit (virtue consists in action). For example, the Commencement edition of June 1911 contains articles on the territorial expansion of the United States in the Pacific and the cruel effects of Child Labor in America's sweatshops.
Series III: Bound Manuscript Volumes, 1891-1911; not dated.
The ledgers and record books of this series contain the names and home addresses of the young women who attended Miss Dana's School. Dorothy Parker's childhood name, Rothschild, appears in the 1902-1911
School Record Book of Students as well as the undated Alumni Record Book.
Important Information for Users of the Collection
This material is open for research without restriction under
the conditions of the North Jersey History Center
archives access policy. Records may be copied for use in
individual scholarly or personal research, however, as with all
materials in the History Center, researchers are responsible for obtaining copyright permission to use material from the collection. Material in Miss Dana's School Records may be photocopied, but because this material is a permanent part of the History Center's collections, researchers are advised to photocopy with care, using only the edge copier for bound material.
Preferred Citation
Finding Aid to Miss Dana's School Records, 1873-1938; not dated.
HM 51 Miss Dana
Processing Information
Inventory revision by S. Christine Jochem, 2001.
Described and encoded by Mary McMahon Dawson, June 2007.
Container List
Series I: Subject files, 1873-1938; not dated. Box 1
1 1 School Catalogues, 1887-1893; 1911-1912; not dated.
1 2 Invitations and Programs, 1873-1912.
1 3 Plays and Songs, 1899-1900; not dated.
1 4 School Souvenirs, 1905; not dated.
1 5 Dorothy Parker [nee Rothschild]: Student records, 1907-1908.
1 6 Constance and Ursula Hill: Student records, 1911-1912.
1 7 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Constitution and By-laws; Membership and Yearbook, 1899-1905; not dated.
1 8 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Daybooks, minutes and attendance rosters, 1899-1930.
1 9 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Anniversary invitation and thirty-first yearbook, 1901; 1908-1909.
1 10 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Scholarship fund, not dated.
1 11 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Elizabeth Dana Memorial Prize: Vassar College, 1911; 1938.
1 12 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Louise Lincoln Newell Scholarship, 1899-1906; 1938.
1 13 Miss Dana's Alumnae and Student Association: Annual Meeting Reports; Secretary and Treasurer's Reports; Membership Lists, 1890-1937.
Series II: The Daniad, 1896-1911. Box 2
2 1 The Daniad, June 1896; April 1897; November 1897.
2 2 The Daniad, January; February; March; May; June; November; December, 1898.
2 3 The Daniad, February; April; May; June; November, 1899.
2 4 The Daniad, January; February; April, 1900.
2 5 The Daniad, March 1902; November 1903.
2 6 The Daniad, February; May; June; October; December, 1904.
2 7 The Daniad, February; March; May; June; October; December, 1905.
2 8 The Daniad, February; March; May; June, 1906.
2 9 The Daniad, May 1907; June 1908; June 1911.
Series III: Bound Manuscript Volumes, 1891-1911; not dated.
Manuscript boxes 1 Record Book of Students, 1891-1897.
Manuscript boxes 2 Record Book of Students, 1898-1902.
Manuscript boxes 3 Record Book of Students (loose sheets), 1902-1911.
Manuscript boxes 4 Alumni Record Book, not dated.
Flat file box 5 Miss Dana's Transferred School Records [of students], 1898-1905.
Flat file box 6 Miss Dana's Current School Records [of students], 1901-1912.