Caring for Caretakers? – Why Build Bryn Mawr?

Amidst her suggestions for the new College, Bessie King reveals her expectation for a privileged standard of student living, one that would rely on female service staff. From its opening, the College aimed to relieve all students from performing any form of domestic work, assuring not only their academic focus, but also their class standing.

In 1885, the Executive Board Committee discussed whether students would make their own beds, revealing a concern for the extent to which Bryn Mawr students should be involved in domestic tasks. The Trustees recognized the cost of such privileges would increase residential fees and risk the exclusion of less affluent students, but they also felt bound by Taylor’s will, which stipulated the construction of a college environment that would be worthy of the “more refined classes of society.”

“It is difficult to overrate the importance of having meals well served. I doubt if food is eaten in sufficient quantities or properly digested when table linen is not neat, waiters few and badly trained, and food put on the table in an unattractive manner.”  
Bessie King, Suggestions for the Organization of the Proposed Female College at Bryn Mawr, 1879.  

“The question of expecting resident students at Bryn Mawr to make their own beds was referred to, but no decision reached, it being left to the discretions of the President [James Rhoads]. The object of such a requirement is a reduction of the expense so as not to exclude students of moderate means.”
Bryn Mawr College Executive Board Committee Meeting Minutes, April 4, 1885, Bryn Mawr College, Special Collections.

A maid named Sally Brown pours tea in an adorned room — Sally Brown in room of Sophie Kirk, Mistress of Merion, c.1895, Photograph; Bryn Mawr College Special Collections, PAE_Maids_017_01

Learn more about Sally Brown

An unnamed maid stands outside. She wears a plain dress with a checkered apron and a plain head covering. — Maid Outside (name unknown)
Still image, photograph
1900
Bryn Mawr College Special Collections PAE_Maids_004_01

These utensils, engraved with “Merion Hall” on the handles, were part of the silverware collection used in the student dining room. Silver tarnishes easily and would have required frequent polishing. 

How can we imagine the experiences of service staff through these objects?

A silver fish server from Merion Hall — Fish Server, c 1885 
Silver  
Bryn Mawr College Special Collections
SC.2001.3.2

A silver spoon from Merion Hall — Spoon
Silver
Bryn Mawr College Special Collections,
SC.2001.3.5

a silver butter knife from Merion Hall — Butter Knife
Silver
Bryn Mawr College Special Collections
SC.2001.3.18

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