- Golden Days: Reminiscences of Alumnae, Mississippi State College for Women
What was it like to attend a women's college in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s? What role did the environment of the time play in life on campus? What memories of college come to the forefront fifty or seventy years after graduation? Golden Daysis an anthology of excerpts from oral history interviews with twenty women who graduated between 1926 and 1957 from Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW), the nation's first public institution of higher education for women, and can help answer some of these questions. The author of the introduction sets the interview excerpts in context by providing a brief history of the college and an explanation of the oral history project from which the excerpts were chosen. As excerpts are read, be aware that students were heavily used as interviewers, transcribers, and editors and are still in the process of mastering interviewing skills.
The editors organize the excerpts chronologically by graduation class. The format for each entry includes a photograph of the woman being spotlighted, most likely taken during the time she attended MSCW, a brief biography, and interviewer questions followed by the interviewee's answers. The excerpts have been edited for an easier read with selective questions and answers. At times pertinent follow-up questions are asked, and at other times it appears that the interviewer was either not listening or more focused on asking a certain set of questions. As an added feature, if an interviewee mentions a person or event during an excerpt, the book provides a footnote. For example, one interview references Rudolph Valentino with a footnote stating "Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was a silent film star from 1914 until his death" (7).
Common themes emerge throughout the excerpts, such as students developing lifelong friendships, the role their mothers played in their attending MSCW (now called Mississippi University for Women [MUW]), and the value of traditions in building connections to the college. This book is a strong resource for researchers interested in the career development of women from 1926 to 1957 and in educational programs available to women prior to 1960. For example, one woman talks about being a home demonstration agent, showing people how to make a mattress using surplus cotton or how to slaughter and clean a chicken. Researchers interested in the early days of home economics programs would also find these oral history excerpts of value because the home management practice house that set the standard for home economic departments was initiated at MSCW. Other excerpts include memories of the Great Depression and World War II, which researchers interested in the impact on women, or the impact that women had during these periods may find valuable. Several of the featured women were [End Page 99]over the age of eighty when interviewed, and their comments may be of interest to those studying human development, gerontology, or memory.
The book provides an index that includes "See" and "See Also" references, enabling the reader to locate information about a specific subject. Readers can also browse through the interviews question by question and find topics in which they are particularly interested. While there appears to have been a standard set of questions, the selected excerpts do not include the same questions in all cases. While the book does not discuss oral history methodology, the extent to which interview material was edited, or the process for selecting a featured interview, this information, along with complete interviews, is available at the Southern Women's Institute, MUW.
Bridget Smith Pieschel is a professor of English at MUW and director of the Southern Women's Institute. This volume is an example of the Institute's research on the history of MUW as well as the position women hold in the culture and foundation of the South. This book is written for the general audience and is a strong addition to the literature on women...