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238 & ••••••••• 96 • Robert K. Beach1 to SBA Rochester, N.Y., June 14, 1898. My dear Miss Anthony: Possibly I may be the first to bring to you the news that the University of Rochester Trustees at their annual meeting this afternoon adopted a resolution opening the doors of the college to young women students. I have not yet received text of the resolution, but understand that this action permits young women to pursue all courses open to young men. 2 I learned this fact after the reporters had left the office on their evening assignments. I was very anxious to get your opinion of the action of the Trustees, and not wishing to disturb you at a late hour of the night, I take the liberty of asking you to write out a brief statement to be used in the form of an interview. I know that it will be read with keen interest not only by all friends of Woman Suffrage,but by the “antis”as well.It would be especially significant appearing in the same columns with the report of the Trustees’ action. Hoping that you can oblige me, I remain [in hand of Robert Beach] Very truly yours U Robert K. Beach City Editor Herald [in hand of SBA] 10—or 10.30—at night S. B. A. was in bed & just going off into her first sleep—when she was roused by Sister Mary—Mrs & Miss Harper 3 coming to her room— She talked it—& Winifred wrote it out—& signed S B A’s name!! Y TLS, on Rochester Herald letterhead, SBA scrapbook 27, Rare Books, DLC. 1. Robert K. Beach (c. 1866–1937) was a printer and reporter, working at this time as city editor of the Rochester Herald. He left Rochester in 1899 and settled two years later in Jamestown, New York, where he helped to found the Jamestown Post.(New York Times,22 June 1937; Herman W.Knox,ed.Who’s Who in New York: A Biographical Dictionary of Prominent Citizens of New York City and State, 7th ed. [New York, 1918].) 2. The Board of Trustees voted ten to three. Without the final wording, SBA responded to the gist of their resolution’s first part, “Resolved, that it is the sense of the Board of Trustees of the University of Rochester, that women should be 14 june 1898 ^ 239 admitted to this Institution upon the same terms and under the same conditions as men.” She sent back a hymn of praise. “Glory Hallelujah! This is better news to me than victory over Spain. It is a peace-victory, achieved only by the death of prejudice and precedents,” she began. Her statement reminded readers that twenty-five years of agitation changed the trustees’ minds, applauded the trustees for their “act of justice,” and encouraged young girls to begin preparing for university work. Neither she nor Beach yet knew the second part, “Resolved, that this policy be put into effect when the women of Rochester shall raise the necessary funds for the use of the University, estimated at $100,000, and under such conditions as may be decided upon by the Executive Committee of this Board.” When that condition was known, the Democrat and Chronicle pointed out that the second part undercut the first part as the terms and conditions for money were not required of men. “The separation of women into a class and selling them privileges is not just the thing.” Within the next few days, while alumni gathered in Rochester for reunions, Helen Montgomery pledged to them that Rochester’s Women’s Educational and Industrial Union would raise the money. (Minutes, Board of Trustees, University of Rochester, 14 June 1898, vol. 3, p. 25, NRU; Jesse Leonard Rosenberger, Rochester, The Making of a University [Rochester, 1927], 264; Rochester Democrat and Chronicle,16,17 June 1898,SBA scrapbook 27,Rare Books, DLC; Rochester Herald, 15 June 1898, Film, 38:615.) 3. Winnifred Harper (1874–1968?), later Cooley, graduated from May Sewall’s Girls’ Classical School in Indianapolis and from Stanford University. After her graduation in May 1896, she followed her mother into journalism for the amendment campaign and later made a career out of lecturing and writing. In 1899, she married George Eliot Cooley, a Universalist minister. Her date of death often appears as October 1967, but the Social Security Administration records November 1968. (Sarah Comstock, ed., Stanford ‘96: An Accounting in 1926 [New York, 1926], 127–29, courtesy of the Stanford Archives; Stanford...

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