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C H A P T E R 5 " I A M S O GLA D YO U COUL D GO T O COLLEGE" : T H E " N E W WOMAN" AN D HE R M O T H E R W HEN Louise Marion Bosworth entered Wellesley Colleg e in 1902 , she joined the ranks of the small, but significant, vanguard of middle-class young women who attended college betwee n 188 0 an d 1920 . Thes e "ne w women " constitute d a group whose untraditional behavior clearly and conclusively refute d conventional standard s an d expectation s fo r daughters— a grou p whose activities seemed particularly likely to generate major motherdaughter conflic t o f th e sor t that elicited s o muc h attentio n i n th e contemporary periodica l an d advic e literature . I t woul d no t hav e been surprisin g t o find tha t th e mother s o f thes e youn g wome n objected t o th e ne w pat h thei r offsprin g propose d t o follow . Bu t Eleanora Wheeler Bosworth was delighted that her daughter had the opportunity fo r higher education: "Oh Louise, I believe you have a future befor e you, " she wrote on Decembe r 3 , 1902 . "I am proud, proud, proud of my girlie. ... I am so glad you could go to college. ... I feel sorry for these girls who have a mother so narrow, that they have to wait until they are married before they can do the things that young people love to do."1 Mrs. Bosworth was not alone in her enthusiasm for her daughter's educational and professional aspirations . Support for daughters' goals and objective s i n th e face o f contradictory societa l imperative s ha d characterized American mothers' attitudes as early as the eighteenth century, when Eliza Lucas Pinckney "took equal pride in her daughter 's Latin and in her management of the dairy," despite the prevailing concern tha t too much education would lead women to neglect 9i 9 2 " i A M S O GLA D YO U COUL D G O T O COLLEGE " their domesti c roles. 2 Th e famil y experience s o f Louis e Boswort h and many of the other young women whose educational and profes sional endeavor s collectivel y provoke d s o muc h publi c controvers y around th e tur n o f th e centur y reflecte d th e continuatio n o f thi s trend. While tension and conflic t certainl y were not absent from th e mother-daughter relationshi p during this period, particularly during the year s o f adolescence , America n mother s essentiall y functione d more a s mentors fo r college-boun d daughter s tha n a s restrictive o r critical influence s o n thei r activities . Althoug h wome n misse d thei r daughters when they left home , worried about their health and wellbeing , and complaine d abou t variou s aspects of their behavior , ma ternal encouragement and confidence actually played a vital enabling role in the process of daughters' taking advantage of the new options available to them. Louise Bosworth became a "college daughter" in the early years of the ne w century , approximatel y halfwa y throug h th e 1880-192 0 period. I n 190 2 a college educatio n wa s not quite a s unusual fo r a woman a s i t ha d bee n twent y year s earlier , bu t i t wa s far fro m a commonplace experience . Typically, i t was not th e elite upper clas s American families, the wealthy "Brahmins," who sent their daughters to college, but it was members of the growing middle class who blazed this ne w trai l fo r women . Famil y backing , particularl y tha t o f a n enthusiastic mother, could be crucial for a daughter as she embarked on the new and distinctly untraditional path to higher education and possibly a professional career. 3 Eleanora Boswort h provide d suc h support . He r stron g advocac y of college for he r daughter pervade d thei r correspondence. "I hop e you wil l wor k har d i f yo u ar e abl e an...

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