Catholic Women's Colleges in America (review)

The stated aim of this collection of essays is to open up what has been "a closed book"—the history of Catholic colleges founded by women religious. The editors make no claim that it is definitive, but it is a significant landmark which should serve to stimulate scholarly interest in a topic that has been grievously neglected. The scope of the activity alone warrants investigation. Leaving aside junior colleges and those founded strictly for sister-students (over a hundred of which existed at one time or another), the number of four-year colleges founded by Catholic women religious increased from ten in 1918 to 142 in 1968. Today only about twenty still restrict their enrollment to women, but some ninety others have become coeducational institutions, not a few of which are now universities.

The origins of the volume at hand go back to a November, 1994, conference held at the offices of the Lilly Endowment, which has supported the project from the beginning. All the contributors are experienced educators; twelve of the fourteen are women, two of whom have served as presidents of Catholic women's colleges. As is usually the case in such collections, the chapters vary in approach and execution, and readers will differ in how they evaluate the results. Chapters by Thomas M. Landy, Mary J. Oates, David R. Contosta, and Melanie M. Morey struck me as particularly meaty and rewarding.

Though Landy is a sociologist rather than a historian, his chapter comes closest to providing an overall picture of how Catholic colleges for women evolved over time. He accomplishes this by careful examination of statistics derived from the biennial reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Education and the College Blue Book series. His data trace exponential growth of institutions until 1968. The sharp decline that followed was partially offset by the shift to coeducation and by expanded curricular offerings that attracted so many non-traditional students that overall enrollments grew significantly. In speculating on what caused the mushrooming of institutions in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, Landy stresses the point that many different communities of nuns, most of which were already involved in education and were also attracting new vocations in record numbers, decided independently to open their own colleges. The obverse of this "supply side" explanation of growth would also apply to the very different situation that prevailed after 1968.

Oates's chapter, "Sisterhoods and Catholic Higher Education, 1890-1960," offers no overall scheme of historical development or periodization. It is, however, so densely packed with empirical information under topical headings ("Founding Colleges," "Developing Curricula," etc.) that it constitutes the best historical account of Catholic women's colleges available for the period covered. In keeping with her background as an economist, Oates's treatment of the financing of women's colleges is particularly rewarding. Among other valuable points she makes, Oates provides solid evidence for the belief that the Catholic women's colleges were effective recruiting agencies for sisterhoods—during their heyday of expansion, about ten percent of their graduates entered the convent.

Contosta treats student life at three of Philadelphia's Catholic women's colleges—Immaculata, Rosemont, and Chestnut Hill—from their foundation in the 1920's until the early 1970's. Rosemont, the only one not to grow from a pre-existing academy, had the wealthiest constituency, benefited from the special affection of Cardinal Dougherty, and was Fulton J. Sheen's "favorite college." Chestnut Hill's student body was less upscale than Rosemont's; a bit more so than Immaculata's. Not coincidentally, Immaculata offered the widest range of vocationally oriented subjects, while Rosemont was the most ardently devoted to liberal education as an end in itself. In addition to these revealing sidelights on social class and its relation to curricula, Contosta covers the full spectrum of campus life: religious climate, disciplinary rules...