At a Meeting of the
Faculty of Vassar College
held
October twenty-second, nineteen hundred
and seventy-five, the following
Memorial
was unanimously adopted:
C. Mildred Thompson, one of Vassar's most distinguished
alumnae and for many years Professor of History and Dean, died on
February 16, 1975, in her ninety-fourth year.
After graduating with Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar in l903,
Miss Thompson attended Columbia, from which she received her M.A.
and Ph.D.. In 1935 she was awarded an Honorary L.L.D. from
Oglethorpe University.
In l908, Miss Thompson returned to Vassar as instructor
and in l923 was appointed Professor and Dean, positions she held
until her retirement in l948.
She was a woman of firm principles and extraordinary energy
While Dean she taught one course in the Department, History 360,
"America from the Civil War to the Present.“ From the mid-l930’s
onwards, she directed senior tutorials, which were the equivalent
of full courses and culminated in a written thesis.
Her influence on the college was felt in many areas. For
example, in l9l7 the Committee on Admissions was established, with
Miss Thompson as Chairman., The following year, she instituted a
change in the traditional procedure of admitting qualified appli-
cants solely in the order of their date of registration: 50 places
were held out for applicants taking competitive examinations. This
number gradually increased until the 30's, when all candidates were
required to take college entrance examinations for admission.
Parallel to her concern for academic excellence was her in-
terest in making it possible for young women of ability but lesser
means to attend Vassar. She worked unstintingly to acquire funds
for scholarships. In recognition of these efforts, the Board of
Trustees established in l92 the C. Mildred Thompson Scholarship
Fund.
In curricular matters she was a true educational pioneer,
always willing to accept change, and her brilliant Centennial Ad-
dress in l960 showed that this willingness increased with the years
From the time of her appointment as Dean, she took the lead in re-
visions of the Vassar curriculum - in the late l920’s reducing their
number of required courses and introducing independent study. In
l943, she led in the development of a plan for earning the degree
C. Mildred Thompson Memorial Minute
in three years by adding a ten-week term to the regular two term
year. This shorter term made possible the introduction of the first
inter-disciplinary courses, including “Today's Cities," “The Tennessee
Valley Authority,“ and a major in "Problems and Principles of Recon-
struction," to list only a few. The Three Year Plan, never adequately
financed and never supported by all the faculty, was terminated in the
"Back-to-Normalcy“ following the end of the war, but some of its ex-
perimental provisions were continued or subsequently re-introduced
into the curriculum.
Miss Thompson's duties involved a great deal of contact with
students, and she was revered, loved, and feared by many generations
at Vassar. Each entering freshman had to sign the Matriculation Book
in her presence, an experience many found awe-inspiring. In 1924,
an early date for such a program, she set up the first formal psy-
chiatric service for students. in l93l, she established the Board of
Residents replacing the former Wardens in order to bring closer the
life of the classroom and the life of the dormitory.
She maintained a lively intellectual curiosity, and with
President MacCracken founded a group known as “Pot Luck." Each year
the President and Dean invited eight members of the faculty, some
old, some new, to meet with them once a month. At each meeting one
of the faculty would report on his or her research, providing an
opportunity to share in discussion and understanding of scholarly
work in other disciplines.
Dean Thompson, a native of Atlanta, was a specialist in the
history of the South. Her best-known book was Reconstruction in
Georgia, published in l9l5, which dealt with “the world she had in-
herited from her parents.“ it has recently been reprinted in two
different editions. She wrote in a crisp, clear, straightforward
style, never mincing or wasting words, and in the l940’s tried her
hand, most effectively, at radio journalism. She traveled to New
York to broadcast the program, “Listen, the Women“ weekly over WJZ.
She was also a great success on “Information, Please,“receiving a
number of invitations to participate. A memorial for her ninety-
second birthday reports that among her souvenirs was an autographed
picture of Harpo Marx, with the caption: “To Mildred from her pin-
up boy, Harpo. I heard you yesterday, Baby, and you were really on
the beam!" Harpo asked for an autographed photo in return. Miss
Thompson sent a picture of her Yorkshire terrier, Becky, with the
inscription: “Love me! Love my dog!“
Miss Thompson was a friend of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt,
and often a guest at Hyde Park. When Roosevelt came to speak in front
of the old Poughkeepsie Post Office, for he did campaign in Dutchess,
County, even though he never carried it, she would be there with a
group of banner-waving Vassar students to greet him. She was especi-
ally active in the l936 campaign, chairing an “Educators' Committee
C. Mildred Thompson Memorial Minute
for the Re-Election of President Roosevelt.“ Other members of that
Committee included Presidents Marion Park of Bryn Mawr, Meta Glass
of Sweet Briar, Constance Warren of Sarah Lawrence, and Mary Wooley
of Mount Holyoke.
A brief sampling of Miss Thompson's many achievements beyond
the confines of Vassar might include her service as the only woman
member of the United States Delegation to the Conference of Allied
Ministers of Education held in London in the Spring of l944. She
flew both ways across the Atlantic in a military aircraft, her first
introduction to air travel. On the day of her return she came to
faculty tea announcing that she had had breakfast in London, and that
she had been the only woman on the plane. All this at age 62; Later,
as an outgrowth of that wartime conference, she was a member of the
American Delegation to draft the UNESCO Charter, along with Senator
Fulbright and Justice Frankfurter.
" When she left Vassar in l9h8 she was selected by Time Magazine
as the only woman on its list of eminent faculty retiring that year.
lime portrayed her as an "outspoken feminist,“ an "internationalist,“
and an “F.D.R. Democrat,“ in that order. Though Time may not have“
meant it as a compliment, Miss Thompson did not protest this descrip-
tion.
After her retirement, she taught history at the University of
Georgia. Some members of the Varsity football team were in her course
and she claimed that her greatest challenge was to get them sufficiently
interested in the material for her to be able to give them passing
grades... In l952-53, she served as Dean of Women at the College of
Free Europe in Strasbourg, a school for exiles from Communist coun-
tries. She remained active in civic and cultural affairs in Atlanta
for many years thereafter.
Since l964, thanks to the generosity of an Alumna who has
wished to remain anonymous, the Department of History has been able
to offer the C. Mildred Thompson lectures. Distinguished historians
from other universities are invited to lecture and to conduct classes,
and these semi-annual events have become an institution in the depart-
ment, almost a part of the curriculum, and a great benefit to students
and faculty alike. They will provide an ongoing tribute to a bril-
liant, courageous and independent-minded woman, whose influence will
be felt as long as there is a Vassar.
Respectfully submitted,
Evalyn A. Clark, '24, Professor Emeritus of History
Elizabeth M. Drouilhet, '30, Dean of Residence
David L. Schalk, Associate Professor and Chairman,
Department of History