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Wander down the spiral staircase in Esther Raushenbush Library and you’ll find the Sarah Lawrence College Archives, where nearly 100 years of history is preserved for research and reflection. Photos, manuscripts, news clippings, presidential papers, even theatre playbills offer a glimpse into past generations of Sarah Lawrence. The Archives protects the cultural and institutional memory of Sarah Lawrence, capturing what life was like during significant moments in the College’s history, both on-campus and beyond Westlands Gate. While it began as a junior college for white upperclass women, the Sarah Lawrence community has grown and changed over its 95-year history enrolling men, students of color, and international students. On the following pages, you’ll see how SLC students contributed to conservation during World War II, felt the impact of McCarthyism when our own professors were put on trial, and laid the foundation for Women’s History Month against the backdrop of the women’s liberation movement—continually working to create a diverse and welcoming campus for all, work that continues today. As we move through a significant historical moment, it’s worth looking back at a few of the moments that contributed to Sarah Lawrence’s lasting legacy of advocacy and progressivism.

1926

Sarah LawrenceWilliam van Duzer Lawrence
William Lawrence founded Sarah Lawrence College as a women’s liberal arts college in honor of his late wife, Sarah Bates Lawrence, with the first class arriving in 1928. Inspired by the Oxford system, the College pedagogy employed John Dewey’s progressive education model to encourage student and faculty collaboration, along with high levels of independent scholarship. Like today, students had frequent individual meetings with their professors to discuss their research projects. Sarah Lawrence photo credit: Caroline Parsons
Wisdom with understanding

1930

Westlands lawn in 1930
117 students graduated in the Class of 1930, a record class size at the time.
Students working in publication office
Students work in the Publications Office.
Depression area photo of students
During the Great Depression, economics students partnered with the nearby Yonkers and Tuckahoe housing authorities to conduct five-week surveys in local communities; their data was used to help improve housing conditions.

1936

Students studying outside
Mary Morris Lawrence, Class of 1934, was the first female photographer for the Associated Press. She returned to campus after graduation to capture beautiful scenes from the College’s earliest years.

1941–55

Students standing in front of bus
Never a community to shy away from harsh realities, economics and social science students participated in field trips to the Tennessee Valley Authority to learn about life and economic realities in the rural segregated south. Students were given a firsthand look at the role of agriculture in the national economy, and how governmental agencies influenced programs related to the social needs of the region.

1942

War office Students pinning items to bulletin board
During World War II, every American was expected to contribute to the war effort, and Sarah Lawrence students were no exception. The student War Board worked out of the enclosed gazebo, now known as the Teahaus, where students found work and service placement in the local community. War office photo credit: Rizzolla photo service.

1943–44

Students loading truck
In less than two years, students recycled approximately seven tons of paper and 2,400 tin cans and collected stockings and rags for reuse in the war effort to create things like rope, parachutes, and mosquito nets.

1946–51

Male students in lab
While SLC didn’t officially become co-educational for a few more years, our first male students enrolled under the GI Bill, which provided educational support to veterans after World War II. Photo credit: Francis E. Falkenbury, Jr.

1951

Students watching the McCarthy hearings
During the era of McCarthyism, 18 current and former faculty members were accused of communist and subversive activities by the American Legion and US Senate. The SLC community was vocally and unwaveringly supportive of the accused faculty members—especially SLC President Harold Taylor, who publicly reiterated his commitment to intellectual and academic freedom on college campuses.

1960

1960 picketing Woolworth's department store
Against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and mounting national protests to end whites-only lunch counters, students coordinated a picket and boycott of the Bronxville Woolworth’s.

1968

1968 students on campus
The College officially became fully co-educational—it wasn’t the first time male students were on-campus, though. In addition to male students admitted through the GI Bill, graduate programs admitted men since their inception in 1949. Photo credit: Gary Gladstone

1970

1970 national student strike
Students participated in the National Student Strike against the war in Vietnam, along with students from 450 other colleges and high schools.

1972

Gerda Lerner with two students
Gerda Lerner (center) founded the Women’s History Graduate Program, the first of its kind in the United States. Photo credit: Rosemary Quesada-Weiner

1975

Yonkers outreach program Theatre outreach
Recognizing the value of self-expression, the Theatre Outreach program was founded to share different artforms with local schools, community centers, museums, libraries, hospitals, and prisons. Students led lessons in writing, acting, singing, and improv. Photo credit: Gary Gladstone

1979

Write women back into history button
Leaders from prominent national women’s organizations convened for SLC’s Summer Institute for Women’s History, resulting in, among other things, the successful lobbying of the US Congress to designate an official National Women’s History Week—which we still celebrate today as National Women’s History Month.

1988

Toni Morrison
During her commencement address, Toni Morrison encouraged graduates to avoid comic book solutions to biblical problems in nuclear times. Photo credit: Sven Martson
I want to talk about the activity you are always warned against as being wasteful, impractical, hopeless. I want to talk about dreaming ... engaged, direct daytime vision. About entrance into another space.

—Toni Morrison

1995

Students studying in dorm room
Students studying in their dorm.
Regina Arnold
Regina Arnold founded the Right-to-Write program, where students collaborate with writing faculty to facilitate reading and writing workshops with incarcerated people at a nearby correctional facility. The program continues to offer workshops and classes in Westchester and Yonkers.