Dorothy F. Leet, 1894 – 1994

To the resident students she was a kind and helpful friend. One of them said of the early days that 'Miss Leet was a radiant spirit whom all the students adored.' Her courage, her persistence, her imaginative ability in administration, the charm and distinction of her presence, have made her an ideal leader in this project in international understanding (Minutes of the annual meeting of members of Reid Hall, November 11, 1931).

Dorothy Flagg Leet with her dog Gillie, ca. 1956. RH archives

Dorothy Flagg Leet, who led Reid Hall from 1927 to 1938, and again from 1946 to 1964, was a remarkable individual whose accomplishments merit more than the few lines we have devoted to her. Though she was greatly admired and honored during her lifetime, like the many women who lived and worked at Reid Hall, her legacy has remained in the shadows. Yet the very existence of Reid Hall, anchored as it is in French-American relations, and so deeply dedicated to education, research, and the role of women in these two arenas, is in no small part a result of her leadership. While the property was gifted first by Elisabeth Mills Reid and then by her daughter-in-law, Helen Rogers Reid, its soul was animated by Leet’s unflagging work and dedication. In her alumna profile, Helen Raebeck Rachlin (Barnard `38) best summarizes the inextricable bond between Leet and Reid Hall: “To several generations of Barnard students, and indeed of college women from all countries of the world, Dorothy Leet and Reid Hall have been virtually synonymous” (Barnard Alumnae Magazine, 1956, 9).

Leet herself perceived this inextricable bond. When the question of who would succeed her were evoked in 1959, she expressed her strong affection for Reid Hall and its leaders whom she considered as her "family" (Letter to Reid, March 4, 1959):

I am sure you know that it is agonizing for me even to think of the time when I cannot "do" for Reid Hall, but my belief in it and what it can do are so strong that I certainly want to find the best person for its next stage (Letter to Reid, February 12, 1959).

Photo of Dorothy Flagg Leet The Mortarboard: The Yearbook of Barnard College Published by the Class of 1917, vol. 23, p. 157. Barnard digital collections.
Photo of Dorothy Flagg Leet, The Mortarboard: The Yearbook of Barnard College Published by the Class of 1917, vol. 23, p. 157. Barnard digital collections.
Photo of Helen Leet The Mortarboard: The Yearbook of Barnard College Published by the Class of 1917, vol. 23, p. 157. Barnard digital collections.
Photo of Helen Leet, The Mortarboard: The Yearbook of Barnard College Published by the Class of 1917, vol. 23, p. 157. Barnard digital collections.

Born in New York City on December 18, 1894, Dorothy was the second daughter of George Edwin Leet and Ada Pauline Winsor. Her father was a businessman, vestryman of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and a direct descendant of William Leete, Governor of the New Haven Colony. For her middle name, Dorothy adopted her grandmother’s (Jennie E. Flagg) surname, a sign of their close relationship (Femmes Diplômée, Feb. Arch 1956, n.9, 1-2). Her older sister, Helen Winsor Leet, was born on August 9, 1893, and also attended Barnard College, graduating at the same time as Dorothy. The Barnard yearbook for 1917 listed their address as 409 West 129 Street. Helen later became a teacher of English and Latin at various private schools in the New York area. An Alumna makes a special point of comparing her to her younger sister in The 1933 Barnard College Alumnae Monthly:

Also I think that while we all know Dorothy Leet and the glory she reflects on Barnard, you are missing something in not checking up on the career of less well-known sister, Helen Leet, 1917. She has just been elected president of the Private School Teachers Association, affectionately called by her friends the "Private Ass."  She takes it very seriously and this summer, when we were abroad, was doing some interesting research for it (16).

Barnard College Greek Games in 1914-15. Members of Class of 1917: Dorothy Leet (standing), Freda Wobber Marden, and Helen Leet. Photograph retrieved from Barnard digital collections.

While at Barnard, Dorothy studied economics and was active in the Glee Club, Young Women’s Christian Association, Athletic Association, Undergraduate Association, and the College Settlements Association (which engaged in outreach to poor families). She and her sister participated each year in the chorus and dance section of the Barnard Greek Games, which Dorothy chaired in 1917.

After graduation, Dorothy worked in the Secretary’s office at Barnard, counseling students on housing and social activities. She also joined the newly-founded International Federation of University Women (IFUW), which she would later represent at UNESCO, and then lead from 1953-1956. 

From her time as a student, then as an employee, and later as the head of Reid Hall, she and Virginia Gildersleeve, Dean of Barnard College, developed a close working relationship, as they sought to establish and nurture a network of international women, and to evolve Reid Hall’s educational mission. In 1950, Gildersleeve wrote an article about Reid Hall for the American Society Legion of Honor Magazine, in which she lauded Leet's acumen:

She came to us in her youth in 1924 as Secretary of Reid Hall. Soon she was Acting Director and then Director, so that for twelve years before World War II she guided the destiny of our Centre. A graduate of Barnard College, with a good background of travel in Europe and America, she had had but little active experience in international affairs before coming to Reid Hall; but she quickly learned the intricate web of life in Paris and the relationships between nations, institutions, government departments, groups of all kinds, and piloted our ship with remarkable wisdom, vision and tact. […] Reid Hall is very largely her creation" (317-318).

MIss Leet with her dog, Gillie, in Reid Hall's courtyard, Source

Leet initially came to Paris to serve as secretary to Louisa K. Fast, the first Director of the American University Women’s Club (renamed Reid Hall after its patroness in 1928). Following Fast’s forced resignation in 1927, Leet became the second director of the Club and steered Reid Hall through the Great Depression and the tumultuous 1930s. Under her leadership, Reid Hall flourished, becoming a model of French-American cultural cooperation that drew lecturers and guests from the international spheres of art, science, literature, and public affairs.

As the world lurched toward another catastrophic war, Leet stepped down in 1938 and took on the position of Secretary of the Foreign Policy Association in New York. She appointed her faithful assistant of ten years, Wellesley graduate Sara D. Porter, as her successor. Porter, however, only stayed a few months, departing in late 1938 to become the secretary to the President of the American Foreign Policy Association in Washington, a position she held until 1950 (NYT December 5, 1980).

During the war, Leet worked tirelessly to aid the cause of international cooperation in the face of such a crushing conflict. In 1943, she spoke at a Barnard College Forum on “Some Dangers in American Public Opinion,” an event which was opened by Dean Gildersleeve and Helen Rogers Reid. Leet cautioned the audience not only against making high moral statements without understanding their import, but also against imposing American viewpoints and institutions on foreign countries.

Reid Hall's reopening, February 12, 1948. The seated dignitaries in the library are (from left): U.S. Ambassador to France Jefferson Caffery; Miss Dorothy Leet; French Director General of Cultural Relations in the Foreign Affairs Ministry Louis Joxe; Smith College Junior Year Abroad Director Miss Madeleine Guilleton. Associated Press.

Following the devastation of World War II, it was, unsurprisingly, Dorothy Leet who was entrusted to travel to Paris in 1946 in order to evaluate the condition of Reid Hall and determine how it could best serve American students and professors. After resigning from her position in New York, she agreed to stay on in Paris as President of Reid Hall. From the outset, Leet reinstated the French chapter of the IFUW at 4 rue de Chevreuse and supported its activities. More importantly, she seized on the opportunities afforded by new study-abroad programs which had developed at American colleges and universities after WWII, and for whom France was a key destination. She made regular visits to American university campuses where she spoke about Reid Hall's mission. She not only reached out to existing study programs, proposing that students reside and even take classes at Reid Hall, but she also created Reid Hall's own summer or annual academic programs. Through her efforts, 4 rue de Chevreuse progressively morphed from a residential facility to a study center, with the administrative headquarters of several colleges and universities housed on-site. In the early 1950s, Reid Hall went co-ed, staging specific cultural activities for male and female students, residents, colleagues, and friends. Until 1964, when the property was gifted to Columbia University, it was the premier study-abroad location in France. During this period, Leet regularly reported to Gildersleeve and Reid Hall's Board of Directors in New York. Her reports and correspondence, which can be consulted at Barnard’s archives, are exceptional examples of clarity of purpose and determination.

Sara D. Porter returned to Paris to assist Dorothy Leet from 1950 to 1964. While both lived at Reid Hall, there is little documentation on what Porter’s actual duties involved. Leet and Porter remained close and even traveled together throughout their lives. Porter died at the age of 86 in 1980 at her home in Hightown, N.J.

Sarah Porter

Leet was always involved in developing Reid Hall’s activities but she also devoted much energy to maintaining the premises and upgrading the property, working with architects, interior decorators, gardeners, and even restaurateurs. In the late 1920s, she oversaw a complete restoration of Reid Hall’s roofs, the renovation of the annex (today’s Institute building), and a clean-up of the garden areas. After World War II, she raised funds to once again upgrade the facilities and back garden. Visitors often described elegantly-outfitted common rooms and bedrooms, a dining room worthy of its French cuisine, and an atmosphere in which congeniality mingled with propriety:

It is not happenstance, nor even the happy predispositions of all these young girls [who resided at Reid Hall], that defined the atmosphere of the Club. All the cordiality in freedom, it is to Miss Leet and to her alone that we owe it. On any occasion [...] she was there, always discreet, always smiling, always helpful, knowing how to offer a treat and ... a moratorium at the end of the month. She avoided or deflected all clashes because she understood the French as naturally as she understood her compatriot (translated from the French, Femmes diplômée, n° 53, 1965, 11).

“Work” seems to have defined Dorothy Leet's existence and, according to all those who came into her orbit, she was quite a steamroller, thoroughly driven by her duties and tasks. Helen Raebeck Rachlin described her intense work ethic in an alumna profile (Barnard Alumnae Bulletin 1956):

Since even this partial listing of her activities adds up to a schedule for at least two people, Miss Leet meets that problem by frequently putting in two days work in one. ‘Many times I sit down at my desk after dinner to work,’ Miss Leet commented, ‘and when I am through, and draw open the curtains, I see that the sun is already lighting the rooftops” (9).

Going all the way back to her Barnard yearbook from 1917, the caption under Leet’s picture reads: “Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all” (Mortarboard, 1917, page). This quotation from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona seems to embody her private self. Though her professional correspondence and documentation is well-preserved, private photos, letters, and other personal artifacts are not extant. The true nature of her relationship with Sara Porter is unclear, though their decades-long affiliation, including world travel and retiring together to New Jersey for their final years, seems to indicate a true partnership.

Despite the relative secrecy surrounding Leet’s private affairs, the public persona was warm, radiant, and celebrated in American and French circles. In addition to the kindness she showed to Reid Hall's residents, Leet demonstrated early on her exceptional skills as an administrator and leader, qualities that did not wane with time. The Board of Directors' meeting minutes from November 11, 1931 testify to her many achievements: 

As there were a number of members present who had stayed at Reid Hall during the past year Mrs Reid [Helen Rogers Reid] asked that they tell of their impressions […] They were unanimous in praise of Miss Leet. They said she had accomplished marvels; that she gave herself unstintingly to the interests of the Club and to the care of those staying there; that she is admired and liked by the French; that she is a most capable representative of the Club in the various circles in Paris and a charming hostess. [...] It was said that the atmosphere was delightful and homelike; the dining room well run and the food so good that it spoiled them for Switzerland’s hotels. […].

These words were echoed in Barnard Professor Clare Howard’s description of her visit to Reid Hall:

Grace and quiet are in this house. The personality of Dorothy Leet fits it and preserves it. Whether your fancy plays round her, as she crosses the courtyard, in suggestions which make of her a comtesse, or an abbess, or a Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur, by me she is always remembered as a nymph in Greek Games – a nymph in green with long golden hair, who danced more beautifully than any I have ever seen since (October 1934 issue of the Barnard College Alumnae Monthly Magazine, 12) [reference to the Barnard Greek games in which Leet danced.]

Leet and a Smith student in the student's room

Leet’s activities extended well beyond the perimeter of 4 rue de Chevreuse, but she always advertised Reid Hall’s mission to the wide variety of people with whom she came into contact. It certainly didn’t hurt that she spoke fluent French, English, Italian, and German (Herald Tribune, April 26, 1934 page). Over the course of her storied four-decade career, Leet founded or actively participated in many Franco-American and international organizations. The long list is indicative of her professional engagement in women’s education and advocacy and her commitment to social reform and development. Leet worked ceaselessly as a kind of ambassador, traveling throughout the world to recruit and engage groups from every continent, and to arrange congresses that encouraged the exchange of ideas. A seasoned traveler to most European countries, including France, Italy, Switzerland, England, Belgium, Holland, and Spain, she also visited the Eastern Mediterranean region, journeying across Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. While serving as president of the IFUW from 1953-1956, she visited nearly all of the 54 member associations in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the 1950s and 1960s, she also undertook many recruiting trips to the United States, touring more than thirty colleges and universities in the hopes of attracting students to France for study and cultural enrichment.

Dorothy F. Leet with colleagues at the IFUW's Asian and Pacific Regional Meeting, January 1955. Retrieved from Rachlin, p. 9

Through her travels and activities with the IFUW, American women's colleges and clubs, and French associations, she cultivated quite a global network of politicians, academics, and socialites. She invited all sorts of people to Reid Hall, often as residents or guest speakers, but also to attend receptions, luncheons, teas, and dinners. Students, residents, and friends were also invited to participate in the myriad activities she organized on- or off-site:

In a quiet way the Director finds out the special interest of a guest, who somehow meets just the right person in Paris to open all doors leading to her hobby. Among the mazes of French officialdom, the one person who holds the key to certain manuscripts appears for tea or dinner at Reid Hall. A charming invitation often follows, and the student is shortly launched upon the richness of French intellectual life. This sometimes happens to students who live alone in hotels or families in Paris, but is usually a long and slow business. Here Dorothy Leet makes these invaluable contacts one of her primary occupations (Howard 12).

Leet was decorated by the French government a remarkable five times for her work in international relations and education. She also received many honors from American institutions, including the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Rutgers University and Smith College (June, 1954).

Dorothy F. Leet with David K. E. Bruce, Ambassador of the U.S. to France, during the ceremony honoring her as Officer of the Légion d'Honneur. Photograph retrieved from New York Herald Tribune, Paris, July 31, 1950, n.p. RH archives, scrapbook.

She retired in 1964 when Helen Rogers Reid gifted 4 rue de Chevreuse to Columbia University. After a short trip to Portugal, she and Miss Porter undertook a voyage around the world. When they returned to Paris following their travels, the AFDU bid them farewell at a ceremony on February 26, 1965, including a dinner at UNESCO’s restaurant. More than 60 members of the association gathered to listen to a speech by the AFFDU’s president, Mlle Marie Lainé, addressed to both Leet and Porter, which emphasized Leet’s accomplishments and thanked her for ensuring that the Association could keep its headquarters at Reid Hall. The 1965 bulletin of the Association, Femmes diplômées, was entirely devoted to Reid Hall and Dorothy Leet (n°53, 1965).

Leet and Porter left for New York in December 1965.

 

 

Leet honoring Nadia Boulanger on the occasion of her 90th birthday celebration at Reid Hall, 1978. Photograph retrieved from the RH archives.

Even though she was retired, Leet retained a seat on the Reid Hall Board of Directors and on the Sterling Currier Fund advisory group, as President Emerita, until her death at nearly 100 years of age. She returned to Paris and Reid Hall on a number of occasions and attended the 1978 celebration of Nadia Boulanger's 90th anniversary.

Leet died on March 3, 1994 at Meadow Lakes Nursing Home in Hightstown, New Jersey. Since she had no surviving family members (Porter had passed away at home in Hightstown in 1980), she established a detailed plan in the event of her death. She wished for no funeral service, and asked to be cremated with the urn buried in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Additionally, she left Reid Hall, Inc. instructions to establish a fund (the Dorothy F. Leet Fund) to support programs in Paris that fostered Franco-American understanding.

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