Leadership, 1893 – present

Several remarkable women were instrumental in shaping the legacy of 4 rue de Chevreuse. Elisabeth Mills Reid purchased and donated the property to successive residential clubs which were responsible for its upkeep. Helen Rogers Reid bequeathed Reid Hall to Columbia University in 1964, ensuring its future. Virginia Gildersleeve chaired the Reid Hall Board and oversaw Reid Hall's activities for several decades. Dorothy F. Leet and Danielle Haase-Dubosc expertly managed the facilities and academic programs at Reid Hall for a combined seven decades.

[...] the women of Reid Hall had to draw on the modern repertoire of fund-raising techniques as well as on the institution's appeal to customers. The organizers brought together wealthy women (Mrs. Whitelaw Reid), professional women (Virginia Gildersleeve), and prominent women (a president's wife), united by their devotion to the common purposes of philanthropy/service, education, and internationalism [...] The women nourished access to and connections among the wealthy, the professional, and the prominent. They sought endorsements and support from "weighty" and "proper" people of both genders (Catharine R. Stimpson, manuscript, Reid Hall Centennial, 1993).