Virginia C. Gildersleeve, 1877 – 1965

Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve, born in New York in 1877, began her undergraduate studies at Barnard College in 1895, just six years after its founding. She graduated in 1899, then went on to earn an M.A. in medieval history (1900) and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature (1908) from Columbia University. In 1911, Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler, a lifelong friend, appointed her Dean of Barnard. She also served as Adviser to Women Graduate Students at Columbia.

Gildersleeve was a pioneering advocate for women in education, administration, and civic leadership. Her achievements reflect a deep commitment to women’s advancement and global engagement. She was not only the Dean of Barnard College but also a founding member of the International Federation of University Women, Chair of the Advisory Council of WAVES (the Navy’s women’s unit), Chair of the American Council on Education, and a co-founder of the Seven College Conference of Women’s Colleges. Gildersleeve was appointed to the United Nations Charter Committee and took part in the U.S. educational mission to Japan. At both Columbia and Barnard, she opened doors for women in fields like medicine, law, and engineering.

As Dean of Barnard College for thirty-six years, Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve played a pivotal role in the history of Reid Hall, though many biographies often overlook her significant contributions in Paris. This account will set aside the well-known aspects of her life and career to focus on her influence on the evolution of 4 rue de Chevreuse. Correspondence and reports from the Columbia and Barnard archives highlight her unwavering dedication to Reid Hall, whose board she led from approximately 1922 to 1952. Even during WWII, when the University Women’s Club was succeeded by the École normale supérieure des jeunes filles de Sèvres, Gildersleeve remained in close contact not only with French and American leaders but also with American supporters of the Club. After retiring as Dean of Barnard in 1947, she continued to work tirelessly alongside Dorothy F. Leet to guide Reid Hall into a new era.

Gildersleeve’s involvement with 4 rue de Chevreuse was deeply rooted in her commitment to international relations and the advancement of university women. Her values aligned closely with those of Elisabeth Mills Reid, who supported French culture, women artists, and nurses. Furthermore, Reid’s daughter-in-law, Helen Rogers Reid, was a Barnard alumna (Class of 1903), as were Roselle Lathrop Shield (Class of 1898) and Dorothy F. Leet (Class of 1917), both of whom directed 4 rue de Chevreuse at different times.

As early as 1918, Gildersleeve began envisioning an international network of university women who, "united globally […] could work for understanding, friendship, and foster peace" (Rønning 2). During the visit of the British educational mission to the United States that year, she met Caroline Spurgeon (University of London) and Rose Sidgwick (University of Birmingham). On July 11, 1919, they reconvened in London, joined by Winnifred Cullis (Chair of Medicine at the University of London), and together they founded the International Federation of University Women (IFUW). The first IFUW conference took place in London in 1920, with representatives from nine national federations in attendance (Rønning 2).

Even before the founding of the IFUW, Gildersleeve envisioned 4 rue de Chevreuse as a potential meeting space for women. On October 21, 1918, she sought the advice of Roselle Lathrop Shields, who had previously directed the Girls’ Art Club and managed the property when it served as a Red Cross hospital. Although Shields supported the idea, she expressed concerns about the many challenges to realizing it (November 26, 1918). Undeterred, Gildersleeve presented her vision to a group of university women and later summarized her plans in a letter to Alice Parsons, a notable Smith alumna, whom she “commissioned” to visit 4 rue de Chevreuse as part of the broader effort to establish an international network of university women:

The Paris centre might, it seems to me, begin on a small scale as a headquarter for information and sociability, for University women, especially students. It should not, I think, be primarily concerned with supplying a place of residence, though it might do this in a small way incidentally. Its aim should be chiefly to bring the university women in touch with one another and with characteristic phases of French life and thought. It would be unfortunate to have it confined to American college women alone. It might begin as an Anglo-American centre and later take in women of other nationalities. It could be largely supported by a membership fee, but would undoubtedly need some contributions to finance it at the beginning (Letter from Gildersleeve to Parsons, February 10, 1919).

Upon her return in May from travels through England, France, and Italy, Alice Parsons reported back to Gildersleeve that she had met with notable figures such as Caroline Spurgeon, Roselle Shields, and Elisabeth Reid, among others. Parsons observed “a really profound interest in the project as a basis of international, academic, and feminist understanding” (letter to Gildersleeve, May 14, 1919). Armed with this positive feedback, Gildersleeve approached Elisabeth Mills Reid, who expressed strong interest in the project, with the condition that it would begin once the Red Cross had vacated the property. Reid clarified that the buildings were hers and that she would continue covering the $5,000 annual lease of the land for the next seven years, with the expectation that the group would purchase the land at the end of the lease (at an estimated cost of $100,000). She also offered to transfer ownership of the buildings to the group (as noted in Gildersleeve’s letter to Parsons, May 28, 1919). According to Gildersleeve, Reid was likely drawn to this proposal through:

[…] the eyes of her brilliant daughter-in-law, Mrs. Ogden Reid (Helen Rogers), for whose judgment she had great respect. Mrs. Ogden Reid, now President of the New York Herald-Tribune, was a graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University, deeply interested in international affairs and naturally associated with the small group of American university women who saw a vision of what this Paris centre might accomplish (1950, 315).

Gildersleeve confirmed that the group, which Reid referred to as “the ladies,” was indeed interested in retaining the property and would wait until June 1922 (cable to Reid, February 7, 1921; letter to Reid, February 9, 1921). She visited the property in June 1921 and expressed her satisfaction with the numerous upgrades made since her previous visit in 1909 (Gildersleeve to Reid, July 6, 1921).

On June 1, 1922, Elisabeth Mills Reid formally “granted use of the property” rent-free for five years to the following board of managers:

• Virginia Gildersleeve, Chair (Barnard)
• Mrs. Elon H. [Blanche Ferry] Hooker, Treasurer (Vassar)
• Miss. M. Carey Thomas (Bryn Mawr)
• Mrs. Edgerton Parsons (Smith)
• Mrs. Ogden Reid (Barnard)
• Mrs. William Morton Wheeler (Wellesley)
• Miss Virginia Newcomb, Secretary

The Club’s formal opening occurred in July 1922 during the second IFUW conference at 4 rue de Chevreuse, where the French chapter was inaugurated, with Marie Curie serving as honorary president from 1922 to 1934. Gildersleeve was appointed President of the IFUW from 1924 to 1926 and again from 1936 to 1939.

When Reid Hall was thus born, just after the First World War, it was a time of active ferment in the field of international education, where many new organizations were being founded in an effort to guard against the development of another similar cataclysm. Alas, they were not successful, but our hopes were great and we tried very hard. As Chairman from the beginning of the Board of the American University Women’s Paris Club, later Reid Hall, I was much interested in helping to link it with the other groups then growing up, for I think it most unfortunate when organizations with a similar purpose rival and duplicate each other instead of collaborating happily. So we worked with the Institute of International Education, the American University Union in Paris and in London and especially the International Federation of University Women. Of this great organization the French member, the Association des Femmes Diplômées des Universités, has always had its headquarters at Reid Hall and has been of inestimable help to us in linking us closely with French life and thought. We owe much to our French sisters. The American member federation, the American Association of University Women, has also been a sponsor and supporter of our work, sometimes formally, at other times without constitutional connection but warmly giving sympathy and encouragement. To the French government we owe immense gratitude. It has encouraged and aided us in many ways and in times of financial stress it has honored us with a subsidy. Our friends the Ambassadors who have during our lifetime represented the United States in Paris have also been of inestimable help (Gildersleeve 1950, 316-317).

The Club encountered its first major challenge in 1926 when Elisabeth Mills Reid expressed disappointment with both the property’s upkeep and the attitudes of its residents, whom she felt prioritized travel and leisure over serious study. In response, Gildersleeve took decisive action, replacing the current director, Louisa K. Fast, with Fast’s assistant, Dorothy F. Leet. Leet would go on to lead the property for nearly forty years. Gildersleeve and Leet maintained close communication through letters, reports, and cablegrams, with Gildersleeve visiting 4 rue de Chevreuse regularly and Leet making annual trips to the United States.

The onset of WWII brought Club operations to a halt. Dorothy Leet and her successor had already returned to the U.S., leaving Gildersleeve as the primary liaison for matters concerning Reid Hall’s future. In her autobiography, Many a Good Crusade, Gildersleeve reflected on her somber 1939 visit to Paris:

On a newspaper bulletin board I read accounts of alleged atrocities perpetrated by the Poles on German women. In Paris the following morning the news of the Russo-German Pact told us that war was certain. Dean Margaret Morriss of Pembroke College, President of the American Association of University Women, had traveled down from Sweden with me. We went to stay at Reid Hall, but in the afternoon we wandered out across the river and sat in the Tuileries Gardens watching the flowers and the fountains playing and the children at their games. We knew that it would be a long time before we saw again this familiar scene. That night, in the Director’s Salon of Reid Hall, with the light dimmed very low, Mrs. Cooper, then director, her young secretary Barbara Howard, Dean Morriss and I, and later two French friends of ours, M. and Mme. Puech, discussed how best to evacuate the residents and to secure some protection for the buildings (162-163).

Back in the U.S., Gildersleeve coordinated with the Club's Board of Directors, the leadership of the French chapter of the IFUW, and Helen Rogers Reid to ensure that the property could endure the challenges of another major war. She later reflected on those months of uncertainty:

At first we tried to work out a plan for housing Polish university women in Reid Hall. […] From the moment the Germans entered Belgium and Holland it was clear that Reid Hall would probably not be a safe place to assemble refugees. Then came the flood of Belgians, and in this emergency Reid Hall was opened for a time and some Belgian teachers and their families took refuge there. […] But all refugees had to push on towards the South, for soon the Germans came and darkness settled on the City of Light. […] As the darkness of the occupation spread over France our French friends found a way to protect Reid Hall as well as was possible under the circumstances. The property was loaned by us to the Ministry of Public Instruction for the use of the École Normale de Sèvres (1950, 319-320).

When the war ended in 1945 and the École appeared reluctant to vacate Reid Hall, Gildersleeve played a crucial role in reclaiming the property. She leveraged her extensive network of governmental and academic contacts and persuaded Dorothy Leet (who needed little convincing) to return to Paris and negotiate the property’s rightful return to the Board of Directors. In 1947, when Reid Hall was finally reclaimed by its American membership, Gildersleeve and Leet worked closely to rebuild a network of resident scholars and to welcome the increasing number of American graduate and undergraduate students studying in Paris. They provided office space for the French Federation of University Women, and the International Federation of University Women continued to use Reid Hall as its Paris headquarters.

With Leet once again leading Reid Hall, this time as President, the institution flourished, gaining significant prestige as a French-American educational center and becoming a popular venue for international conferences and academic meetings. As before, Leet regularly sent detailed reports to Gildersleeve and the Board of Directors, describing the daily activities at 4 rue de Chevreuse. In 1950, Gildersleeve authored an extensive article on Reid Hall for the Journal of the American Society of the Legion of Honor, concluding with remarks that resonate to this day and attest to her contributions and those of the many women who supported Reid Hall’s mission:

So our centre, though small in size compared with the vast organizations working in the educational field, has really achieved happy results, promoted knowledge and international understanding, and opened new visions of life to many a young student. It remains very elastic, ready to explore and try out new ideas. It has high hopes for the future (324).

Gildersleeve championed all educated women, whether married or single, and spoke out against the discrimination faced by women who chose to spend their lives with other women—a poignant stance informed by her own relationships with figures like Caroline Spurgeon. Leaders like Gildersleeve and Leet ensured that Reid Hall was a sanctuary for those who led unconventional lives, including classicist Jane Harrison and her partner, poet and writer Hope Mirrlees, who resided there from 1922 to 1925.

Gildersleeve’s dedication to and vision of Reid Hall as a international center for university women and as a study-abroad destination laid the groundwork for its evolution as the European intellectual hub of Columbia University in 1964. From her early years as a student at Barnard and Columbia to her transformative tenure as Barnard’s Dean and her distinguished leadership in internationalism and women’s causes, Gildersleeve was a central force in Reid Hall’s survival and success through the 20th century. Although many remarkable women contributed to guiding and sustaining 4 rue de Chevreuse, few reached the level of influence and international acclaim that Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve achieved.

Sources

• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Roselle Shields, February 7, 1919. Gildersleeve papers. RH archives.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Mrs. Edgerton Parsons, February 10, 1919. RH archives.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Mrs. Edgerton Parsons, May 28, 1919. RH archives
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Elisabeth Reid, September 18, 1920. Reid family papers, box 10B, Library of Congress.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Cable to Elisabeth Reid, February 7, 1921, Reid Family Papers, box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Elisabeth Reid, February 9, 1921, Reid Family Papers, box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Elisabeth Reid, February 21, 1921, Reid Family Papers, box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Elisabeth Reid, July 6, 1921. Reid Family Papers, box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia, C. Letter to Elisabeth Reid, February, 1921. Reid family papers, box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia C. Many A Good Crusade. New York: Macmillan, 1954.
• Gildersleeve, Virginia C.  “Reid Hall in Paris.” Journal of the American Society of the Legion of Honor, vol. 21, no. 4, Winter 1950, pp. 313-325.
• Le Boutillier, Cornelia Geer. “Dean Gildersleeve.” Barnard College Alumnae Monthly, October 1934, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 8-9. Barnard Digital Collections.
• Parsons, Mrs. Edgerton. Letter to Gildersleeve. May 14, 1919. RH archives.
• Reid, Elisabeth. Draft of a letter she sent to Gildersleeve, which seems to have been dated January 26, 1921 (based on Gildersleeve’s response on February 26, 1921). Reid Family Papers, Box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Reid, Elisabeth. Draft of a letter sent to Gildersleeve, in response to the February 7, 1921 cable. Reid Family Papers, Box 12B, Library of Congress.
• Rønning, Ann Holden. “Inspiring a Vision: Pioneers and Other Women.” Graduate Women, 2019, pp. 1-29.

Archives consulted

• Carnegie Corporation Records, Series III.A Grant Files: (box 16, folders 9 and 10): http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/rbml/Carnegie/index.html
• Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron papers (Barnard): https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/11453680
• Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron papers (RBML): https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4078806