Yale-Reid Hall Summer Session

THE YALE-REID HALL SUMMER SESSION

Begun in June 1950, this summer session was designed for students with two years of College French or its equivalent. In the first year, it attracted 28 students, 13 men and 15 women, from nine states and Puerto Rico. They sailed on the SS Georgic Cunard Liner and began their 6-week summer studies by visiting Normandy and other sites in France. Led by Prof Theodore Andersson of Yale's French Department, they represented 13 American institutions, including: Yale University (7 students), Dartmouth College, Bowdoin College, Georgetown University, Columbia University, University of Michigan, Rochester College, Wellesley College, Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mt Holyoke College, and the New Jersey College for Women.

The same model generally applied to the future years of the summer program, which operated under the leadership of Theodore Andersson and Dorothy F. Leet. The group usually arrived in Liverpool two weeks before the start of classes and toured England and France - Normandy and chateaux country. They then settled at Reid Hall and enrolled in classes at the University of Paris and the Louvre; mid-session, trips were organized to Fontainebleau, Bourges, Vezelay, and other sites (NYHT, June 15, 1950). They would also attend at least two plays in Paris.

1950: 28 students from thirteen colleges, of which 15 are women and 13 men. 

1951: 20 students from 12 different American Universities, including: Yale University, Vassar College, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Wells College, George Washington University, Barnard College, New Jersey College for Women, Hood College, Pembroke College, Brown University, and Wellelesley. Sailed on the Washington Liner. Director: Michael Zeraffa from French Department at Vassar College (NYHT, June 13, 1951, RH archives). According to the RH report that year, there were 36 students enrolled, men and women equally divided, from 15 colleges and 3 preparatory schools. They followed courses at the Institut d'études politiques, the Sorbonne, and Ecole du Louvre. They also conducted site visits and attended he Opéra Comique and plays at the Comédie française, including Jean-Paul Sartre's "Le Diable et le bon Dieu," and Opera Comique.

1952: 26 students, included 6 from Yale and 20 from other colleges and universities: Barnard, Brooklyn, Cornell, Georgetown, Bryn-Mawr, Vassar, Wells, The American University, Michigan, Tennessee. The youngest in the group was seventeen and a graduate of Phillips Academy, the oldest was a Graduate of American University and 67 years (NYHT, n.d. 1952, RH archives). Professor and Mrs. Armand Begues, directors of student activities. Besides co-curricular site-visits, attended several plays, "Tartuffe" at the Comédie française, "Le Cid" at the Théâtre national populaire at Hôtel de Soubise, and a modern play, "Cuisine des Anges."

1953: 28 students, including 3 from Yale and others from 21 different Universities and secondary schools: Wellesley, Cornell, Pembroke, Indiana, Smith, Barnard, Harvard, Dartmouth, George Washington, University of Virginia, Wheaton, and Wells. Director: Theodor Andersson, Associate Professor French at Yale. In charge of the students: Michel Guggenheim, Institute of Language and Linguistics, Georgetown Foreign Service School (NYHT, May 22, 1953, RH archives). Included a new section for teachers.

1954: 35 college and secondary-school students and teachers: Brearley School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Loomis School, Barnard, University of Texas, University of Oklahoma, Purdue University, New Jersey College, Wellesley College, Gunnery School, Yale College, Smith College, University of Notre-Dame, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Bradford Junior College, Beaver Country Day School, Connecticut College for Women, Mount Holyoke College, and Princeton University. In charge of the students: Michel Guggenheim, Institute of Language and Linguistics, Georgetown Foreign Service School (NYHT, June 12, 1954). They attended plays: "L'Alouettte by Anouilh, "Bourgeois Gentilhomme," at Comédie française.

1955: 27 students for the Yale summer students sailed together with 800 other students (including the Princeton University Jazz Band) bound for Europe on the Dutch ship S.S. Waterman. They were accompanied by a group of 24 educators and journalists who provided orientation on-board - organized by the Netherlands Office for Foreign Student Relations and U.S. National Student Association. Schools represented: Yale, Wellesley, Dennison, Wake Forest, University of Michigan, Cornell, Mt. Holyoke, Youngstown College, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Barnard, Smith, Wheaton, Goucher, Bryn Mawr, and Syracuse, Brearley School, Phillips Academy, Gunnery School, Boston School of Occupational Therapy. Director: Linn Edsall, Wayne University (NYHT, May 14, 1955/ NYHT, June 25, 1955).

1956: 23 students. Director James F. M. Stephenson, Jr., Assistant Professor of French, Yale University. The schools represented, included: Hood College, Bucknell College, University of Oregon, Brooklyn College, Dickinson College, Cornell University, Yale University, Simmons College, Catholic University of America, Vassar College, Wheaton College, Princeton University, Washington and Lee, Harvard University.

1957: 75 students (according to the Bureau of University Travel). The Yale-Reid Hall summer session had modernized its offerings and had become increasingly popular : students were given the option to travel to France by boat (for $800) or via airplane (for $1,000). The course offerings had also expanded to include French foreign politics, taught at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and French art and architecture from the Middle Ages to Impressionism at the Ecole du Louvre. Acting-Director: Dr. Neal Oxenhandler, a former student at the Sorbonne and instructor of French at Yale. The program still included excursions to Normandy and the chateaux of the Loire in addition to weekend visits to Versailles, Fontainebleau, etc. (Yale-Reid Hall brochure). A teacher of French in the program remarked: "I think that there is no question that the Yale-Reid Hall group has the finest summer study program in Paris" (Report Leet, 1957)

1958: Stanford University, Smith College, Penn State University, Brooklyn College, Brearley School. 

1959:  33 students (seventeen men, sixteen women). Director: Professor Jean Boorsch, French Faculty at Yale University since 1934. According to the Herald Tribune article, students from more than fifty U.S. colleges participated in the program since its inception (NYHT, November 28, 1958). The former French Fulbright scholars who had studied in the U.S. were invited to Reid Hall to take their meals with the Yale-summer group.

1960: Director: Daniel Poirion, French Department, Yale University.