Dossier f47 - Laird, Hilda

File consists of a recording of Hilda Laird. Topics of the conversation include keen desire to attend Queen's; entrance following junior matriculation, uncertainty of goals. Laird family origins, relations with Queen's; Queen's connections with maritime provinces. Illness, father's death, preceding graduation; continued uncertainty of personal ambitions. Enthusiastic return to Queen's as Dean of Women, Lecturer in German (1925); mutual satisfaction of Deanship. Attraction to Queen's through family contacts; enjoyment of university life. Participation in Queen's Drama Guild as performer, executive; election to Levana presidency, not fulfilled after change in academic plans. Success as villain in An Ideal Husband; amusing mishap in dress rehearsal at mental institution; dramatic participation in Faculty Players; inspirational Drama coach Prof. Fallis. Absence of campus entertainments during WWI: student deprivation of normal amusements, usual happiness. Exodus of physically fit male students, 1914; Queen's contingent, Queen's Medical Corps. Experience of Armistice Day, New York, while suffering 'flu. Attendance Pratt Institute of Library Science, together with mother; illness; hard work. Library appointments in Bridgeport (Conn.), Yale; history of appointment (job prerequisites: French-speaking non-American graduate of American library school) to League of Nations Library, Geneva. Subject as first residential Dean of Women (Ban Righ), succeeding to Mrs. McNeill; previous residences run by Alumnae, not officially connected to university. Alumnae insistence on academic Dean, to inspire respect; opening in German Dept. (only now recovering from WWI antipathy) in otherwise tight university; teaching appointment of subject as fluent if unqualified German speaker. Intense application to work: no time for reflective insecurity. Chaotic unreadiness of Ban Righ for opening (1925); organisation of residence as subject's prime duty; priority given esprit de corps in initial difficult arrangements. Election of Women's Residence Council. Belle Eliott, first president of Ban Righ Hall: important cog in residence life, effective liaison between students and subject; pitiful staff resources at Ban Righ; capable bookkeeper, practical nurse Olive Spriggs, 'hydrant' to subject's 'lamp-post' figure.Inefficient weekly collection of residence fees, converted by subject to annual or term payments. Responsibility to parents for students' physical and moral well-being; use made of Spriggs' maternal aura for dealing with anxious parents. Arrangements for medical care, fire-escape precautions in Annexes. Dining protocol in residence, attractive settings; rotating student attendance at Dean's table for better mutual acquaintance. Social interaction amongst students on subject's floor. Adjustment to strict no smoking regulations; memorable comment, 'if the girls want to smoke they can go to the University of Toronto.' Complicated system of late leaves; chasing men out of residences at 11:00 pm. Smoking room established in basement during subject's time. Various origins of students (numerous excellent Ottawa students divided between U. of T. and Queen's, predating Carleton Univ.); absence of political sophistication among female students; varying levels of personal sophistication; residence as healthy educational experience, students gaining vastly from melting-pot surroundings. Subject's distress over limited career openings for women; counselling role, suggestion of library science alternative; absence of militant feminist protest, women's desire for wider opportunities not yet being felt as resentment. Playful relationship between male and female students, women as butt of practical jokes. Failure of men's strike action due to female students' abstention; women's growing experience of power unconnected with any notion of fighting for rights. Student pride in Levana Society as women's organisation; funding through share in AMS fees; Levana Society dances in Ban Righ Hall, imaginative decoration. 'Murder' hoax played on female students by male students. Belief that rule-forcing women to quit work upon marriage was introduced later, not an issue (also, women married later); lectures on opportunities for women, given by female professionals in various fields. Depression period as scarcely affecting university life; economic use of stationery supplies. Expansion, necessitating full-time people both in German Dept. and Deanship; subject's sacrifice of Dean's position (1934), appointment as Assist. Prof. of German following year of study (ultimate Ph.D) in German. Rising interest in German studies during and after WWII; highly successful German-Canadian student exchange programme, begun c.1932.//Appointment as Head of German Dept. (1948-62). Scarcity of female Heads of Dept.; subject as first woman on Queen's Senate. Contrasting concerns of subject, interviewer, as female representatives in male-dominated committees; subject's pride in self as pioneer, but disinterested attitude to participation; honest, expressive debate was all, sex not a factor. Feeling of acceptance, friendliness from male colleagues. Subject's continuing articulate frustration with interviewer's feminist political angle as inappropriate, misleading. Lack of conflict between public/private opinions in subject's career; self-assessed 'sincere' personality. Continuing interest in Queen's Review; lapsed subscription to Queen's journal through boredom with economic articles. Enjoyment of Ban Righ's 50th anniversary; refusal to attend 50th, 60th-graduation anniversaries. Position as honorary President of Toronto Queen's Alumni; splendid talks with former Ban Righ residents. Memberships in Canadian Association of University Teachers, Modern Languages As­ sociation; attendance MLA conventions. Extensive travels while young: 15 months European travel, aet.11; 2 years Geneva, marvellous connections through League of Nations associates; year's travel, 6 semesters study in Germany; interruption of PhD programme by WWII, later completion at Cornell. Semester in Marburg during 400th Anniversary of Reformation; studies in Munich c.1934; awareness of National Socialist atrocities, departure of professors, invalidation of thesis subject prompting desire to leave Germany. Four summers spent at Cornell during Ban Righ years. Happy sisterly relationship with mother, companionship on travels; satisfaction with return to Canada, Kingston, Queen's. Enjoyment of retirement home; satisfaction with arrangements, company, opportunities, nursing care.