ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall describe some of the ways in which the culture of femininity was enriched and enhanced by the transmission to students of the academic and cultural values of the liberal humanist tradition. The influence of college staff was of paramount importance in the transmission of this tradition. In the first part of the chapter I shall show how the staff, by their dedication and high educational standards, forged residential college communities in which liberal humanist values flourished. I shall then concentrate on three areas of the curriculum – art and craft, music, and literature and drama. I have chosen these areas for their pivotal role in college life. Unlike other subjects in the formal curriculum, e.g. arithmetic or geography, they had a valency beyond the pedagogic. For not only did they enrich individual students’ general development and personal fulfilment, but, importantly, they provided the opportunity for that staff-student participation in shared activities which lay at the heart of the corporate culture. Furthermore, these were areas which had always been accessible to middle-class girls in the Victorian home. Crucially, however, in the home they had been deemed mere ‘accomplishments’, fit only to entertain others on social occasions, or to while away the time; at college they were transformed into serious activities with professional standards. Equally important for the maintenance of corporate values, was staff encouragement for other
cultural, political and spiritual concerns. In the last part of the chapter, therefore, I shall discuss students’ political and religious activities and particularly their involvement in the peace movement between the two world wars.
