Women’s Education and Student Life Photograph Album Washington State College Experience 1919 to 1922

Washington State College

Photograph

Photograph album, women’s college student life, 1919 to 1922, documents the lived experience of a young woman pursuing higher education in the years immediately following World War I, when increasing numbers of women entered academic institutions and participated in structured campus life. The album centers on dormitory living, peer networks, and extracurricular activities, providing direct evidence of how female students documented identity, independence, and social belonging within early twentieth-century educational environments. The material supports research into women’s education, student culture, and the social history of American colleges in the interwar period.

Album consists of 85 vernacular black and white silver gelatin photographs mounted across 23 pages, with three additional loose prints, primarily taken in Washington State between 1919 and 1922. Photographs range in size from approximately 2.5" x 1.5" to 5.5" x 3.5", housed in a volume measuring approximately 7" x 10.5" in original black cloth boards. Inscribed on the front pastedown: “From Papa, Merrie Christmas 1921.” Images depict dormitory interiors, classmates, and organized activities including social dances and boating excursions. Captions identify specific rooms and relationships, including “Taken in my room ‘77’ 1922,” “Lookout Mt taken from my window ‘77’,” “My old roommate of 1919 Room 44,” and “Miss Fiddler, Roommate ‘Room 28’ Summer School 1920.” Additional annotations record impressions of peers, including “A Good Kid,” and humorous commentary such as “W.L. asleep after the dance Ha! Ha!” and “Do you think I look natural?” A Harvard pennant displayed within one dormitory scene suggests aspirational or collegiate affiliation. The album also includes a photograph of a Home Economics class, family scenes, and several images referencing recent wartime experience, including soldiers in uniform dated 1919.

Created during a transitional period in American higher education, the album illustrates how women students navigated expanding academic opportunities alongside established social expectations, including domestic training and structured leisure. The inclusion of humor, nicknames, and detailed room identifications reflects the importance of spatial and social memory within collegiate life, while references to wartime imagery situate the album within a generation shaped by recent global conflict. Such albums provide granular insight into daily routines, interpersonal dynamics, and the formation of female student identity in the early twentieth century. Minor wear to boards; photographs well-preserved with clear detail; overall in very good condition.

Item #16586

Price: $650.00