Messenger - Vol. 3, No. 4, Page 24
Summer 1994
Hoffecker pens history of women at Delaware

     The road to equal education and opportunities for women at the
University of Delaware has had several detours over the years,
according to Carol Hoffecker, author of Beneath Thy Guiding Hand: A
History of Women at the University of Delaware.
     The Richards Professor of History and associate provost for
graduate studies, who has written several books on Delaware history,
was intrigued by the idea of writing a history of women at UD when
approached by the Office of Women's Affairs. Uniquely qualified for
the task, she has viewed the University from the perspectives of an
undergraduate, faculty member and administrator.
     The book is dedicated to three women, including the two largely
responsible for establishment in 1914 of the former Women's
College-Winifred Josephine Robinson (1867-1962), first dean of the
college, and Emalea Pusey Warner, president of the state's Federation
of Women Clubs, who worked tirelessly to gain support for the college.
As Hoffecker writes of Mrs. Warner, "If higher education for women in
Delaware had a founding mother, it was she." The Women's College and
Delaware College for men were coordinate colleges that combined in
1921 to form the University of Delaware.
     The other woman honored by Hoffecker's dedication is
philanthropist Amy E. du Pont, who established the Unidel Foundation
that has benefited the University over the years. The music building
is named in her honor.
     Hoffecker herself attended Delaware in the late '50s, graduating
in 1960 and returning as a faculty member in the '70s.
     The 168-page, soft-bound book has 63 photographs, most of them
from the University Archives and some of which have never been
published before. There are seven chapters, all with endnotes, and a
foreword by faculty colleague Joan del Fattore, who chaired the
University's Commission on the Status of Women from 1990-1992.
     The book is available at the University Bookstore for $15. Mail
orders are being accepted there, with a charge of $3.50 per book for
postage and handling. Proceeds will benefit the Women's Studies
Interdisciplinary Program.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure