One of the most surprising discoveries in our archival research was how Brooklyn College has repeatedly turned to the study of the humanities to help guide the college during difficult times.
In 1943, when Americans began to question whether colleges should emphasize technical training that could be useful in World War II, Brooklyn College President Gideonese stated that “the preservation of our cultural heritage is not superfluous in modern civilization: it is not a luxury. It is in fact what gives meaning to that civilization. It is what we are fighting for…In the world which we shall inhabit after the war, the Humanities will be absolutely indispensable to the preservation, if not the actual rebirth, of the most valuable elements in human nature.”
The 1970s were a time of enormous challenge to CUNY: amid a national malaise, NYC was broke; CUNY, which was teetering on the brink of financial ruin, eliminated free tuition, and its experiment in open admissions caused Brooklyn College enrollments to plummet. The situation seemed dire and, quite possibly, terminal. It fell to Ethyle Wolfe, Classics professor and the first female Provost of Brooklyn College, to navigate the College during this difficult time. She was steadfast in her convictions and persuaded the CUNY Board of Trustees that revitalizing Brooklyn College required renewing and (re)investing in the College’s traditional focus and strengths in the humanities. To this end, she convinced the Board that, through the development of (1) a classical languages institute (today the Latin Greek Institute), (2) a humanities institute (today the Wolfe Institute), and (3) a general education core curriculum grounded in the liberal arts, BC would blossom.
By 1982, the humanities at Brooklyn College were in full flower; in fact, BC’s liberal arts reputation had become so stellar that Wolfe had to establish a formal Visitor’s Program for other colleges to come watch BC in action. In 1982 alone, higher education administrators from Vassar, Holy Cross, Barnard, and Bucknell, as well as Japan, Paris, and Hong Kong, came to campus. Wolfe’s commitment to the humanities attracted such international attention that George H.W. Bush awarded her the National Humanities Medal in 1990 for her “advancement of liberal arts and humanities in the higher education institutions in America” and her “committed desire to restore a high quality education for all.”
In 2023, higher education is at a decisive moment. The February 2023 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education characterized our moment as an age of “militant apathy” among students:
“There’s been a discourse in society that higher-education leaders have embraced, which goes something like this: Higher education is essential for future career attainment, positive economic outcomes and social mobility…Colleges have championed that narrative....But in doing so…they have shifted the conversation away from the very attributes that make education feel meaningful…Students are desperately seeking experiences that are ways to connect and find ways to make meaning of themselves in the world…People used to seek out college degrees because they felt like it was a way to launch their lives in meaningful ways…it was also about being able to find purpose and find meaning in life.”
Lantern Slide Projector with Slides (1930s)
On loan from Dr. Kelly Britt’s Archaeology Lab in New Ingersoll
Dr. Alice Kober was in charge of the Classics Department’s AV equipment room, where she kept the department’s projector (slide lantern) and images (slides) in 2408 Boylan. The slides gathered in this exhibit are of Linear B inscriptions, in honor of Kober’s work, and of Pompeii, in honor of Dr. Helen Tanzer’s work. Today, you can find Dr. Kober’s slide library in Dr. Kelly Britt’s Archaeology Lab in 538 Ingersoll Hall Extension.
Fan letter from Classics student (ca. 1960s)
A letter written by student Sue Ann Dowerman to the Classics Department. Here, the student, having completed “Classics I” is “dismayed at the pitifully small number of classes which are scheduled for next term.” She posits that “the importance of Classics and its necessary role in the liberal arts curriculum has been sadly overlooked, perhaps…because we are moving towards a policy which seeks to train minds; not educate individuals.”
Brooklyn College Humanities Institute Mini Course Flyers (1970s)
The Humanities Institute hosted free mini-courses for the Brooklyn College community and beyond. Courses included Women Writers of Latin America, Afro-Atlantic Classical Civilization (guest taught by Natalie Zemon Davis), Narrative and Ethical Structures in African Art, and the premodern courses displayed here. The Institute saw itself as the center for faculty curriculum development efforts, and believed that by supporting faculty research, such curricular innovation would be furthered.
New York Times Article on Brooklyn College’s Core Curriculum (1984)
An article celebrating how Brooklyn College’s liberal arts core curriculum has “rejuvenated the faculty” and “improved the knowledge and skills of the students.” With core courses like “Knowledge, Existence, and Values” and “People, Power, Politics,” one BC sophomore said that the core stimulated the students “to learn more than just what’s discussed in class.”
The Stilus, Classics students’ publication (1943-44)
From its earliest days, there was a Brooklyn College Classics Club for students, and that student club published an academic journal-cum-humor magazine that was called The Stilus. 600 copies sold each printing, despite the fact that World War II wartime difficulties made the cost of printing (and paper) high. There were also annual Greek dinners, Greek plays, and a Classical Congress which included representatives from various high schools’ Classics Clubs.
Dr. Wolfe Correspondence About Curriculum (1964)
Throughout the 1960’s, there was a heated conflict over the future of Brooklyn College’s Liberal Arts education. The recommendations of the “Committee for Long Term Curricular Study” was greeted with outrage by much of the Faculty Council. The then-Classics Chair Wolfe struggled relentlessly throughout the decade to maintain an interdisciplinary humanities curriculum. Ultimately, when she became Provost, she would implement the curriculum she’d always fought for: Brooklyn College’s award-winning Core Curriculum of the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s.
Classical Civilization I Syllabus (1974)
The General Education class “Classical Civilization 1” won “unanimous” praise by surveyed Brooklyn College students who said they’d take it anyway even if not required. Dr. Ethyle Wolfe responded: “Although our colleagues in other departments insist that we must be doing something right, we are humbly aware that Classical Literature has a universal appeal and a unique educational role and that a course in it has to be right.”
Why Study Latin in School? (1953)
A pamphlet that circulated around the United States in the 1950s. Here, Ivy League professors (all men) write about how the study of Latin is essential for future workers in government, science, engineering, music, medicine, art, archaeology, and the humanities. The pamphlet is from the archival files of the Brooklyn College Classics Department.
Classical Civilization I Syllabus (1965)
The standardized syllabus for the General Education Classics course, called “Classical Civilization I.” The syllabus states: “For students to understand themselves and the society in which they live, it is essential that they know the primary sources of our society’s inherited values, art forms, literary genres, social institutions, forms of government, and the ethical and educational concepts identified with western thought.”
Letter from Classics Chair Wolfe to Dean Lewis (1968)
Dr. Wolfe here uses Sue Ann Dowerman’s fan letter to insist that more Classics electives be offered every semester. She powerfully argues that “this modus operandi is…educationally unconscionable…I believe that any university worth its name ought to be able to float a decent, small program by providing courses even for the few students who choose to major in an area of study so seminal to liberal education.”
School of Humanities newsletter & Wolfe’s draft notes (1980s)
In its earliest incarnation, the Humanities Institute (now the Wolfe Institute) had ca. 80 public events a semester, including symposia (like one on post-structuralism with Harold Bloom, Paul De Man, and Stanley Fish in 1981); a “Core Conversations” series within the General Education curriculum (e.g. “Is War Necessary? A Greek Historian and an Evolutionary Biologist in Conversation, or “Whose Blue Heaven?” An Art Historian and a Geologist in Conversation); and a “Why Read?” series, a weekly Provost’s seminar on the importance of liberal arts learning.
Letter from Classics Chair Wolfe to Dean Lewis (1968)
Dr. Wolfe here uses Sue Ann Dowerman’s fan letter to insist that more Classics electives be offered every semester. She powerfully argues that “this modus operandi is…educationally unconscionable…I believe that any university worth its name ought to be able to float a decent, small program by providing courses even for the few students who choose to major in an area of study so seminal to liberal education.”
Night Call: Ethyle R. Wolfe Celebration (1989)
The magazine of the night students of Brooklyn College interviewed Dr. Wolfe on her retirement in 1989. The magazine author writes that “during the 1970s, when student vocationalism was eroding interest in the humanities across the nation” Wolfe helped found the Latin Greek Institute, and “in the middle of the city’s fiscal crisis, she found fertile ground for the Humanities Institute…now the college’s intellectual center.”
Dr. Ethyle R. Wolfe’s NEH Application (1982)
This application asked the NEH to match the funding goal set by the Brooklyn College Foundation to raise 1.5 million dollars for the “college’s liberal arts mission in which the humanities disciplines are central.” The BCF campaign aimed to promote the “overriding relevance of the humanities for liberal arts education.” The NEH application asks for funds that would help establish a Society of Fellows, an Institute publication series, and seminars for both the academic and wider Brooklyn community.
Dr. Vera Lachmann’s Poetry, Golden Dances The Light in the Glass (1969)
Dr. Lachmann was a Jewish refugee who had run a private school for Jewish children before leaving Germany in 1939. After she came to Brooklyn College, she established an overnight camp in North Carolina (Camp Catawba), where she would invite NYC children to spend the summer performing Greek dramas (The Frogs, The Persians, etc.) and listen to Lachmann tell tales from ancient literature, often recited in the original ancient Greek.
