Graphic by Trinity Kendrick ’21
BY GABRIELLE SPANO ’21
When Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was founded, the three-term year was arranged so that students did not have breaks within the semester. Instead, the Seminary favored longer vacations at the end of each year to allow students ample time to travel home.
The 1839-40 academic year introduced a brief Thanksgiving recess with the expectation that students would “continue through the year without be- ing absent at all, except during vacations and during a recess of two days connected with Thanksgiving.” Two-day Thanksgiving recess continued for only four years in the 1830s, but then saw a resurgence in 1890. Around 1895, the College began to implement occasional expanded four-to-five day breaks, usually extending over the weekends.
Students embodied the “Thanksgiving spirit” by fundraising for Thanksgiving baskets for disadvantaged families and homeless shelters in South Had- ley. In 1918, methods of fundraising included a variety show hosted by residents of Rockefeller Hall, and students selling popcorn balls at the Army vs. Navy basketball game. However, this student philanthropy also relied on racism: part of the Rockefeller entertainment was a minstrel show.
In addition, Mount Holyoke’s campus stands on Nonotuck land, which was not recognized in these students’ celebrations.
Thanksgiving recess at Mount Holyoke became more consistent into the 20th century. However, after a particularly rowdy recess in 1929, the administration under President Mary Woolley suspended Thanksgiving break for four years. In 1932, the student body petitioned intensely for a four-day recess. At a community hearing in Chapin Auditorium, students argued that days off provided students with much-needed rest and offered an opportunity for locals to visit home, fulfilling the “home sentiment” attached to Thanksgiving.
Faculty responded with statistics showing that infections from colds and absences from classes had increased after the 1929 recess. Furthermore, the academic calendar had already been planned and the administration considered it preferable to have a longer winter break. Although a majority of students were prepared to sacrifice Mountain Day in order to take off the Friday after Thanksgiving, the administration refused to sanction the long weekend again until 1934.
The week before Thanksgiving of 1934, an article in the Mount Holyoke News strongly advised students to return from the recess concealing any signs of lethargy so that “the holiday [wouldn’t] seem inadvisable in the future.”
Thanksgiving continued steadily for another eight years, until World War II complicated holiday arrangements. Beginning in 1942, students remained on campus for Thanksgiving due to “accelerated schedules” and the difficulties of traveling in the midst of the war.
Despite wartime shortages and conservations,
Mount Holyoke offered a decadent spread, consuming 80 turkeys, 250 pounds of dressing, 30 dozen bunches of celery, 8 gallons of olives, 60 gallons of giblet gravy, 700 pounds of mashed potatoes and 400 gallons of cider. For dessert, the campus consumed 200 mince pies, 30 pounds of cheese, 240 quarts of ice cream, 16 bushels of apples, 50 pounds of cluster raisins and 150 pounds of mixed nuts.
Although the war ended in 1945, the fall of ‘46 saw no Thanksgiving recess. Many students were disappointed to not have a break in the fall semester and argued that the tradition of the recess could be reinstated now that transportation was no longer an issue. As in 1932, though, the academic calendar had already been established without the recess. The debate did, however, ensure that Thanksgiving break would be observed in the ensuing years; recess continued steadily thereafter, including this year.