Postcard History

These two words – “seven” and “sisters” – were magic in my family. Not in the “abracadabra” way, but in a commonsense way. Dad and Mom were always protective of each one of us and we loved being part of a large family and doing fun and unusual things together. But, going to college together is where the line was drawn; more on that later.

One day in the early 1950s, we gathered as usual around the breakfast table. Mom was at the stove making pancakes as fast as it was humanly possible. Dad was doing what he did best, “holding court” with his daughters, by asking questions about what our plans were for the day. We always had answers ready for his standard questions, because he had a good memory and at dinner he would always question us again to see if we had done what we said we would do.

On another day, before this one, my sister Evelyn asked Dad if we could turn-the-tables on him and mom. She wanted Dad to talk about himself and Mom to talk about herself. Our parents agreed and that day came as I described above.

I’m not going to recite everything that was said, but the essence of my father’s “talk” was that he grew up as an only child. And he hated it. So, when it came time to marry and have his own family, he wanted a large family and he made sure that his fiancé (our mother) agreed.

The fact that my parents had seven girls, Dad said, was God’s will.

One day when my four older sisters were in high school – each in a different grade – someone said to my father, “… you have seven daughters, are you going to send them to the seven sisters?”

There is no way to know how my father answered, but . . . get this –

            Evelyn attended Barnard College in New York City. She was the smartest.

            Edna went to Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Edie loved poetry.

            Nancy decided on Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts. She was smart, too. In math.

            Doris enrolled in Smith. She was our family artist. She became a teacher.

            Lizzie flipped a coin between Vassar and Radcliffe, but went to Wellesley

            Alice chose Vassar

            and I got married.

If it was my father’s dream to send his seven daughters to the Seven Sister colleges, I ruined his plan. Sorry Dad!

Yeah, I married a postcard collector. I asked him, many years ago, if he could find some postcards of the “Seven Sister” colleges. He agreed and after some time he had a nice collection.

He’s gone now, but I recently found the “personal” parts of his postcard collection in a shoebox in the bottom drawer of his chifforobe. They are nothing special but I’m proud to share them with Postcard History.

Thank you,
Linda J. Bennett

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[Editor’s note: For Postcard History readers who may not be familiar with the term. The “Seven Sisters Colleges” is a name given to a consortium of respected, liberal arts women’s colleges that formed with the intent to rival the “Ivy League” universities.

The idea began with the President of Vassar college who in 1915 invited other women’s colleges, “… to gather for the purpose of making opportunities available that would improve the quality of life for the human family and that would put women on an equal footing with men in a democracy that was about to offer them the vote.”

Of the seven colleges, Bryn Mawr is in Pennsylvania, Barnard and Vassar are in New York, the others are in Massachusetts.

The name Seven Sisters is a reference to the Greek myth of The Pleiades – goddesses who were immortalized as stars in the sky.]