June 13, 1894
The college’s 28th Commencement was held in the Chapel. President Taylor presided and Emily Jordan Folger ’79 marshaled the procession. Presentations by graduating seniors included: “An Instance of Literary Evolution,” Mary Blanche Mumford ’94; “Relief for the Unemployed,” Caroline Cowan ’94; “Scottish and Negro Songs,” Alice Sarah Hussey ’94; “Shakespeare’s Fatalism,” Elizabeth Hazelton Haight ’94; “The Half is Better than the Whole,” Emeline Barstown Bartlett ’94; “Philanthropy and Natural Selection,” Mary Margaret Macauley ’94.
16 of the 71 students receiving the bachelor’s degree received honors, the highest percentage yet granted under the revised curriculum, and Emeline Bartlett was awarded a fellowship in Greek for postgraduate study at the University of Chicago. She also gained the first scholarship offered by the Student Aid Society both in a general competition and for her acting of King Creon in Antigone. Two master’s degrees were awarded to Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch ’78 and Mary Rawson Botsford ’78.
At the trustees’ meeting President Taylor announced that a chair in philosophy had been established and that the department of physics and chemistry had been divided. He also assured the trustees that the financial turmoil of 1893-94 had not seriously affected Vassar’s endowment funds, and he was pleased to announce over 200 applications for the 100 available places in next year’s entering class. He closed his remarks with an appeal to the supporters of women’s education.
—The New York Times