June 12, 1912

President Taylor conferred the bachelor’s degree on 243 members of the Class of 1912 at Commencement. The largest graduating class in the history of the college, 1912 had also the greatest number of honor graduates.

The president announced more than $200,000 in gifts to Vassar. The alumnae raised $40,000 for the endowment and pledged $1,200 a year for the next five years for campus improvement. The Class of 1887 gave $11,400 for a large iron gate in honor of the president, to be erected on Raymond Avenue, at the entrance to the pine walk.

Mrs. Russell Sage gave an additional $75,000 to complete Olive Josselyn Hall, and an anonymous donor—erroneously believed to be the quixotic heiress Helen Gould—gave $100,000 for a students’ building, for which plans and specifications had already been drawn up. The president reported that contracts for this building, which would stand just east of North Hall, would be let at once. He also announced that it was “desirable and necessary to raise $1,000,000 as an educational endowment.”

The class dinner was held in the evening in North Hall and the calling of the roll took place. This recent custom obliged each member of the class to answer “guilty” if she were engaged and “not guilty” if not.

The New York Times