July 1918

On a year’s leave from Vassar, Caroline Furness ’91, professor of astronomy and director of the Observatory, embarked for Japan. Appointed as a special member of the educational committee of the National Council of Women, she carried messages to the women of Japan from, among others: the Association of Collegiate Alumnae; the women’s committee of the National Council of Defense; the National Organization of Public Health and Nursing; the bureau of nursing of the American Red Cross; William Howard Taft’s League to Enforce Peace and the National Association of Principals of Secondary Schools.

Furness presented a letter from the National Council of Women to the Women’s Patriotic League of Japan, and she spoke to Japanese audiences about American collective methods of health protection. After her return, Furness wrote about this experience in “Medical Opportunities for Women in Japan,” which appeared in The New York Medical Journal (1919) and in “Impressions of Japanese Women,” in The Vassar Quarterly (1920).