Henrietta J. Meeteer
A middle-aged white woman with her hair in a bouffant updo, wearing eyeglasses and a high-collared white lace-trimmed blouse or dress
Henrietta J. Meeteer, from the 1921 yearbook of Swarthmore College
Born(1857-06-01)June 1, 1857
La Porte, Indiana, United States
DiedNovember 18, 1956(1956-11-18) (aged 99)
Haddonfield, New Jersey, United States
Occupation(s)College dean, professor of Greek and Latin

Henrietta Josephine Meeteer (June 1, 1857 – November 18, 1956) was an American classics professor and philologist. She taught Latin and Greek at Swarthmore College, and was a dean of the college from 1906 to 1918.

Early life and education

Henrietta "Nettie" Meeteer was born in La Porte, Indiana, the daughter of Joseph Chamberlin Meeteer and Henrietta Churchman Meeteer. She trained as a teacher at the University of Pennsylvania,[1] then earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 1901.[2] She held the Frances Sargent Pepper fellowship in classical languages at the University of Pennsylvania from 1901 to 1904.[3] She completed doctoral studies there, in her forties, with a dissertation titled The Artists of Pergamum (1904).[1][4]

Career

Meeteer taught school as a young woman. She was Dean of Women at the University of Colorado from 1904 to 1906.[5] She joined the faculty of Swarthmore College in 1906, as Dean (later Dean of Women),[6] succeeding Elizabeth Powell Bond.[7] Her Opening Day address to the student body in 1906 included this declaration:

I come here as your friend, your co-worker. Not to look on from the outside, but to stand shoulder to shoulder with you always. If you need a mother, my heart is ready to respond to that call; if you need a sister, a friend, a comrade in pleasure, that is what I want to be — what I am here to be. Everything that concerns you concerns me — your work, your pleasures, your difficulties. Nothing that affects you is too trivial to claim my interest, my sympathy. Whatever the limitations and deficiencies I bring to my work as your dean, I can promise a deep and unfailing sympathy.[8]

She helped to organize the first national conference of deans of women at state universities in 1905,[9] and served on the executive committee for another national conference of deans of women in 1914.[2] She resigned as dean in 1918, but continued at Swarthmore as a professor of Latin and Greek.[1][10][11]

Publications

  • The Artists of Pergamum (1904)[4]
  • "The Value of Higher Education in the Home" (1908)[12]

Personal life

Meeteer died in 1956, at the age of 99, in Haddonfield, New Jersey.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Gifted Scholar Appointed Dean of Women at Swarthmore College". The Indianapolis News. March 17, 1906. p. 27. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 Gerda, Janice Joyce. "A history of the conferences of deans of women, 1903–1922" (PhD dissertation, Bowling Green State University 2004): 65, 292-293; via ProQuest
  3. ↑ "Women Win Fellowships". The Philadelphia Times. April 5, 1902. p. 7. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 Meeteer, Henrietta Josephine (1904). The Artists of Pergamum. New Era Printing Company.
  5. ↑ Boulder, University of Colorado (1904). Biennial Report of the Regents. p. 5.
  6. ↑ "Swarthmore's New Office". Pittston Gazette. March 12, 1913. p. 10. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Dean Bond's Successor Selected". The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 14, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Opening Day at Swarthmore". Friends' Intelligencer. 63 (39): 608. September 29, 1906 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ↑ "Women Deans to Meet Today". Chicago Tribune. December 19, 1905. p. 13. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Acting Dean at Swarthmore". Delaware County Daily Times. March 25, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Resigns as Swarthmore Dean". The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 29, 1918. p. 12. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Meeteer, Henrietta Josephine (January 1908). "The Value of Higher Education in the Home". Journal of Education. 67 (3): 62–64. doi:10.1177/002205740806700303. ISSN 0022-0574. S2CID 169611234.
  13. ↑ "Henrietta Josephine Meeteer (death notice)". Courier-Post. November 20, 1956. p. 26. Retrieved October 12, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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