Today In History: Grace Dodge Is Born

The eldest of six children, Grace Hoadley Dodge is born this day, May 21st, 1856 in Manhattan to Sarah Tappan and William Earl Dodge from a family of significant wealth in copper mining. Largely home-educated, Grace attended Miss Porter's School from 1872-1874, a college preparatory school  for women, and then taught at the Madison Square Chapel and Children's Aid Society. From her early years, she showed a penchant towards philanthropy. 

Grace Dodge was key to the founding of the Kitchen Garden Association (later known as the Industrial Education Association) and the New York College for the Training of Teachers, then Teachers College, Columbia University.  She was the first treasurer of the Board of Trustees of Teachers College, having served from 1892-1911 , and from 1896 also one of the first women appointed to the New York City Board of Education. She helped form the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), bringing together rival groups -- later giving money that allowed the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the YWCA to be joined together in one building.

A passionate and committed social reformer, Grace Dodge started out by equipping poor girls, many of them immigrants, with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the home. She formed the first Working Girls Society in 1881, followed by the Association of Working Girls Societies in 1885.  She sought to make the industrial arts, which embraced both the domestic and manual arts, an integral part of public education -- and also to expand instruction for men.

The curriculum at Teachers College, Columbia University would grow significantly over the following decades.  Early courses in the domestic arts included laundering, sewing, and cooking.  In response to expanding societal, national, and international concerns; new academic interests; and changing needs in education, the curriculum continued to grow -- especially through the years of James Earl Russell, Dean and President from 1898-1926. Her vision and values paved the way for interdisciplinary approaches to education, with the application of the fields of psychology and health -- approaches that continue to mold the growth and development of administrative priorities, academic programs, and much more.

Grace Hoadley Dodge died in her family home on Madison Avenue on December 27th, 1914.  She left significant monies to religious and charitable organizations, and also to Teachers College, Columbia University for whom she was the principal benefactor. A scholarship lives on in her name, as does the Grace Dodge Society, whose members support TC through their wills, trusts, or other planned gifts. Members of the Dodge family, her nephew Cleveland Dodge and great grand-nephew William D. Rueckert, have long served as Trustees of the Board.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• The Teachers College. (1897, Mar 07). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Learning to Co-Operate: Working Girls' Clubs Teach the Members to Labor Together for Mutual Advantage: Miss Grace Dodge, President of the New York Association, Talks About the Work and Describes the House in Thirty-Eighth Street.  (1898, Jan 17). New - York Tribune (1866-1899) 
• Ancient Stitchery: Relics of a Lost Art Shown at Teachers College. (1910, Feb 08). New - York Tribune (1900-1910) 
• Talbott, M.H. (1913, Jan 12). A New Kind of Page 'For the New Kind' of Woman Under the Following Advisory Board.  New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Miss Grace Dodge Girls' Friend Dead: Philanthropist and Head of National Y. W. C. A. DIES at Home Was a Founder of Teachers College.  (1914, Dec 28). New - York Tribune (1911-1922) 
• Grace Dodge Dead; Noted for Charities: First Woman to Serve on Board of Education; Founded Teachers College.  (1914, Dec 28). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Fortune to Charity From Grace Dodge: Will Shows Gifts of $700,00 to Y.W.C.A. and $500,000 to Teachers College. (1915, Jan 05). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Laud Miss Dodge as Girls' Friend: Impressive Memorial Service Participated in by Fourteen Associations. Seth Low, the Chairman Ex-President of Columbia Tells How Woman Philanthropist Developed the Idea of Teachers College.  (1915, Feb 10). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• Graham, A. (1926, Jun 20). Merchant of Dreams: Grace H. Dodge. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962)
• Erskine, H. (1932, Aug 28). Horace Mann School Stresses Needs of Individual Pupils: Institution founded in 1887 by Miss Grace Dodge Is No Longer a '"Practice" School; Curriculum Not Regarded as Experimental. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 

Tips:

• Dodge, Grace H. (Grace Hoadley), and Agnes Bailey Ormsbee. Aspects of the Teachers College. New York? [publisher not identified], 1893. e-book.
• Dodge, Grace H. (Grace Hoadley). A Brief Sketch of the Early History of Teachers College. New York: Teachers College, 1899. TCANA ; LB2193 .D62 1899. e-book.
• Dodge, Grace H. (Grace Hoadley). A Bundle of Letters to Busy Girls on Practical Matters. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1887. TCANA ; BJ1681 .D6 1887.
• Dodge, Grace H. (Grace Hoadley). Grace H. Dodge : Her Life and Work. New York: Arno Press, 1974.  Main / TCANA; HQ1229 .G77 1974
• Dodge, Grace H. (Grace Hoadley). What Women Can Earn Occupations of Women and Their Compensation. New York: F.A. Stokes Co., 1899.  Closed Stacks Research ; HQ1121 .H67 1899.
• Grace Dodge Collection. Teachers College Digital Collections.
• Finding Aid, Grace Dodge Papers.
• Grace Hoadley Dodge: A Woman of Her Times. A Tribute to Grace Dodge, by the Milbank Memorial Library (now Gottesman Libraries). Online Exhibit.

Images:

• Dedication, Frontispiece, A Book of Reminiscences. Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Poster Image: Portrait of Grace Hoadley Dodge, Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University.

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