Overview
This collection contains the papers of Alice Gordon Gulick, a missionary and women’s education advocate who served as Dean of Women for the Harvard Cuban Summer School of 1900. It documents her work as the Dean of Women and the friendships she made with Cuban teacher participants, and primarily includes letters and writings from Cuban teachers to Gulick as well as Cuban Summer School memorabilia and photographs.
Dates
- Creation: 1900-1901, 1910
Creator
- Gulick, Alice Gordon, 1847-1903 (Person)
Researcher access
The Alice Gordon Gulick personal archive is open for research.
Extent
0.23 cubic feet (1 legal half document box, 1 flat folder)The Alice Gordon Gulick personal archive documents Gulick’s tenure as the Dean of Women for the Harvard Cuban Summer School of 1900 and her friendships with the many Cuban teachers who participated in the program. The collection primarily contains letters and writings from Cuban teachers to Gulick as well as Cuban Summer School memorabilia.
All personal materials addressed to Gulick from the Cuban teachers are in Spanish and include letters, poems, articles, and visiting cards. Letters discuss life and family updates, express gratitude for Gulick’s hospitality, and recount memories from the summer school program. Newspaper clippings report on Gulick’s involvement in the summer school, social events organized for the Cuban teachers, and negotiations between Spain and the Vatican on revising the Concordant of 1851.
The collection includes a few official documents related to the Cuban Summer School kept by Gulick. As the Dean of Women for the Harvard Cuban Summer School, Gulick coordinated chaperone assignments for the women Cuban teachers. The collection includes an annotated list of houses for women teachers that notes the home address, capacity, and chaperone. A letter to Gulick from the Congregational Home Missionary Society notes four participants in the Cuban Summer School who are interested in missionary work in Havana. There is also a Spanish transcript of the welcome address to Cuban teachers delivered by the Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Edgar R. Champlin, on July 21, 1900.
Photographs include inscribed portraits of Eladia Sainz, Adriana Bellini, and B.R. Barroso and four photographs of unidentified women Cuban teachers. Memorabilia includes pins and ribbons used to identify Cuban teachers, chaperones, and guides, a Cuban flag, and a visiting card from Domingo Fernandez de Castro with an attached photo pin. Programs and invitation cards document the social events organized for the Cuban teachers.
Biographical Note on Alice Gordon Gulick
Missionary Alice Gordon Gulick (1847-1903) was born in 1847 to Mary Clarkson Gordon and James M. Gordon in Boston, Massachusetts. She was an 1867 graduate of South Hadley Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College). In 1870 she married Alvah B. Kittredge shortly before his death. In 1871 she married Reverend William H. Gulick and that same year they traveled to Spain as Protestant missionaries. Gulick was an advocate for women’s education and opened a school for girls in Santander, Spain. This work eventually led to the founding of the International Institute for Girls in Spain in 1892, a non-denominational Christian organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining an institution for the education of girls in Spain.
Fluent in Spanish, Gulick served as Dean of Women for the Harvard Cuban Summer School in 1900. She provided translation and emotional support for the Cuban teachers, hosted Cuban women teachers at her home, and devised guidelines for summer school chaperones. Gulick died of tuberculosis in London, England, in 1903.
Historical Note on the Cuban Summer School
The Cuban Summer School held at Harvard University in 1900 was one of the largest cultural exchanges between the United States and Cuba. On July 5, 1900, about 1,270 Cuban teachers arrived in Boston to complete a six-week summer school program at Harvard where they participated in classes, lectures, and excursions. Superintendent of Public Schools in Cuba Alexander Everett Frye (LLB 1890) organized the summer school to instruct Cuban teachers in the latest American educational methods and American culture.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged in their original order as previously classified by the Harvard University Archives.
Former call number
Previously classified as UAV 813.495.1 Records and Memorabilia of A.G. Gulick, 1900.
Acquisition
Transferred from the Smith College Library on February 26, 1988; accession 11341.
Online access
All collection contents have been digitized and are available online. Links accompany detailed descriptions.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Jehan Sinclair in November 2019. Titles supplied by the archivist.
Creator
- Gulick, Alice Gordon, 1847-1903 (Person)
- Title
- Gulick, Alice Gordon, 1847-1903. Alice Gordon Gulick personal archive, 1900-1901, 1910: an inventory
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua31019
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
Pusey Library
Harvard Yard
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2461
archives_reference@harvard.edu