Category Archives: Sydney Munnerlyn

Sydney M. – Blog Post #2

Hello! It’s been a while.

This blog post will mainly be a ramble of updates and revisions that I’ve been making to my project.

I’m away from a lot of my sources/books that I previously wanted to include in this project due to COVID-19 and subsequently not being able to be at BMC campus. Therefore, I’ve altered my focus and have been sifting through a lot of digital archives in the repository online, to see what’s available to me and what I could potentially use in my research. I’ve been looking mainly at the Bryn Mawr College annual reports from the president to the board of trustees, M. Carey Thomas’s personal letters, and the Alumnae bulletins.

I’ll be honest, the majority, if not all, of the sources I’ve looked at so far do not mention Bryn Mawr’s relationship with the Society of Friends. While I’m not entirely surprised at this outcome, because of how early BMC decided to become non-denominational, I do think this might actually serve my project. In my opinion, one interesting thing about archival research is all the “white space”, for a lack of a better word, that you encounter. This white space, to me, is all the stuff not mentioned in papers/sources/documents. I believe that it can be useful to acknowledge that somethings, like Quakerism, are not talked about, that there is a hole in what’s been left behind, and try to investigate why that is. Though I don’t exactly know right now how I’ll present that in my discussions.

Additionally, due to the fact that I left most of my sources at campus and most online sources don’t mention Quakerism or the decision to go non-denominational, I’m therefore trying to find trends among the sources I look at that loosely connect to BMC’s secularism. For example, focusing on how the chapel in Taylor hall changed, the number of quaker students on campus diminished, and how the architecture of the school was influenced by Carey’s personal beliefs.

Along with these new sources, I also want to reach out to a Quaker professor in the Math department to see if she would be willing to let me interview her about her opinions about the college’s relationship and history with the Society of Friends and whether that impacted her decision to come to Bryn Mawr. I feel like this would help connect what I’m learning about BMC’s history with religion to the present affects that can still be felt within the community.

To wrap things up, I’ve also been thinking about the focus of my research in general. I’m debating about whether to shift my focus from just the relationship BMC has/had to Quakerism, to more broadly the evolution of secularism at BMC and it’s subsequent affect on the community at large…

Also, I’ve attached my written proposal for the project as well:

Proposal, Sydney Munnerlyn

Blog Post #1 – Sydney Munnerlyn

Hello! This is my first blog post on the Telling Bryn Mawr Histories page and this post will serve to highlight my area of interest and initial steps for a possible project concerning the institutional history of Bryn Mawr College.

Statement of interest:

I am interested in the early affiliation of BMC with the Society of Friends and how the college became nondenominational. I am also specifically interested in the influence of M. Carey Thomas’s in the decision to become unaffiliated with the Quaker religion. I found it especially intriguing that she was brought up in a highly religious Quaker family environment but has often been referenced in writings on Bryn Mawr College as being a person absolutely inimical to the Quaker ideology and the main reason why the college went in the direction it did. I have read a lot about M. Carey Thomas’s views on women’s rights and racism but not as much about her religious attitudes, or lack thereof. At this point in the investigation, however, I cannot articulate a so called research question as of yet because I am still narrowing my area of interest.

Possible ideas of sources:

So far, I have been mainly looking at the primary source information, mostly letters, in a book called “Offerings to Athena”. Going forward, I think it would be beneficial for me to continue looking at looking at some of M. Carey Thomas’s letters (if there are any available) and gaining some perspective on her opinions on the Quaker religion/influence in general and on the school. I would also like to see if there are any primary documents that reveal more about the decision to become nondenominational, either from the board of trustees or other interested parties. Moreover, I would want to continue looking into more secondary sources that give me an in-depth understanding of the Society of Friends and their history in higher education. A potential avenue would be to also research if students had any interest in the issue of BMC becoming unaffiliated.

Lastly, I would like to state that the next blog post will give greater outline to the sources/avenues of research I will use to conduct this investigation.