Posted in PEOPLE
You walk into her office on the ninth floor of Joseph Urban’s Modernist architectural masterpiece, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall, at 66 W. 12th St. She gives you a warm smile with a firm, friendly handshake. BB: Hello, I’m glad to be here, Gerard. Not a lot of people care about my history here at The New School. […]
Posted in REFLECTIONS & ANALYSIS
From its opening in 1919, The New School has prided itself on being a progressive institution, focused on creating an innovative space for learning and practice. The founders envisioned a college that allowed students and professors to engage intellectually and freely. They were in support of speaking openly about societal changes during the 20th Century […]
Posted in PEOPLE
With a 17-year history at The New School, we thought Katayoun Chamany, Associate Professor of Natural Sciences, would be perfect to answer some questions regarding New School facilities, specifically the 66 West Twelfth Street building. Join us as Chamany dishes on everything from her classroom to the murals! Q: You’ve been with New School for […]
Posted in PEOPLE
The New School has attracted a string of devoted, long-serving administrators, most of whom have been women. One of them was Wally Osterholz, who worked in the Adult Division for forty-five years, from 1962 to 2007. Most had no idea what Wally’s job description was, as Sondra Farganis described it, and yet she seemed to […]
Posted in PEOPLE
Clara Woolie Mayer (1895-1988) is possibly the most important forgotten figure in New School administrative history. The New School Library had boxes of her institutional papers and some personal papers but, since none of the library staff had been working here when she was here, we knew nothing about her. Then, one day in the […]
Posted in PEOPLE
Dorothy Payne Whitney was born in 1887, the youngest child of Flora Payne and William C. Whitney. By the age of 17, her mother, stepmother, and her father had all died, leaving Dorothy with an enormous inheritance and a sense of urgency to make her life have meaning. In the years that followed, Dorothy traveled […]
Posted in PEOPLE
It was during Gina Luria Walker and Ellen M. Freeberg’s Women’s Legacy class at the New School that I was introduced to Vinnette Carroll. Ellen Freeberg had come across Carroll’s name in the New School Archives. In doing research, I discovered that Vinnette Carroll was the first black woman to enroll in the Dramatic Workshop […]
Posted in REFLECTIONS & ANALYSIS
The Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation hosted its Conference for Institutional Partners in the Newcombe Scholarships for Mature Women Students Program at The New School, which brought together representatives of more than thirty colleges and universities that distribute Newcombe scholarships to female students over the age of twenty-five who are pursuing their first Bachelor’s degrees. (Students […]
Posted in HISTORIES
The Human Relations Center began in 1951 at the behest of Clara Mayer, the infamous right-hand woman of Alvin Johnson, the long-time director of the school. By 1951, Mayer was Vice President and Dean of the School of Philosophy and Liberal Arts of what was known informally known as the Adult Division (to distinguish it […]
Posted in HISTORIES
A Proposal for an Independent School of Social Science” (1919), a key document in the founding of The New School, argued that the circumstances over the past two and a half decades call for a “new type of leadership in every field of American life.” Source: New School Archives and Special Collections Digital Archive. Web. […]