Carl and Libbie and Bert and Ida: Re-defining Family

Robert Pounder, Professor Emeritus of Classics

Thursday, March 31

5:30 Villard Room

Reception to follow in the Gold Parlor

Long before the current national discussion over gay marriage, Vassar faculty and alumnae were redefining marriage, partnership, and the family in unexpectedly rich and radical ways. In a world where gay and lesbian history has often been lost or even consciously erased, it is especially important to recover LGBTQI narratives and personal histories; and Vassar College as a leading progressive institution in the early 20th century often provided an origin or home to lesbian academics, both faculty and students. One of these narratives continues to have a presence on campus even today – in the Blegen House, up until recently the home for the LGBTQ Center, and in the Blegen Fellow, housed yearly in the Greek and Roman Studies Department.

Drawing on deeply engaging personal letters and journals, Robert Pounder, Emeritus Professor of Classics, will speak on his fascinating research into the lives of four of the most important Americans working in Greek Archaeology in the early 20th century. The two women were Vassar alumnae: Ida Thallon Hill (VC 1897) and Elizabeth Pierce Blegen (VC 1910). Their marriages to Bert Hodge Hill and Carl Blegen, respectively, created a menage that solved difficult personal problems even as it affirmed an abiding love. The marriages brought into being an unconventional yet strong family that endured for the rest of their lives.

Professor Pounder's talk is part of a series in honor of the Sesquicentennial celebrating Vassar's LGBTQI history, sponsored by the Women's Studies Program, the Department of English, the Department of Greek and Roman Studies, and the Department of History, with support from the C. Mildred Thompson Fund, Campus Life LGBTQ Programs, Act Out!, QCVC, TransMission, and the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.