Interview with Jane Haselden, October 17, 1989

Interview Summary

Dr. Jane Haselden was born in 1903 in Lancaster, Kentucky. Both of her parents were from Garrard County, Kentucky. Her father was of Scottish descent and a farmer. Her mother "always had a good horse" and studied photography. She recalls the education of various family members. She mentions the Nightriders and the Kentucky Tobacco Wars in Garrard County. Haselden graduated from Hamilton College in Virginia and attended Transylvania University. She notes that more young women who attended Transylvania went on to earn advanced degrees than graduates of the University of Kentucky. She recalls a trip to Europe with Mrs. Charles Fishback Norton, Transylvania's librarian, and Norton's niece, Betsy Spencer. Haselden describes teaching in Beattyville, Kentucky in 1926, where there were no roads for cars. She also taught in Lancaster between 1927 and 1931, and attended Columbia University during the summer to complete her Master's degree in French. While she was in New York, she states that she met important artists, and attended major plays and concerts. Haselden then studied at the Sorbonne between 1931 and 1932.

In 1932, Haselden taught advanced French as well as one semester of math at Centre College. She was Dean of Women and a French instructor at Transylvania University and Murray State University. Haselden earned her Ph.D. in Psychology at UK, and became Assistant Dean of Women and Assistant Professor of French at UK. She decided to get her Ph.D. before the age of 35, as she felt that "waiting longer would not do her as much good." She notes she felt no discouragement from the male professors, because she was a woman, except for one incident when she was warned against going to the old Psychology building late at night to take care of the rats for an experiment.

Interview LC Subject

Haselden, Jane, 1903- Haselden, Jane, 1903- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History

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