Interview with Jane Haselden, October 27, 1989

Interview Summary

In this second interview, Dr. Jane Haselden mentions that she was considered for the same job at Cornell University that Dean Sarah Blanding eventually accepted. She was also offered the presidency of Finch College, but turned it down. Haselden had been Dean of Women at both Transylvania and Murray State Universities, where she also taught French. After receiving her PhD. from the University of Kentucky, Haselden became Assistant Dean of Women and taught introductory French at UK. She mentions that she had a pilot's license and explains that she became interested in flying when she was a child. She bought a plane with Mayrell Johnson while at UK, and recalls flying during lunch with Anita Gardner, a secretary in the Dean's office. She also received a Water Safety Examiner's certificate.

Haselden was in charge of the sororities on UK's campus, and she remembers that she was at the Lexington Country Club supervising the installment of a new sorority, when she heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Haselden talks about the difficulties with student housing during World War II. She recalls that there were not enough students to run the fraternity houses, and as military personnel arrived on campus for training, temporary housing was built. Haselden states, though, that World War Two did not stop her from flying her plane over a UK-Alabama football game. Haselden explains how she and Dean Sarah B. Holmes divided responsibilities supervising the female students, and how they encouraged the women to participate in the war effort. Haselden recalls that women received temporary teaching appointments and other employment opportunities on campus during the war. She states that wives could not teach at UK if their husbands already did, so many of them taught at Transylvania University. Yet, Haselden did not see herself as a role model for the women students.

Haselden remembers past UK presidents and their wives including President Frank L McVey and Frances Jewell McVey, and President Herman L. and Nell Donovan. She particularly describes unequal pay for women during Donovan's tenure. She also mentions Dean Leo Chamberlain's "intellectual integrity." Haselden was President of the Kentucky Association of Deans of Women. She also talks about Dean Sarah Blanding, and the women's rights movement.

Interview Keyword

College presidents College students--Social conditions College teachers--Social conditions College teaching. Sex discrimination in higher education. Sexism in higher education Student housing Universities and colleges--Administration. Universities and colleges--Faculty. Women in higher education. Women--Education (Higher)

Interview LC Subject

Haselden, Jane, 1903- Haselden, Jane, 1903- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History Women in education--Kentucky--Lexington World War, 1939-1945--Women

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All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.