Today’s Project 100 memory is very unusual.  Most of the memories in the series will come from direct interviews with the subject.  Today’s entry covers the story of an important person who died over fifty years ago, Eda Willard, the chairperson of the Department of Social Studies from 1925 to 1935.  While this series does not pretend to be any kind of definitive history, I eventually decided that I had to include her in this project.

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In the Fall of 1924, Eda Gertrude Willard joined the faculty of Glassboro Normal School in its second year of existence.  She replaced the very first person in charge of the History Department, Marion G. Clark.  Clark left after just one year for a position in the Montclair School District.   Willard remained in the position for a dozen years, making her not only chair during the most formative years of the institution but one of the longest-serving chairs in the past 100 years.

Willard had been born in 1878 in Bellingham, Massachusetts.  She was the daughter of Nathaniel Willard, a Civil War veteran of the Union Army, and Rhoda Ann Perry.  They moved to Maine where Eda graduated from Strong High School in 1896.  After high school, she trained as a teacher at Farmington State Normal School, earned a Bachelor’s of Science at Utah Agricultural College, and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University.  In 1910, she was teaching public school in Riverside, California.  By 1916, she had returned to the East Coast, where she taught at the Newark Normal School.

She was 46 when, in 1924, she moved to southern New Jersey and became the head of Glassboro Normal School’s very small Department of Social Studies, a role she served until she retired in 1935.  In her first year, she became the advisor for the History Club and more than quadrupled its membership, from eight students to 36.  Under her leadership, the club set out ambitious goals.  Most importantly, she helped imbue the History Club and also the Social Studies Department with one of the key characteristics that would distinguish both all the way to the present, namely a focus on international affairs and connecting the past to the concerns of the present.  “The History Club has pledged itself to do something every two weeks to bring current events before the school during Chapel period,” wrote History Club member Anna Haskins.  Demonstrating that history students from the earliest days were exploring alternate modes of conveying information, Haskins continued that the “the outstanding events of the past two weeks,” would be presented “by means of short reports, by dramatization of cartoons or by some other method.” 

On June 23, 1925, at the end of her first year, she served on a faculty advisory committee that helped students of the Glassboro State Normal School host a historical pageant entitled “New Jersey Past and Present.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer described the celebration as “the most elaborate historical pageant ever attempted in this part of the State.”  Supported by the School Orchestra, the program divided the history of New Jersey into five “episodes.”  The first three episodes concentrated on the colonial era, noting the Lenni-Lenape, the large presence of enslaved Africans, and the role of the Quakers and various European settlers.  The fourth episode focused on New Jersey as the “War Path of the Revolution” while the final episode briefly surveyed all of the history of the State after Independence. 

The History Club’s ongoing activities over the next decade provide some more clues as to Eda’s interests and those students most passionate about history in these early years.  Eda and the club organized field trips to various locales in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, presented plays, organized debates, hosted lectures (including one entitled “How and Why Women Should Vote”), and invited several visitors to come to campus, including local historian James Lane Pennypacker, document collector Frank Stewart, and the nationally prominent historian, Henry William Elson.  In these early years, some of the current event topics given special treatment by the club were Russia’s introduction of a five-year plan, the “new regime” in Spain, and the election between Herbert Hoover and Al Smith. 

We know less about Eda’s life outside of the classroom, but we know she spent time socially with students.  Anna Haskins wrote that the History Club “encourages a social spirit among its members” and noted as an example an invitation to “Miss Willard's home in Pitman, where we held a party for the purpose of welcoming those who had recently joined our ranks.”  It seems that she regularly hosted such parties for both History Club members and also her advisees.  Another gathering was described as one “of the most valued events of the year” as “only through such activities do we really become acquainted with our instructors and with each other.”

Eda also had friends among the staff.  For example, we know that she, Nellie Campbell, the first non-administrator to hold a doctorate in the University’s history, and Marion Little, the College’s business manager, travelled together on vacation.  We also know that she moved from Pitman to Woodbury at some point and became an officer in the Gloucester County branch of the American Association of University Women. 

In 1935, she was the advisor to the senior class, which was the first to pursue a fourth year of study, one more than New Jersey required for teacher certification at the time, and enough to earn a full Bachelor’s degree.  She wrote a note to them in the yearbook:

“By coming back to your Alma Mater for further study you have demonstrated loyalty to Her and to your profession.  May this additional year with us enrich your lives and make it possible for you to render a finer and more effective service when you go out from our midst.  It is a fine thing to be a pioneer, to be found among those who ‘blaze the trail’ where others may follow.  For this reason, I find myself both glad and proud to be associated with this group who are honored by receiving the first degrees ever conferred by the Glassboro State Normal School.  May all the joy and satisfaction of the trail-blazer be yours.”

Faculty members were asked to supply a favorite quote for the yearbook. Eda G. Willard contributed: “‘And seeing greatness passing by themselves are great.’  John Drinkwater. – Eda G. Willard.”

In 1935, at the age of 57, Eda Willard married a widower named Martin Van Buren Brown who was four years older than her.  That same year, she retired from the Glassboro faculty and returned to Maine.  Her husband died in 1956.  Eda lived to be 84 years old, dying on December 8, 1964.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff.  One memory will be released per day in the 100 days leading up to October 20, 2023, the date of a reunion celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  The reunion will take place at 7pm at the Summit City Farm and Winery in Glassboro, New Jersey.  Registration for the reunion will be open from July 11^th and will remain open until the venue reaches its 100-person capacity (or October 13^th if capacity never reached).  We do anticipate that the reunion will sell out, so please register as soon as possible by visiting the Alumni Office’s registration page here:  alumni.rowan.edu/historyreunion2023.

You can also find the up-to-date set of Project 100 memories on the Department of History’s webpage or by clicking this link:  go.rowan.edu/project100. 

William Carrigan arranged, interviewed, transcribed and/or edited these memories.  Laurie Lahey proofread and helped edit the final versions.  If you wish to share your own memories, please email Dr. Carrigan at carrigan@rowan.edu.  Alumni with Facebook accounts are encouraged to join the RU/GSC History Alumni group here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/251485937221524.