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Widows of Harvard College alumni are "a constituency that was getting short shrift," says one of their number, Hope Wigglesworth '48. Especially for those who are not Radcliffe College alumnae, the death of a Harvard College spouse has been followed by perceived disfranchisement from Harvard, a place that may have become nearly as important to the woman as the man. Some College classes have been careful to include widows when planning reunions, says Wigglesworth, but others have not. And so it has been with Harvard clubs. Even Harvard Magazine was not routinely sent to widows (although that situation was amended months ago).
In January 1997 the Development Office formed the Ann Harvard Society to help keep the spouses of deceased Harvard College alumni in the family. "Fundraising is not the purpose of the society," Wigglesworth stresses. The affairs of the society are directed by a 17-member committee, co-chaired by Wigglesworth, widow of William '41, M.D. '44, and Edith "Deedie" Keppel, widow of Francis '38, Ed '47, G '48, former dean of the School of Education.
In an effort to assess whether the society would be welcomed, and to gain guidance on what it might do, the committee first off sent questionnaires to 6,000 Harvard widows, asking their pleasure. The planners were delighted to get 1,300 replies.
Topping the list of desired activities was a tour of the art museums. The society's inaugural event last November offered lunch and just such a tour, led by Ivan Gaskell, Winthrop curator in the Harvard University Art Museums, with guests Jeannette Fullerton, museum educator and trainer of docents, and Jane S. Knowles, Radcliffe College archivist. Some 110 widows attended. Two, says Wigglesworth, astonished, came from Manhattan to do so.
The Ann Harvard Society convenes again May 6 for an architectural tour of Memorial Hall, the Barker Center, and other beauty spots. Society leaders plan to ask a faculty member to address the group on some academic topic next fall. Widows will be notified of all upcoming events.
One or two widowers somehow found out what was up and attended the inaugural meeting, says Wigglesworth. Acknowledging that the society is "a work in progress," she allowed in a mid-January interview that the group might throw its net wider and include widowers. But at a committee meeting on January 22, leadership determined to keep the society for widows only. "What anyone decides to do in 2025 is anybody's guess," said Wigglesworth.
Meantime, widowers of Radcliffe College alumnae may wish to found their own society. What to name it? Ann Harvard was the relict of John, Harvard College's first benefactor. Ann Radcliffe, Lady Mowlson, gave Harvard the handsome sum of £100 in 1643, thereby establishing its first scholarship fund. Her late spouse had been Thomas Mowlson, warden of the Company of Grocers, governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, president of Christ's Hospital, alderman and lord mayor of London, and a member of Parliament. An Ann Radcliffe Society already exists, as does a John Harvard Society; both are groups for planned-giving donors. A Thomas Mowlson Society of widowers would complete the foursome.