Smith ’69 Academy
Fall 2023 and Winter 2024 Study Groups
Fall Session
Elite Education in Pre-Revolutionary Russia: The Imperial Educational Society of Noble Maidens. One 75 minute session, Monday, October 16, 5 PM EST Nancy Kovaleff Baker, presenter.
The Imperial Educational Society of Noble Maidens, or the Smolny Institute, was founded by Catherine the Great as the first state educational institution for women in Russia. We shall cover the history of the Smolny and its educational offerings. Most important, I shall show extremely rare photographs of the school contained in an album given to a student who was my ancestor. Are there parallels to our Smith experience?! I shall outline my family’s paths from St. Petersburg to New York City and we can discuss the importance of learning our forebears’ stories.
Understanding Migration Through Short Stories (Part 1) One 90 minute session, Tuesday, October 31, 5 PM EST [note that there will be a Part 2 offered in the Winter Session] Susan Hall Mygatt, discussion facilitator
For centuries, people have moved from place to place with the intention of settling in a new home, permanently or temporarily. The need to leave and the desire to seek new opportunities affect the places people leave and shape the places where they settle. In this study group, we will look at migration from an intimate level, through stories by and about migrants. Some authors may be familiar to you (Salman Rushdie and Edwidge Danticat), and other authors are not well known. We will read three or four stories each week in advance of our gathering. The stories will be selected from The Penguin Book of Migration Literature (Dora Ahmed, editor, 2019). Internet links to and/or PDFs of the assigned stories will be provided, but the book is a treasure and worth purchasing (used copies available). It is also available in many libraries.
Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Non-Binary People and Their Families. One 90 minute session, Monday, December 4, time TBD.
Peggy Elman Gillespie, presenter/discussion facilitator.
Everything you might want to ask about trans and nonbinary people can be discussed, and if you are trans or nonbinary, please join this group to help share your perspectives. I will be inviting several people in my new book and traveling photo-text exhibit, Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Non-Binary People and Their Families, to talk with us about their lives and the current cruel legislative attacks on gender diverse people around the country. Together we can become active allies to help support our sibs and gender non-conforming people in our communities worldwide.
One of my classmates wrote to me recently that she had read about my book in the Smith Alumnae Quarterly and thought, “Oh that is weird,” as that is how she saw people who were gender diverse. She decided to challenge herself by reading my book and
said it was one of the most moving books she had read and was glad she hadn’t let prejudice get in the way of learning. So come if you are curious, if you want to have your beliefs challenged, and/or you want to learn how to be an active ally to the trans community. Please read: Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Non-Binary People and Their Families, which you can order at any bookstore or online. Published by Skinner House Books in May 2023. And visit my website. You can also read about Authentic Selves in the Spring ‘23 Alumnae Quarterly.
Winter Session
Understanding Migration Through Short Stories (Part 2) One 90 minute session, in January/February ’24 (TBD)
Susan Hall Mygatt, discussion facilitator
See description of Part 1 above. Part 2 with feature different stories from the same anthology. It is not necessary to attend both Part 1 and Part 2 if they don’t both fit into your schedule.