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IN THE LATE 1930s , teaching at Choate or Rosemary Hall
meant accepting a Spartan, no-frills lifestyle. Choate masters lived as if they were still in school themselves, occupying dorm rooms and sharing bathrooms on their hallways. Salaries at both schools were so modest that the best teachers routinely left for higher wages elsewhere. The status quo needed updating in a host of areas, starting with conditions for faculty. “The crying need is for better salaries for the regular teachers,” Jessup wrote in an early report to Rosemary trustees. “It has been so difficult to obtain good teachers in recent years that it was necessary to find the best teachers available, whether married or single, male or female.” Jessup called for changes that would in effect make Rosemary Hall more like Choate, where competitive faculty salaries were already helping attract and retain legendary talent. She urged more attention be paid to “the individual girl,” whether she was honing her skills on the playing fields or taking challenging upper-level classes. Jessup would eventually guide Rosemary to embrace a taxexempt structure like Choate’s, which would help stimulate much-needed fundraising.
Headmistress Eugenia Baker Jessup ’10 and Martha Abbott ’49.
ABOVE French Class,
Rosemary Hall, 1949 BELOW At Rosemary Hall,
preparation for college remained the backbone of the curriculum. During the war years, greater emphasis
was put on science and mathematics “to fit girls to take the place of men in work in scientific fields.” Also, practical courses in first aid, home nursing, and stenography were added.