Interview with Virginia K. Conroy, March 20, 1990

Partial Transcript: As I said, it's just informal. We can just chat about things.

Segment Synopsis: Virginia Conroy is introduced. She talks about her cousin who also attended the University of Kentucky who was later in a serious car accident. She talks about growing up in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. She talks about her father's occupation as a saddle maker and how his business was affected by the introduction of automobiles. She talks about her mother's education at Cardome Academy.

Keywords: Agnes King Conroy; Automobiles; Cardome Academy; Cars; Jobs; Joseph Martin Conroy; King family; Mount Sterling (Ky.); Saddle-makers; Socioeconomic status

Subjects: Childhood; Education; Families.; Mt. Sterling (Ky.); Occupations

Partial Transcript: What was it like being in high school in Mt. Sterling in the early twenties?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy went to high school in Mt. Sterling, which is a small town in Kentucky. In this segment, she gives a summary of her years in high school, between sharing the rules that she needed to follow to her being valedictorian of her class.

Keywords: Colleges; High schools; Homesick; Mt. Sterling High School; Rules; Valedictorians

Subjects: College choice; Education--Kentucky; Mt. Sterling (Ky.); Schools

Partial Transcript: What--this is sometimes a hard question and it would be if somebody asked me...

Segment Synopsis: Conroy describes how her first year at the University of Kentucky went. She speaks about her first year classes, her fellow classmates, and her sorority.

Keywords: Classes; Cousins; English; Freedom; Freshmen; Goals; Residence; Sorority; Students

Subjects: College students; College students--Conduct of life; College teachers; Greek letter societies; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: When you moved over to the sorority house your sophomore year I guess you had a house mother?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy highlights what it was like to live in a sorority house. She goes into great detail about the rules that were put in place by the sorority house mother.

Keywords: Curfews; Formal dances; House mothers; House rules; Kappa Delta; Rooms

Subjects: College discipline; College students--Social networks; Greek letter societies; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: And then between classes what would you do?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy says her classes were done by the afternoon. The time between classes was spent walking since no one had a car. After classes ended for the day, Conroy had joined the walking squad to replace her gym credits.

Keywords: Cars; Classes; Doctor's certificates; Physical education; Walking

Subjects: College campuses; College environment; College student transportation; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Tell me about Sarah Blanding.

Segment Synopsis: Sarah Blanding was the Dean of Women at the time. She kept the girls living in the sorority house under tight control. Conroy recalls multiple times she got caught by Sarah Blanding and nearly getting kicked out of Kappa Delta. The girls were not allowed out of town, but they would go anyways. The girls were all scared of Blanding.

Keywords: Administration; Deans; Kappa Delta; Sororities; Sorority life

Subjects: Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; University of Kentucky; Women in education

Partial Transcript: Of course prior to, uh, Sarah Blanding becoming Dean of Women, Frances Jewell was Dean of Women.

Segment Synopsis: Frances Jewell was also a Dean of Women. Conroy recalls that she was very lovely and gracious. Frances Jewell held tea on Wednesdays for the women.

Keywords: Deans; Frances Jewell McVey; Generosity; Social contact; Women

Subjects: College presidents; College presidents' spouses; Universities and colleges--Administration.; University of Kentucky; Women in education

Partial Transcript: Another experience I had with, with Sarah Blanding scaring me...

Segment Synopsis: Conroy recalls many instances in which she got in trouble for going out with boys and getting in trouble even though the boys did not. Girls were not supposed to go to certain restaurants and parts of town. Conroy says the double standards did not bother her then because that is how she was raised.

Keywords: Deans; Double standards; Family; Gender discrimination; Sororities

Subjects: College students--Social conditions; Discrimination in higher education; Sex discrimination in higher education.; Sexism in higher education; Universities and colleges--Administration.; University of Kentucky; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So you decided to major in journalism.

Segment Synopsis: Conroy had a mentor, Margie McLaughlin, who led her to be a journalism major. McLaughlin became a close friend of Conroy's. She was a teacher, and the president of the Alumni Association. McLaughlin was also a Catholic like Conroy. Journalism appealed to Conroy because she got to work with so many different people.

Keywords: Catholic; Journalism; Kappa Delta; Mentors; University of Kentucky Alumni Association

Subjects: Universities and colleges--Faculty.; University of Kentucky; University of Kentucky. School of Journalism; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: What was professor Grehan like?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy recalls Professor Enoch Grehan being a nice older man. He had an interesting class since it was less textbook-based.

Keywords: Classes; Education; Enoch Grehan; Journalism; Professors; Textbooks

Subjects: Universities and colleges--Faculty.; University of Kentucky; University of Kentucky. School of Journalism

Partial Transcript: You worked on the Kentuckian and--

Segment Synopsis: While going through the yearbook, Conroy recalls sorority sisters and pictures of the campus. The yearbook was dedicated to Jefferson Davis. It also speaks about the KKK, and a view of the Old South. The faculty was not listed in the yearbook.

Keywords: College yearbooks; Faculty; Kappa Delta; Ku Klux Klan (KKK); Southern

Subjects: College students--Social conditions; Journalism; Ku Klux Klan (1915- ); University of Kentucky; University towns

Partial Transcript: Once you decided to, to be a journalism major, what were your career plans?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy talks about working as secretary from home during tough times economically, including the Great Depression.

Keywords: Administrative assistants; Great Depression; Home; Jobs; Money; Scarcity; Secretaries; Secretary

Subjects: Careers.; Depressions--1929; Occupations.; Professions.

Partial Transcript: What did you do in the summers between, uh, between the ti--uh, between semest--between school years when you were at college?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy explains how she was never allowed to go to fraternity camps, but she had a lot of friends and invitations.

Keywords: Cards; Fraternities; Friends; Mothers; Summer camps

Subjects: Camps.; Summer.

Partial Transcript: What was it like working on the Kernel?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy explains that she was not interested in working on the Kentucky Kernel as an editor, and how she felt as if the team resented her because she was lazy.

Keywords: Kentucky Kernel (newspaper); Lazy; Newspaper editors; Newspapers

Subjects: College student newspapers and periodicals; College students--Social conditions; Journalism, College; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: --anything you'd do different?

Segment Synopsis: Overall, Conroy says she had a very pleasant experience in college. She enjoyed having the freedom and having the opportunity to go to college. She continued to support herself after college and never married. She did not feel the need to be supported by a man and she made it on her own. Conroy did not want to become a teacher like most women wanted to do; she hated the idea of that.

Keywords: Children; Freedom; Gender discrimination; Gender roles; Marriage; Memories; Opportunity; Regrets; Women

Subjects: College students--Social conditions; Discrimination; Sex discrimination in higher education.; Sexism in higher education; University of Kentucky; Women in higher education; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: What do you think about the way women's roles have changed during your lifetime and women's education has changed? How do you feel about that?

Segment Synopsis: Conroy explains the difference in the roles and behaviors of young women when she was in school to the young women in school now.

Keywords: Education; Gender roles; High moral standards; Regulations; Sexuality; Victorian

Subjects: College students--Attitudes.; College students--Social conditions; Discrimination; Educational change--Kentucky; Sex discrimination in higher education.; Sexism in higher education; Women in higher education; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)