Head of New Holmes Hall Has Charm, Beauty, Ideas

"No sister, no daughter--now 105 girls! A desire rather abundantly fulfilled, don't you think?" This week, Hedy Schumacher happily takes up the challenge of her job as Head Resident of Radcliffe's new Holmes Hall. An attractive, youthful woman with a slight and charming German accent, Mrs. Schumacher contentedly expects to welcome the first of her girls today and to be "flat as a pancake" by tonight.

Born in Wuppertal in the Rhineland, Mrs. Schumacher was raised in Freiburg near the Swiss border. An accomplished pianist, she studied at the Conservatory in Munich. In 1935, she decided that "Mr. Hitler and I did't agree too well" and joined the thousands of Germans who waited in neighboring countries for the fall of a regime few believed could last. Mrs. Schumacher spent three years in Italy, largely in Naples and in Sicily, but in 1938, the Anschluss and the hungry eye turned toward Czechoslovakia brought complete disillusionment. Recognizing that Hitler clearly would last and that war would follow, Mrs. Schumacher joined her mother and two brothers in America.

Loaned Records

In the United States, she lived briefly in New Jersey and New York and finally made her home in Fitchburg, Mass. "Always drawn to Boston," Mrs. Schumacher studied piano for two years under Irving Bodky at the Longy School. She learned about Harvard through her stepson, who graduated in 1945, and her son, Class of 1951. In April of last year, she became the record librarian in Harvard's Payne Hall. There, she outlived four or five secretaries and kept the job through Friday of last week. "I was the steady one," she smiles.

Through her position at Payne, Mrs. Schumacher met most of the Radcliffe music students, and her charm and capability quickly attracted attention. In February, she was sounded out for the position of Head Resident in the new Hall under construction at Radcliffe. The design of Holmes Hall as a center of Radcliffe musical activity suited Mrs. Schumacher's interests and experience, and she immediately accepted the appointment, which became official in May.

Mrs. Schumacher hopes to make Holmes a real music center with numerous concerts during the year, and she promises programs to fill "those empty Sunday afternoons." Practice rooms, a record library, and a large living-room will offer Annex students a full opportunity to perfect and display their musical talents.

All Holmes Hall residents will not be music concentrators by any means, however. "At present, the emphasis is on mixing well, with a good exchange of thought and temperament," Mrs. Schumacher explains approvingly, "but where the trend will go, I don't know."

Mrs. Schumacher has great admiration for what she calls "the democracy in American education." In this country, she finds the relationship between teacher and student far more healthy and constructive than in Europe. "American teachers have much more respect for the student. Students don't learn to be meek and mousey: they're invited to speak up. In Germany, the teacher is the master, the pupil is a little 'pimpf'. The master-servant relationship in the German school and family was the Hitler regime on a small scale, a preparation for it."

"Student Government is a wonderful idea," she believes. "I'm very interested in seeing it work at Radcliffe. I don't want to feel like a policeman and don't want to be put in that role. You can't impose character or build it with thoushalt nots."

Fathers Work Too Hard

The liberal arts college plays a necessary role in American life, says Mrs. Schumacher, since it gives the student the cultural education which family life in this country too seldom offers. "The American father is under a terrific strain to keep up with the high standard of living. Fathers here work too hard. They haven't time to teach their children, to show them a book of Conama paintings, as ps outs can in the more leisurely life of Eu ope. The college here must waken up the student to the basic appreciation of arts which make for greater enjoyment in life."

College is just as important for women as it is for men, Mrs. Schumacher maintains. "No woman should be brought up with the feeling that marriage is the only solution in life. Marriage is not all; many emergencies will arise." Genuine security, she believes, is an inner security, she believes, is an inner security, the confident ability to "fill a place, stand on one's own legs, and contribute something." "This is the only real dignity and should not be denied women. Every girl should be able to take care of herself with something she likes, not simply typing. College enables a girl to open doors later in life. She doesn't stumble if she needs entrance to certain fields."

A college, Mrs. Schumacher believes, makes a better companion for her husband and a better mother. When a child grows up and physical needs have been met, the mother must be able to follow her child mentally. If she can not, Mrs. Schumacher argues, the two grow swiftly apart, and the result is loneliness for both.

Learn Till You Die

"College, however, is not enough," Mrs. Schumacher declares. "I believe in adult education until the day you die. I miss that here in America. In Europe, after school, people are still in an intensely learning condition, going to classes, lectures--growing all the time. One whole winter in Fitchburg. I went to a teachers college every day from eight to three. I was always the oldest in the class, and everyone wondered what I was doing there. I had a wonderful time!"

Only one element of her new job worries Mrs. Schumacher. "I never forget faces and never remember names. Perhaps because all my life I've come to new places as a sinleton, and people have had to learn my name. Now, I must learn theirs--105 of them!"