"We Try to Do Better"

Reflections on an oral history project

For a few years now, I’ve wanted to take a shot at writing a version of my university’s history that places its women at the center of the story. The idea goes back at least as far as 2021, when one of the blog posts I wrote in honor of Bethel’s 150th anniversary told the story of Ethel Ruff, the Bethel Seminary graduate who in 1943 became the first wo…