244 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
on December 6. The entries in Mrs. Agassiz’s diary record 
some of the details of these days so eventful to her: 
1893, December 6. To Annex tea. Heard the good 
news from the Harvard Overseers — great enthusiasm 
among the students. Evening, M. and C., Quin and 
Pauline. It was very pleasant and all full of sympathy 
about the Annex. Closed the evening with a note from 
Miss [Anna] Lowell, enclosing check of $1000 for the 
Annex, and we have also received the $90,000 from 
Mrs. Perkins’s [estate]. It has been a bright day for 
that young institution. 
December 7. Concert, evening. Many congratula- 
tions on all sides about the Annex. Mr. and Mrs. 
Palmer walked home with me. They are very glad. 
December 8. To Annex for Idler Club. All excited 
about the new name and attitude of the Annex. The 
students already begin to call themselves ‘“‘of Rad- 
cliffe College.” 
When the action of the Board of Overseers became known 
to the public, loud objection was raised to it by some of the 
zealous advocates of “higher education.” The principal 
‘ground of criticism lay in the informal nature of the con- 
tract, which was regarded as too elastic in conditions and 
in duration to guarantee the standard that should be de- 
manded of an institution chartered to confer degrees in 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So strong were the 
objections felt by certain remonstrants that two petitions 
on the subject were addressed in January, 1894, to the 
Board of Overseers of Harvard University. One of these, 
from various residents of New York, petitioned that Har- 
