Rutgers students know the name Douglass in relation to the Cook/Douglass campus, housing the women’s college, the farm, and the school’s gardens. Many students will also recognize the name Douglass as belonging to Mabel Smith Douglass, the first dean of Douglass College (called the New Jersey College for Women at the time of its founding) and the namesake of the school.
Mabel Smith Douglass was an advocate for the higher education of women, she herself graduating from Barnard College in Manhattan, and was an instrumental figure in shaping the newly created New Jersey College for Women. Douglass dedicated herself to her cause, balancing her domestic duties (after all, she had two children at the time) and her academic responsibilities. After the death of her husband in 1917, she took on the responsibilities of his business, W.S Douglass & Co, as well. Though women at this period were seen as ill-suited to business and the workplace, Douglass proved that attitude quite wrong. She thrived in her work, and opened up doors for generations of women to do the same for themselves.
Unfortunately, despite all her hard work, Douglass would encounter tragedy over the course of her life that would set her down a dark road. Her husband’s death came during her time with the school, and, while it devastated her, it did not stop her from continuing her work towards the betterment of the college. She continued to serve as a dean until 1933, at which point she finally retired. Her son’s death, however, proved too much to bear. He had shot himself not six years after his father’s passing, and Dean Douglass fell into a deep depression. Her health began to deteriorate, and she retired from her role at the college.
Having only her daughter as a companion, and no longer having the academic position which had driven her for so long, Douglass sank further into her depression. In 1933, thinking a restful vacation would benefit her, the mother-daughter pair went for a short stay at a camp near Lake Placid. This was the last place Dean Douglass would ever be seen.
On the 21st of September, 1933, Mabel Smith Douglass disappeared. Her daughter, the police, and locals of the area searched tirelessly, but she was never found. The lake was even dragged, thinking that a body might at least be recovered, but that too was fruitless. It was as though she had vanished.
So it stayed for three long decades.
Eventually, Dean Douglass was found. Scuba divers exploring the depths of the lake came across what they thought was a discarded mannequin. The ‘mannequin’ was sitting on a ledge, entirely clothed and glassy skinned. The divers had no reason to think anything was unusual. When they tried to bring it to the surface, though, what they had thought was a mannequin slowly began to decompose. It was then that they realized what had truly happened- the cold, dark, and mineral rich conditions of the lake had left the woman’s body perfectly preserved. Her positioning on the ledge, tucked just out of reach, was what had kept her from being discovered.
After being identified, Dean Douglass was finally able to be laid to rest. Officials at the former New Jersey College for Women, renamed Douglass College in 1955 to honor its first dean, handled her funeral arrangements. Sadly, her daughter was never able to get the closure of her mother’s discovery- she had committed suicide, like her mother and brother, before the body was recovered.
Now, Dean Douglass is buried with her husband in Brooklyn. Her legacy lives on in the form of Douglass Residential College, which has allowed thousands of women to receive a top-tier education. Without Mabel Smith Douglass, none of that would have been possible. So, though her finals years were marred with such devastation and grief, I hope, somehow, that she knows just what her accomplishments meant, and that she will certainly never be forgotten.