The war was a watershed.

Despite the many Harvard students joining the armed forces, classes in the Yard proceeded--with one new twist: professors now gave their lectures only once, in coed settings on Harvard's campus. World conflict accomplished what the Annex couldn't.

But the integration of the classes did little for women seeking to join the Harvard community. Many did not feel like full-fledged members of the University.

Women may have been taking classes with men, but studying was a single-sex activity at Lamont Library for Harvard undergraduates since its grand opening in 1949. Women had access to Hilles Library in the Radcliffe Quadrangle, but the trek proved quite a hassle in the middle of the day.

In fall 1966, when Hilles was undergoing renovations, women were admitted to Lamont for a two-week period. The trial demonstrated--as least to some--that male and female students would both be able to use Lamont resources without "distracting" each other (a common fear) and without depleting the reserve bookshelf, the potential out-come that many men gave as their reason for opposition.

Women were given full permission to use Lamont on Monday, Feb. 6, 1967. Two librarians greeted the first woman to walk in with a picture of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

TO MERGE OR NOT TO MERGE?

In 1969, while most people's minds were occupied with student protest, Radcliffe and Harvard were quietly discussing a possible merger.

Two years after the doors of Lamont were opened to women, Harvard was willing to merge with its sibling. But Radcliffe was no longer so easily convinced.

In the wake of Yale and Princeton's decisions to go completely co-ed, students in Cambridge began pushing for coeducational Houses in December 1968.

But Harvard President Nathan M. Pusey '28, one of Radcliffe's staunchest supporters, said he didn't see how the students of two colleges, with two separate administrations, could live together.

Both Pusey and Radcliffe President Mary I. Bunting decided a merger might be the solution for Harvard and Radcliffe.

The Radcliffe College Alumnae Association (RCAA) sent alumnae a letter with the news of a possible merger.

"Life has changed at Radcliffe in the past few years...almost imperceptibly the ties have grown much closer with Harvard," the letter reads.

The merger would mean a greater number of opportunities for women, including sharing in scholarship funds, the House system and its Masters and resident tutors, the letter continues. And, perhaps most importantly, female students would finally feel a part of Harvard.