"The thing to understand is that being atRadcliffe was so much better than being home withyour mother that we wouldn't have dreamed ofcomplaining about inequality with men," Wallachsays.
One alumnus remembers that his wife was made tofeel at home at Harvard where she could sit in onclasses, and even organized her own poetryreading.
In general though, the gender inequalities thatwomen faced here were minimal compared to those inthe rest of the country, and Radcliffe women weregiven access to resources most were not.
"I think most of us loved Radcliffe because itgave us a glimpse of how the world could be forwomen," Wallach says.
With the return of students to Harvard, theycould once again enjoy the social pleasures thathad been denied them during the war. By the timethe '49ers were getting ready to graduate, dances,masquerades and other social events began making acomeback.
In 1945, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals put on"The Proof of the Pudding," their first show afterAmerica entered the war, and other studentactivities were resurrected as the class made itsway through the college.
As time went by, memories of Hitler's Germany,the atomic bomb and wartime rationing faded frommemory. The '49ers studied, played House footballand attended dances. With the Class of 1949,Harvard put WWII firmly in the past.