Henrietta Meeteer

Henrietta Meeteer (1857-06-01 – 1956-11-18) was an American classics professor and philologist. She taught Latin and Greek at Swarthmore College, and was a dean of the college from 1906 to 1918.

Henrietta Josephine Meeteer in 1921

Quotes

• "I come here as your friend, your co-worker. Not to look on from the outside, but to stand shoulder to shoulder with you always. If you need a mother, my heart is ready to respond to that call; if you need a sister, a friend, a comrade in pleasure, that is what I want to be — what I am here to be. Everything that concerns you concerns me — your work, your pleasures, your difficulties. Nothing that affects you is too trivial to claim my interest, my sympathy. Whatever the limitations and deficiencies I bring to my work as your dean, I can promise a deep and unfailing sympathy."
  • "Opening Day at Swarthmore". Friends' Intelligencer. 63 (39)(1906-09-29): 608; from her first speech to the students of Swarthmore as dean of the college

• "The simple life of our grandmothers is a thing of the past. For the woman of to-day each year life grows more complex, and we all know that the more complex the machinery the more competent must be those who run it. Does this not lead to a conclusion in perfect accord with the spirit of the age?"
  • Henrietta Josephine Meeteer, "The Value of Higher Education in the Home" Journal of Education 67(3)(1908-01-16): 62.