You're Never Going to Guess What Good Grades Earned You from Wharton in 1929!

You’re Never Going to Guess What Good Grades Earned You from Wharton in 1929!

Over the past 2 years, I have done many Now and Then Thursday posts and videos comparing my experiences at Penn with what’s going on at Penn today.

I’m now going to take “Now and Then Thursdays” to the next level thanks to Joan Myerson Shrager (College for Women, School of Education, ’60).

Not only has digital artist extraordinaire Joan emailed me to let me know that her family is now 3 generations at Penn (Joan; her parents Ruth Leone Meyers Myerson (College for Women, ’30) and Adolph Myerson (Wharton ’29); and Joan’s son Steven Gold (C’85) …but she has shared with me exclusive photos and stories passed down to her of what Penn was like when her parents went.

(l to r graduation day: Joan’s Son Steve Gold (C’85), and Joan (College for Women C’60)

(l to r current day: Joan’s son Steve Gold (C’85), and Joan (College for Women C’60)

Over the next several months, I will be sharing with you these stories, and I’m sure you’ll find these stories as fascinating as I have!

Before we get to the stories from Joan’s parents, get a glimpse of what Penn was like in Joan’s time. Per Joan:

“I have my 1960 yearbook and if I felt like counting I would bet over 3/4 of the book is male oriented with some women interspersed and a few pages about Miss Penn and the sororities. In my day, as they say, women could not eat in Houston Hall. Maybe you [DT] could invite some memories from us old timers about our favorite places like Paganos for pizza and Horn and Hardart’s. We used the old Furness building as our library and sat in the stacks to do research. Imagine that. No Google, just microfiche that you could hardly read. Oh my…………”

Now see belowwhat good grades from Wharton earned Joan’s father in 1928! You’ll be amazed and jealous to find out that THIS really existed!

That’s right, Joan’s father’s excellent grades earned him “permission to cut class”, no penalties!

Per Joan:

“Imagine graduating from Wharton in 1929 –the Great Depression! He completed 2 years at Law School but had to quit due to no money. He was able to get a job as a teacher and then got a masters in Ed at Penn in 1932)”