The study of the role of women at Midwestern State University focused on the transition from deans of women and men to a dean of students. Through the historical lens it is clear that many valuable aspects of the dean of women position were lost in the haste to move from a separate sphere for women students to their supposed mainstreaming into the larger campus community. The reintroduction of many components of the dean of women role could humanize the campus for women students. This information can be used to shape programs for women today, both at Midwestern State and elsewhere. Historical research punctures misperceptions about our institutions and the societal context in which they operate.
Institutional images are amalgams of fact and fiction.
Sometimes the fictional portions of the image do a disservice to present or former members of the campus community. People who are marginalized in society may have played a larger role in the history of the university than anyone would acknowledge at the time. Accurate research can debunk those myths and incorporate those participants into the life and history of the institution. In fact, good historical research must look beyond and beneath the institutionally convenient view of the past to discover the truth which resonates in the record and in the lives of those who lived it. It was established late in the 19th century as an agricultural and military institution.