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at the Park School in Cleveland, the Brooklyn Ethical Culture
School and the Harley School in Rochester.
In 1932, Miss Sleeper earned a master’s degree in educational
psychology from Columbia University. She joined the
Hartridge faculty in 1933, became head of the Lower School
in 1935 and associate principal in 1940.
Miss Sleeper was widely known in academic circles for
her work in helping to write the Master Key Arithmetics
series.
She directed Camp Marbury in Vergennes, V t„ for more
than 20 years. After her retirement she spent her summers
there and her winters in Montpelier, Vt.
In Plainfield, she was an officer of the United Family and
Children’s Society, but devoted almost all of her efforts to
Hartridge and its activities.
Miss Sleeper was co-author of a textbook for educators,
"The Creative Individual."
Miss Sleeper spent 35 years at Hartridge, 17 of those as
principal. During her years as head, the enrollment nearly
doubled and there were waiting lists for many grades when
she retired.
In summing up her tenure, Miss Sleeper said she emphasized
the policy begun by Miss Hartridge ''to give the students
as much freedom as is compatible with sound scholarship.”
The early 1950’s saw more changes. In 1953 Margaretta
Kuhlthau designed the new school seal which replaced the
original Hart on a Ridge logo, which continued to be used for
a number of years on class rings.
The new seal was an upright oval with a dark border on
which the words "The Hartridge School” and "Knowledge is
Power" were written. In the center was a banner with the
date Miss Hargridge took over the school. 1903, and a shield.
For some years, the trustees had hoped to erect new
buildings at Plainfield Avenue. Instead, in 1954, the money in
the building fund was invested in the rejuvenation of the
Main House.
While retaining the classic Victorian style, the third and
fourth floors were removed, as were the north and west
proches and the portecochere. A new south wing was added
to give a main entrance.
Elsewhere on campus, the old clay tennis courts were
replaced.
The changes stood the school in good stead until it became
apparent that Hartridge needed more classrooms and
a full size gymnasium. In 1958 the Harriet Sleeper Gymnasium
and science labs were built. Because of this expansion
the hockey field was turned on end from perpendicular to
Plainfield Avenue to parallel. The cafeteria was enlarged.
A year later the Art Studio and History of Art room were
added to the new gym. The old science labs were moved
from the basement of the old gym, and additional locker
rooms and a large music room resulted.
With all the changes, certain things remained constant,
including the sound of Miss Sleeper’s bugle calling students
to class when the bells weren’t working, the set of trains in
her office, and the red engineer's cap Miss Sleeper wore at
varsity games.
In 1968, the Hue and Cry offered this summary of Miss
Sleeper:
"To run a school, all it took was devotion, diligence,
understanding, labor for as much as 18 hours a day, sympathy,
intelligence, capacity, resilence, love for the job, the
school, the faculty, and the community* and, oh yes, fith,
hope and charity. Miss Sleeper had them all.”
When she retired an editorial in the Curier News said that
a long-time trustee had described her as a person who
adjusted to any situation with absolutely no fuss, while
"inside she’s solid oak.”
The newspaper went on: "She can compromise on the
means, but never on the ends, the trustee said, and while
she has definite objectives, high standards and staunch
principles — she manages to attain her goals by almost
invisible means. She has touched the lives of many girls.
"In her position as teacher and principal, Miss Sleeper has
been happily tireless in her attention to every facet of the
schools operation and its extra-curricular activities as well.
At the same time she has maintained an interest in each girl
as an individual.
"Miss Sleeper can be absolutely objective in her attitudes,
a longtime associate said of her. She has been praised for
her sense of humor as well as her good humor — two
entirely different attributes.”
Miss Sleeper died in Vermont on October 13,1975. She was
73 years old.
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