Griselda “Bee” Hanlon was a veterinarian graduating from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in 1952. She and Jo Ann Schmidt-O’Brien were members of the first veterinary class at the college that accepted women. She was the first female board-certified veterinary radiologist, a renowned faculty member of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, and a founding member of the Minnesota Veterinary History Museum.
In this Interview, Dr. Bee Hanlon shares her personal recollections on the difficulties facing woman entering a male dominated profession after World War II. She describes the financial difficulty for her classmate Jo Ann, since she was single and had no GI Bill to offer support.
Oral History Interview completed on May 29th, 1987 by Paul Cox.
Full Interview and transcript available upon request.
Oral Interview Clip, "Veterinary School Application Process":
Okay, so then you applied for veterinary school and were accepted in the second class? That was in 1948?
1948 yes, because I graduated in 1952. But application to veterinary school wasn't all that rosy, I was turned down, as was the other girl in the class, Jo Ann Schmidt O'Brien. I went back to my town and thinking it was rejected. They plainly stated, we're not admitting women into that class. And so I thought, I better go on with my background medical entomology for awhile. I had planned to go on to graduate school anyway somewhere or another. If it was coming back here to Minnesota, my husband was still in pre-medical courses with that time. I was turned down, as was Jo Ann. And it was just I believe a week or a weekend before school opened that I received a telegram stating they changed their minds. They were allowing two women into the school. And if I wanted to attend, I should get there on the first day, which I did. And this where I got all the news on how difficult Jo Ann had it. She stayed here during the summer and was working for a dentist and his wife who had a kennel. When she was rejected, I mean it didn't stop there. She went to war. Not Jo Ann specifically, but with people she was with. They thought it was very unfair not to let the women. And so apparently this as I understand it, and it would be better to interview Jo Ann on this for details, but the women that the dentist's wife were associated with, more or less got together and flooded the Dean's office with letters. The dean being the good boy that he was, Dean Boyd, we all like him. He didn't want to get involved with women. He added two chairs, he didn't replace any body.