{"id":321261,"date":"2026-11-04T21:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T21:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/321261\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T21:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T21:28:09","slug":"pitts-french-nationality-room-reveals-hidden-letters-womens-role-in-french-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/321261\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitt’s French Nationality Room reveals hidden letters, women\u2019s role in French history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kalea<\/a>PITTSBURGH \u2014<\/p>\n

Inside the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s Cathedral of Learning, the French Nationality Room stands as a testament to French culture, history, and architecture, offering a space for cultural programming and education. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe color of the room is to match, like, Greek stonework and the capitals. All the gilding and stuff come from Egyptian motifs,\u201d said Roberta Hatcher, chair of the French Nationality Room Committee. <\/p>\n

The room\u2019s Empire-style architecture, which emerged during Napoleon\u2019s reign, is unmistakable. But for Hatcher, the room\u2019s impact goes beyond its design. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part is not so much the room itself, but seeing the students come back from France, having studied abroad with our scholarship. That to me is the most exciting thing,\u201d Hatcher said. <\/p>\n

The room serves a dual purpose, offering a space for cultural programming and French studies while providing a window into French history. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe window overlooking the Heinz Chapel, because it really is reminiscent of the St. Chapel in Paris,\u201d Hatcher said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exactly the same shape. And the French one has more stained glasses,\u201d said Benedicte Barlat, president of the French Cultural Center of Pittsburgh and a member of the French Room\u2019s committee. <\/p>\n

Barlat, who moved to Pittsburgh from France in 1987, said she sees connections to French history throughout the city. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are cultural bridges, as we call them,\u201d Barlat said. <\/p>\n

One such \u201ccultural bridge\u201d is Brunot Island, located in the middle of the Ohio River. The island is named after Felix Brunot, who came to the United States during the Revolutionary War with his foster brother, General Lafayette. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe came to help alongside Lafayette, not as a soldier, but as a surgeon,\u201d Barlat said. \u201cHe settled on the island. And it\u2019s still there. So the Brunot Island was his home.\u201d <\/p>\n

The French Nationality Room also holds a hidden history of how it came to exist. Joanna Conings, a graduate student studying French and Italian at Pitt, uncovered a collection of handwritten and typewritten letters dating back to 1929. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started looking through the archives, thinking, okay, well, who decides what French culture is and who decides who gets to decide what French culture is and what it should look like materially,\u201d Conings said. <\/p>\n

The first letter was sent by Rachel Hunt, a socially prominent philanthropist in Pittsburgh, agreeing to visit the room at the invitation of Ruth Crawford Mitchell, the founding director of the Nationality Rooms. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore it was even in anyone\u2019s mind, it was in two women\u2019s minds\u2014Rachel Hunt and Ruth Crawford. No one else was really talking about it,\u201d Conings said. <\/p>\n

The women corresponded about the room\u2019s design, even seeking input from a French architect. One letter suggested the decorations commemorate the educational impact of \u201cthe famous universities in France.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThey needed the support of the French government at one point, because you can\u2019t just do a French room and not get the French government involved. So they needed the support of the ambassadors. But those ambassadors\u2014it\u2019s women who are making sure that those letters arrive on the right desk, and then they were the ones pushing for that project to keep going,\u201d Conings said. <\/p>\n

Eventually, the letters included French Ambassador Paul Claudel, and Conings\u2019 research shows a shift in the correspondence to a male-led, government-influenced project, seemingly overshadowing the women\u2019s foundational efforts. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I called the \u2018affective labor,\u2019 because the relationships between these women who were part of the laborers, they were foundational. They are actually the walls that are keeping this room together,\u201d Conings said. <\/p>\n

More than 80 years after its completion, the French Nationality Room continues to fulfill its purpose, connecting cultures and inviting French-speaking and learning. <\/p>\n

\u201cAllez le d\u2019or et le noir!\u201d Barlat said, translating to \u201cLet\u2019s go black and gold!\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI used to say as a teacher that it\u2019s good to have language lessons, but if at least they had a culture lesson\u2014a class where you would learn the cultures of different countries so you can respect these countries, what they do, and how they celebrate things and simply who they are,\u201d Barlat said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Inside the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s Cathedral of Learning, the French Nationality Room stands as a testament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[130394,130400,14181,130404,107925,2395,130393,109123,130392,130391,130405,130402,130401,66979,130403,130396,497,121720,130399,3398,73,75,74,130398,130395,130397,2553,2184],"class_list":["post-321261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-benedicte-barlat","tag-brunot-island","tag-cathedral-of-learning","tag-coning","tag-cultural-programming","tag-france","tag-french-architecture","tag-french-culture","tag-french-history","tag-french-nationality-room","tag-french-one","tag-french-studies","tag-general-lafayette","tag-heinz-chapel","tag-hidden-letter","tag-joanna-conings","tag-learning","tag-nationality-rooms","tag-paul-claudel","tag-pitt","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-rachel-hunt","tag-roberta-hatcher","tag-ruth-crawford-mitchell","tag-university-of-pittsburgh","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}