To an observer, the Martha Cook Building feels more like a museum than a residence hall. Everything from the vaulted ceilings looming over the Venus de Milo replica to the ornate Steinway dominating the Gold Room conveys a certain elegance and sense of "do not touch." To its 144 residents, however, this is home. A visit to the dining room during mealtime or a trip upstairs reveals that indeed, women do live here, although the hall bears little resemblance to its University residence hall counterparts. Lack of men aside, everything from the relatively silent corridors to the friendly scarecrow door decorations suggests there is something that distinguishes Martha Cook from the rest of the University.

Martha Cook Building opened 90 years ago this fall, only a semester behind the first women's residence hall, Helen Newberry. William W. Cook built the hall as a gift to the University in remembrance of his mother. "Much as I value intellect, I put character and womanly grace above it," he wrote. Cook recognized the importance of higher education for women but also hoped Martha Cook would help its residents develop the "charm and grace and principles of American womanhood." In that respect, not much has changed; the building is still a mixture of the progressive and the traditional. Those who like its small size, its traditions and its tight-knit community come back year after year - sometimes through graduate school - while those who don't soon move out. Martha Cook remains an important part of its women's lives after graduation as well; the building is the only dormitory to have an alumnae association, which boasts over 700 members, and the women often remain involved with Martha Cook throughout their lives. Former Cookies who had graduated decades ago showed up for the Martha Cook Building 90th anniversary celebration last month, all enthusiastically recounting their days at Martha Cook as if they had just left the University.

One Cookie's tale: from resident to director

Olive Chernow, former resident and hall director, attended the reunion and exemplifies the dedication these women demonstrate toward their hall. Chernow started at the University in the fall of 1943 during the height of World War II. She spent her first two years living in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house, temporarily converted to women's housing because the female dorms were filled. Chernow joined the United Service Organization in hopes of meeting the few men who remained on campus and also volunteered rolling bandages. "Everybody was doing something," she said.

When the war ended in 1945, Chernow moved to Martha Cook and quickly integrated herself into the social life and community. "The whole world was celebrating - I got to see what college life was like."

Thirty years later, Chernow returned to Martha Cook as hall director from 1973-1979, determined to pay back all she had received from the hall during her college years. Although relieved to be back home, she did not anticipate the many changes the dorm had undergone in her absence.

"I had re-entry shock," she said. "The first thing I did was lock the door." During her time at Martha Cook, students leaving the building after 7 p.m. had to sign in and out, but now residents have keys to the front door and could freely come and go.

Chernow found it a challenge for the women to handle the many new responsibilities they had when compared with her generation. "I was shocked to see how much freedom they had," Chernow said. By encouraging formal dances - even starting ballroom dance lessons for the women who didn't know how to dance - she did what she could to preserve the "tradition of gracious living" that she remembered and loved from her days at Martha Cook.

One of her fondest memories as director was when President Gerald Ford came to the building for dinner. In her book, "My Years at the Martha Cook Building," Chernow recounted the excitement of the president's visit, the inspection by the Secret Service and the red carpet she purchased especially for Ford. During the dinner, one of the girls asked Ford if he ever dated a Martha Cookie, and according to Chernow, "He replied that the last time he came to MCB it was with different interest and different motivation."

"The residents were just as impressed with the handsome secret service men as they had been with President Ford," she wrote, "Later that evening, several residents went out with the secret service men in the group and had lots of exciting tidbits to tell us the next day."

"Telephone conversations shall be limited to five minutes"