Henrietta Hoag Guilfoyle ’40 (Onöndowa’ga:’/Seneca, Beaver Clan) was one of five Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih women who came to Cornell between 1929 and 1942 through a scholarship funded by the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was the only one to graduate.
Guilfoyle was born at Ohi:yo’ (Alleghany) in 1918. She was the granddaughter of William C. Hoag, former president of the Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) Nation, who directed the agricultural surveys Cornell’s College of Agriculture conducted at Ohi:yo’ in 1919. Her family’s role in developing Cornell’s Indian Extension Program is most likely why Hoag applied for the Olive Whitman Memorial Scholarship Fund in 1937.
While Haudenosaunee students faced considerable bias on campus at the time, Guilfoyle found community through extracurricular activities. She served as vice president of the Cosmopolitan Club, the first club dedicated to international students at Cornell, where she also met her husband Daniel Guilfoyle ’40. She also negotiated the representation of Haudenosaunee aesthetics on campus, donning Onöndowa’ga:’ regalia in the 1937 “Costumes of Many Lands” fashion showcase.
After graduation, Guilfoyle returned to her grandfather’s farm while her husband served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. She worked for Cornell Alumni News until after the birth of her first son. The couple, who lived in a number of locations in New York and New Jersey, had three sons. While raising them, Guilfoyle volunteered in their schools and local hospitals. She died in 1983.
