Dorothy Liebes | 6. The Student Third Cabin Association

Liebes’s salary from a second job at the Brooklyn Heights Academy for Girls, combined with $85 from the Horace Mann School, enabled her to take courses in embroidery, rug making and tapestry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also “haunted the other museums,” such as Cooper Hewitt, the Museum of Natural History, and the South American Wing of the Brooklyn Museum. And she had a typically active social calendar for a young woman in her early 20s. Late into the night, she wove. Liebes would be known for maintaining this punishing pace throughout her life, and her health often suffered because of it.

Being a good saver, Liebes stockpiled enough funds to embark on her first trip to Europe on May 29, 1926. A membership in the Student Third Cabin Association allowed her to book passage aboard the SS Rinjdam. Liebes had roughly $300 for living expenses in Paris and planned to visit for up to six weeks. Instead, she stayed until August 23rd when she boarded the SS Rotterdam in Bologne-Sur-Mer. She stretched her funds by working as a governess and tour guide for children and parents of friends. Upon returning to New York with the STCA, Liebes immediately began planning for a return visit the following summer.