Timeline of women's colleges in the United States

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Further information: List of current and historical women's universities and colleges in the United States

The following is a timeline of women's colleges in the United States. These are institutions of higher education in the United States whose student populations are comprised exclusively or almost exclusively of women. They are often liberal arts colleges. There are approximately sixty active women's colleges in the U.S.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Education for girls and women was initially provided for in the 18th Century by Moravian settlements in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Moravian College, founded in 1742 in Germantown and later moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was originally called the Bethlehem Female Seminary. It received its collegiate charter in 1863 and became the Moravian Seminary and College for Women in 1913. In 1954, it combined with the boys school, Moravian College and Theological Seminary and became coeducational. The Moravians of Winston-Salem, North Carolina (then Salem, North Carolina) began the Little Girls' School (now Salem College) in 1772.

Institutions of higher education for women, however, were primarily founded during the early 19th century, many as teaching seminaries. As noted by the Women's College Coalition:

The formal education of girls and women began in the middle of the nineteenth century and was intimately tied to the conception that society had of the appropriate role for women to assume in life. Republican education prepared girls for their future role as wives and mothers and taught religion, singing, dancing and literature. Academic education prepared girls for their role as community leaders and social benefactors and had some elements of the education offered boys. Seminaries educated women for the only socially acceptable occupation: teaching. Only unmarried women could be teachers. Many early women's colleges began as female seminaries and were responsible for producing an important corps of educators. [1]

Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra further note that, "women's colleges were founded during the mid- and late-19th century in response to a need for advanced education for women at a time when they were not admitted to most institutions of higher education."[2] Early proponents of education for women were Sarah Pierce (Litchfield Female Academy, 1792); Catharine Beecher (Hartford Female Seminary, 1823); Zilpah P. Grant Banister (Ipswich Female Seminary, 1828); and Mary Lyon. Lyon was involved in the development of both Hartford Female Seminary and Ipswich Female Seminary. She was also involved in the creation of Wheaton Female Seminary (now Wheaton College, Massachusetts) in 1834. In 1837, Lyon founded Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Mount Holyoke College), the "first of the Seven Sisters."[3] Harwarth, Maline, and DeBra note that, "Mount Holyoke’s significance is that it became a model for a multitude of other women’s colleges throughout the country."[4]. Both Vassar College and Wellesley College were patterned after Mount Holyoke. [5] Wesleyan College was the first college chartered for women, receiving its charter in 1836. Vassar was the first of the Seven Sisters to be chartered as a college in 1861.

While there were a few coeducational colleges (such as Oberlin College founded in 1833, Antioch College in 1853, and Bates College in 1855), most colleges and universities of high standing at that time were exclusively for men. The first coordinate college, H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, (with Tulane University), was founded in 1896. It was followed a year later by Evelyn College for Women, the coordinate college for Princeton University. Other notable coordinate colleges included Douglass (with Rutgers University), Pembroke (with Brown University), Margaret Morrison Carnegie College (Carnegie Mellon University), and Radcliffe College (with Harvard University).

[edit] Lists of schools

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.
Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

Colleges are listed chronologically by the date in which they opened their doors to students, since many of them began as either a girl's school, an academy (which during the late 18th and early 19th centuries was the equivalent of a secondary school), or as a teaching seminary (which during the early 19th century were forms of secular higher education), rather than as a chartered college. They are also listed alphabetically in templates at the bottom of this page.

Current women's colleges are listed in bold text. Colleges that are closing or transitioning to coeducation are listed in italics. Former women's colleges which are now coeducational are listed in plain text.

[edit] Colonial-era colleges

  • Moravian College, founded in 1742 in Germantown and later moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It began as Bethlehem Female Seminary. It received its collegiate charter in 1863 and in 1913, it became the Moravian Seminary and College for Women. In 1954, it merged with the male institution Moravian College and Theological Seminary and became coeducational. [6]
  • Salem College founded in 1772 in Winston Salem, North Carolina as the Little Girls' School. In 1802, it became a boarding school for girls and young women; in 1866, it was renamed Salem Female Academy. In 1907 the name was officially changed to Salem Academy and College and to this day both Salem Academy and Salem College share the campus in Old Salem.

[edit] 1790s

[edit] 1810s

  • Louisburg College – Louisburg Female Academy, North Carolina, founded in 1814; Louisburg Female College, founded in 1857. Later merged with Franklin Male Academy.
  • Troy Female Seminary - founded in 1814; became the Emma Willard School in 1895.
  • Elizabeth Female Academy – first academy for women in Mississippi, founded in 1818 by Elizabeth Roach. It closed in 1843. [1], [2]

[edit] 1820s

[edit] 1830s

  • LaGrange College - LaGrange, Georgia, founded in 1831 as a female academy, it became LaGrange Female College in 1851, and coeducational in 1953
  • Stephens College - Columbia, Missouri, founded in 1833 as the Columbia Female Academy, it became the The Columbia Female Baptist Academy in 1856, and was renamed Stephens Female College at a later date
  • Wheaton College, Massachusetts - founded in 1834 as Wheaton Female Seminary with the help of Mary Lyon; Wheaton became a college in 1912 and coeducational in 1987
  • University of West Alabama - founded in 1835 as Livingston Female Academy and State Normal College.
  • Mount Holyoke College - South Hadley, Massachusetts, founded as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1837 by Mary Lyon, it became Mount Holyoke Seminary and College in 1888 and Mount Holyoke College in 1893. It is the first of the Seven Sisters and was chartered as a teaching seminary in 1836. [7]
  • Judson College (Alabama) - founded in 1838 as the Judson Female Institute, it became Judson College in 1903
  • Wesleyan College - Macon, Georgia, originally Georgia Female College, it opened its doors to students in 1839. It was renamed Wesleyan Female College in 1843 and later shortened to the present name Wesleyan College in 1917. It was the first institution of higher education to be chartered as a college for women from inception, receiving its collegiate charter in 1836.
  • Longwood University - Farmville, Virginia, founded in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary Association. It became coeducational in 1976.

[edit] 1840s

[edit] 1850s

[edit] 1860s

[edit] 1870s

[edit] 1880s

[edit] 1890s

[edit] 1900s

[edit] 1910s

[edit] 1920s

[edit] 1930s

[edit] 1940s

[edit] 1960s

[edit] 1980s

[edit] Alphabetical lists

v • d • e
Current women's universities and colleges in the United States
v • d • e
Women's colleges that became coeducational
Became coeducational
Adelphi University • Albertus Magnus College • Andrew College • Beaver College • Bennington College • Carlow University • Cazenovia College • Chestnut Hill College • Chowan College • Columbia College • Connecticut College • Drexel University College of Medicine • Elms College • Elmira College • Emmanuel College • Georgia College & State University • Goucher College • Greensboro College • Hood College • Hunter College • Immaculata University • James Madison University • Keuka College • LaGrange College • Lake Erie College • Lasell College • Lesley College • Longwood University • MacMurray College • Mississippi University for Women• Marymount Manhattan College • Moravian College • Notre Dame College • Ohio Dominican University • Queens University of Charlotte • Radford University • Randolph College • Regis College • Rivier College • Sarah Lawrence College • Salve Regina University • Seton Hill University • Shorter College • Silver Lake College • Skidmore College • Stevenson University • Texas Woman's University • Trocaire College • University of Mary Washington • University of North Carolina at Greensboro • Vassar College • Viterbo University • Washington College of Law • Wells College • Wheaton College
Coordinate colleges
Douglass (merged with Rutgers University) • Evelyn College for Women (with Princeton University; closed) • H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College (merged with Tulane University) • Margaret Morrison Carnegie College (merged with Carnegie Mellon University) • Pembroke (merged with Brown University) • Radcliffe College (merged with Harvard University)
v • d • e
Seven Sister Colleges
Barnard • Bryn Mawr • Mount Holyoke • Radcliffe (defunct) • Smith • Vassar (coeducational) • Wellesley

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Rise of Women's Colleges, Coeducation
  2. ^ Harwarth, Irene. "Women's Colleges in the United States: History, Issues, and Challenges", ed.gov. Retrieved on 2006-10-14. 
  3. ^ "About Mount Holyoke", mountholyoke.edu. Retrieved on 2006-09-01. 
  4. ^ Irene Harwarth; Mindi Maline and Elizabeth DeBra. Women's Colleges in the United States: History, Issues, and Challenges. U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning.
  5. ^ Jennifer L. Crispen. Seven Sisters and a Country Cousin. sbc.edu.
  6. ^ Moravian College history
  7. ^ First Charter of Mount Holyoke
  8. ^ Women's College of the University of Denver

[edit] External links