| Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1822 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | June 27, 1907 (aged 84) Arlington, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Education Natural history Philosophy |
| Institutions | Radcliffe College |
| Known for | The first president of Radcliff College |
Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (née Cary) (December 5, 1822 – June 27, 1907) was an American educator, and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College.
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Elizabeth Cary was born in 1822 into a Boston Brahmin family. Because of her fragile health, she received homeschooling. Following the marriage of her older sister with a professor, she began socializing with a group of intellectuals in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1849 she met scientist Louis Agassiz, a widower, who had recently emigrated with his three children (Pauline, Ida and Alexander) from Switzerland to the United States. They married in 1850. She organized the household, took care of the finances and the children. She worked closely with her husband at his scientific research.
In 1856 in their home in Cambridge, Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz founded a school for girls from Boston. Her husband supported her by giving courses as well as arranging for courses from other Harvard professors. After the closure of the school in 1863 she helped organize and manage the Expedition with her husband, who she accompanied to Brazil (1865–1866). This expedition caused the couple to be outside of the country during a significant portion of the American Civil War. She helped organize and manage the next Expedition (the Hassler expedition in 1871-1872) too and made transcripts. After her husband's death (1873), she published several books on natural history.[1]
Her publications include A First Lesson in Natural History (1859); Life of Louis Agassiz; and Seaside Studies in Natural History (1865), in which she was assisted by her stepson, Alexander Emanuel Agassiz.
She was (from 1869) one of the first women members of the American Philosophical Society (with Mary Fairfax Somerville and Mary Mitchell). In 1879 she was one of seven female Managing Director of the Society for the private Collegiate Instruction for Women (Harvard Annex). Agassiz was essential in ensuring that the "Harvard Annex" for women's education was transformed in 1894 from Harvard University in the Radcliffe College. From 1894 to 1900 this college was under their direction and from 1900 to 1903 she was honorary president. With her tact and her fundraising skills she promoted the College and contributed significantly to its continuity.
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery with her husband and his dog. The monument is a boulder selected from the moraine of the Aar Glaciers, near where Louis Agassiz once lived.