The Development of the Female Seminary and the Women’s College

Introduction

As I presented last time about the seminaries type of institutions, the term is currently used for graduate-level theological schools in the United States, but historically the term was used for high schools, and the example I provided was the Troy Female Seminary, which is currently known as Emma Willard School and the school is still serving students as young girls because the school is operating for a boarding and day school for females as well as it is a college preparatory.

Seminaries institutions replaced the word academy in the early nineteenth century. Female seminaries were established for a significant purpose in training women for Republican mothership or motherhood and for teaching, which was different than male seminaries that prepare men for priesthood and ministry. Moreover, Female seminaries’ top priority was to enhance and empower women’s education and provide a place where women can possess the equality of education as men have it since the colonial era.

Colonial to the Contemporary Era

During the colonial era, which occurred from 1636 till 1789, seminaries and colleges were established to educate only noble, elite, and young white men to prepare them for the clergyman, serving the church or for the Christian ministry, as I mentioned earlier in this paper. It was sporadic to have in the colonial era, seminaries for educating females such as the Bethlehem Female Seminary, which was established in 1742, Pennsylvania. It was the first protestant boarding school for educating girls or Salem college founded as an academy in 1772 for educating only girls.

The United States starts to have female seminaries and women colleges during the emergent nation era 1790-1869 when “the rapid organization of dozens of new colleges in the newly acquired territories” (Cohen & Kisher, 2010) occurred and after students are no longer wealthy white young boys instead students were welcomed from different background ethnic group as well as “students from the lower and middle classes far outnumbered those from wealthy families” (Cohen & Kisher, 2010). Besides, females had the right to attend schools during that era.

The expansion of female seminaries as considered private institutions for girls or women was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when educational institutions for females or women were exceptional and very scarce.

Followed the emergence and development of female colleges, which made the role of female seminary education less noticeable, and with “the absence of regulations, it was easy to form colleges” (Cohen & Kisher, 2010). Female colleges were first formed during the emergent nation era, such as Wesleyan College; first chartered a college for women in 1836. The origin name was Georgia Female College, and the school officially opened the door for girls in 1839. Also, Oberlin was the first institution that allows women to attend college in 1833. At the end of the emergent era, Vassar college was established for females in 1861, and the institution turned to coeducational in 1969. Smith College, one of the largest women colleges in the United States and the most extensive college within the seven sisters. It was established in 1871 at the beginning of the transformational era and currently, it turned to a coeducational institution.

The 1930s, which is during the transformation era (1870-1944), also saw incredible changes in women’s education and learning opportunities at the college level, which was impacted by the civil war that happened from 1861 till 1865. The explosion of female institutions in the particular year of 1900, “there were 85,338 female college students in the United States and 5,237 earned their bachelor’s degrees; by 1940, there were 600,953 female college students and 77,000 earned bachelor’s degrees” (Wikipedia, 2020). This increase led to defining women as not only had mothers’ and wives’ roles but also as influential, useful citizens and professionals in higher education and society.

Since the earliest time (colonial nation era), when education was considered unhealthy and unnecessary for women, and since females didn’t have equality education with the male, things have evolved tremendously passing through all periods of the foundation of higher education. During the consolidation era (1976-1993), women entered the workforce; more women become faculty members of higher education institutions. In terms of the student body, today, women’s enrollment exceeded men’s in college, and it represented the majority of undergraduates (57% nationally) in all colleges. Below are fast facts, according to the Women’s College Coalition (2020).

The earliest women’s colleges were founded in the mid-19th century to give women access to higher education.

In 1960 there were about 230 women’s colleges.

In 2014, there were 47 women’s colleges in the U.S. and Canada

In addition, as stated by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (2010).

“Women’s pursuit of higher education in the 19th century contributed in significant ways to the expansion of associational and civic life among white middle and upper-class women Funding for women’s higher education institutions ran the gamut from subscription drives to bequests” (p.5).

The philanthropies had a significant role in the development and establishment of female seminaries and female colleges. Mary Lyon raised $27,000 in 1837 with the help of 1800 donors across the country to start Mt. Holyoke Seminary, and in 1870, Smith College was created through her will of $ 400.000.

Female Seminaries to Female Colleges or Universities

Below is a chart that I have created to track and classify most female seminaries in the United States, but it did not include all the seminaries. My goal was to include only female seminaries. Some were closed due to different reasons (death of the establisher, the effect of civil war, economic hardship, the increase of public schools, and so on.). Other female seminaries were progressively developed as four-year colleges. The majority of them remained female as the only gender of the student population, while other colleges started to admit men (coeducational).

 

Female Seminaries	Female College & University	Admitting men
Bethlehem Female Seminary 1742 (Colonial era) Moravian female seminary	Moravian College 1863 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	location of the men’s college from 1892–1954 1954 two schools combined to form the single, coeducational
Washington Female Seminary 1836- Washington, Pennsylvania (closed in 1948 Mass)
Steubenville Female Seminary 1829 – Steubenville, Ohio (closed in 1898- Transformation)
Female seminary   1837 – Sharon, Mississippi (closed in 1873 Transformation)	Sharon Female College   1837
Port Gibson Female College 1843 – Port Gibson, Mississippi (closed in 1908 Transformation)
Wheaton Female Seminary 1834	Wheaton College 1912-Norton, Massachusetts	1988
1842 Augusta Female Seminary 1895 Mary Baldwin Seminary	1923 Mary Baldwin College 2015 Board of trustees voted to change the institution to Mary Baldwin University	Mid 1970 2017 accepting residential male students Staunton, Virginia
Wellesley Female Seminary 1870- Wellesley, Massachusetts (Transformation)	Wellesley Female college March 7, 1873 approved 1875 opened to students
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (1837) South Hadley, Massachusetts	Mount Holyoke College 1893
Ipswich Female Seminary, (1828) operated until 1876
Hartford Female Seminary 1823 (closed half of the 19th century)
Live Oak Female Seminary 1815-– (closed in 1888 Transformation)
Rockford Female Seminary 1847 Rockford, Illinois	Rockford University 1890 (full college curriculum) 1892 College 2013 Rockford University	1955–56
Mount Hermon Female Seminary1875 (closed in 1924 Transformation)
Female seminary, 1865 (closed in 1904)	Meridian Female College 1865- Meridian, Mississippi
Hagerstown Female Seminary 1853 (closed in 1911)
First Cherokee Female Seminary 1851 boarding school (Demolished 1887)- Park Hill, Oklahoma
Female Seminary public schoolhouse for girls 1876- Centreville, Maryland (sold in 1907 Transformation)
Troy Female Seminary 1821	University-preparatory day and boarding school for young women
Female seminary 1857 Corinth, Mississippi.	Corona Female College in College never reopened
Charlestown Female Seminary 1830. The second school in Charlestown for young women

 

Note that most of the seminaries were founded in the emergent nation era. Note as well that the majority of female seminaries closed during the transformational and Mass eras. That would probably be because of the expansion and formation of colleges and universities and the increase of students’ enrollment in these institutions during these periods, which reduced the need for seminaries institutions. Among the twenty-one female seminaries that I have included in the table above, ten were transformed or developed into a college or university, and only four among them started to admit men into their campuses.

References

• Wikipedia. (2020). Seminary. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_seminary
• Wikipedia. (2016). Category: Female seminaries in the United States. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_seminaries_in_the_United_States
• Cohen, A. M., & Kisher, C. B. (2010). The Shaping of American Higher Education: Emergence and Growth of the Contemporary System (2^nd ed.). Jossey-Bass. eISBN : 978-0-470-55166-0 https://ebooks1.net/?download_file=279229&order=wc_order_hiCu0y9gDw45s&uid=7f5f5813f6cd109242a3452027938a675d920e9faff8859e2525a1f104820e46&key=732b0ff4-baf9-473e-a07c-bb557a49e57b
• Women’s College Coalition. (2020). Fast fact. Retrieved October 22, from https://www.womenscolleges.org/history
• Women’s Philanthropy Institute. (2010). A Sense of Place: A Short History of Women’s Philanthropy in America. Retrieved from  http://www.philansci.com/we2014/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/A-Sense-of-Place.A-short-history-of-Womens-Philanthropy-in-America.pdf
• Wikipedia. (2020). Women’s education in the United States: History. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_education_in_the_United_States
• Wesleyan First for Women (2020). The History of Wesleyan College. Retrieved from  https://www.wesleyancollege.edu/about/history/wesleyan-college-history.cfm
• Women’s College Coalition (2014). The Truth About Women’s Colleges: Comparative Enrollment Trends of Women’s Colleges and Private, Coeducational Colleges Retrieved Fromhttps://www.womenscolleges.org/sites/default/files/report/files/main/wcc01_trendsreport_final_interactive.pdf