This essay recontextualizes the Yale Report of 1828, arguing that the report's advocacy for classical liberal education should be understood alongside the racial concerns of its authors, some of whom were well-known colonizationists who viewed African American education as a threat to New Haven's social and economic stability. The Yale Report's…

This paper uses the writings of European teachers and Chinese students at St. Stephen's Girls' College in Hong Kong--published in English periodicals of its school magazine and local English newspapers--to examine how the school tactically positioned itself as an educational site for the "useful women of China" during a period in…

Historically, education has often varied by curriculum, access, and stature based on location, race, gender, economic status, religion, and time period. In addition, many educational institutions and much scholarly research have been significantly impacted by private foundation support. This essay discusses the politics of knowledge as it relates…

At the moment of its founding in 1911, Connecticut College for Women exhibited a curricular tension between an emphasis on the liberal arts, which mirrored the elite men's and women's colleges of the day, and vocational aspects, which made it a different type of women's college, one designed to prepare women for the kind of lives they would lead…

Historical scholarship has traditionally focused on the commonalities uniting Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon, the two leading antebellum women's educational reformers in New England. This essay shifts that focus by contrasting their educational philosophies and exploring the implications their differences had for the development of American…

Scholars have long debated the complicity of Southern white women after the Civil War in helping create a racialist and racist regional identity and denying or delaying civil rights for African Americans. These studies have largely focused on the activities of elite white women property owners, club members, and writers. Yet few scholars have…

At the turn of the century approximately a thousand white Southern women braved the consternation of friends and sometimes family, and traveled hundreds of miles to attend the best Northern women's colleges for an education unavailable to them in the South. For many, the experience was revolutionary: they developed self-confidence, independence,…

Women's colleges in the 1970s and 1980s faced highly uncertain futures. Soaring popularity of coeducation left them with serious enrollment downturns, and challenges from proposed equal rights legislation threatened to render illegal their single-sex admissions policies. These perilous external conditions drew together the presidents of U.S.…

Describes impact of Mount Holyoke Seminary, later Mount Holyoke College, on training of women scientists in late 1800s and early 1900s. Describes origins and development of Mount Holyoke and its emphasis on science education for women. Concludes that large number of female role models on faculty was one reason for the college's success in…

Reviews the European response to U.S. women's colleges. Contends that most international visitors believed that the United States was the world leader in women's rights in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Concludes that women's colleges' influence as models was limited severly by generally negative perceptions of all U. S. colleges. (CFR)

Reports on the history and accomplishments of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (Moore College of Art and Design) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Contends that the school negotiated tensions between the market forces of the job market and the individual aspirations of its students. (CFR)

Explores the origins and development of the Graduate Department of Social Economy and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College, PA. Analyzes social science teaching and research fostered in the department. Includes two tables listing women who received doctorates from the department between 1915 and 1940 along with a faculty listing. (CFR)

Describes the role of Emma Willard in encouraging the New York State legislature to provide state support for women's education. Discusses political and social issues in the mid-1800s and Willard's vision of a separate system of higher education for women. Outlines establishment of teacher education programs. (CFR)

Women faculty at Wellesley College in the Progressive Era were not only the best female academics of their generation, they also created a rich social life and sense of community among themselves. At the same time they maintained a commitment to social activism. Their accomplishments and limitations are discussed. (IS)