Read Part One HERE
In this post I continue to focus on a woman named Mary Mason Lyon. She lived from 1797 - 1849.
In 1834, Laban Wheaton and his daughter-in-law, Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton, called upon Mary for assistance in establishing the Wheaton Female Seninary (now Wheaton College) in Norton, Massachusetts. Mary left teaching and collected donated funds to raise money for the seminary's creation.
She created the first curriculum with the goal that it be equal in quality to those of men's colleges. Mary also provided the first principal, Eunice Caldwell. Wheaton Female Seminary opend on 22 April 1835, with 50 students and three teachers.
Mary and Eunice left Wheaton, along with eight Wheaton students, to open Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Though initially rebuffed by the general assembly of Massachusetts, she ultimately won approval for chartering the Seminary, at South Hadley, Massachusetts.
The seminary opened in 1837. The college was unique that it was founded by people of modest means and served their daughters, rather than the children of the rich. Mary was espcially influenced by Rev. Joseph Emerson whose "Discource on Female Education (1822) advocated that women should be trained to be teachers rather than "to please the other sex."
Mary strove to maintain high academic standards: she set rigorous entrance exams and admitted "young ladies of an adult age, and mature character." In keeping with her social vision, she limited the tuition to $60 per year. In order to keep costs low, Mary required students to perform domestic tasks. - an early version of work/study. These tasks included preparing meals and washing floors and windows.
I will continue my story on Mary Mason Myon in my next post.
Read Part Fifty-Four HERE
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