Robinson Female Seminary | |
---|---|
Location | |
Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S. | |
Information | |
Type | day and boarding school |
Established | 1867 |
Founder | William Robinson |
Closed | 1955 |
School board | Board of trustees |
Principal | |
Gender | girls |
Age range | Nine and older |
Campus size | 16 acres (6.5 ha) |
Robinson Female Seminary was an American girl's day and boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire. William Robinson, a native and early resident of the town, gave $250,000 to it for the establishment of a female seminary. The adopted a code of regulations for the management of the institution which was sanctioned by a legislative enactment. [1]
It opened in 1867 and was fully organized and established in its new building in 1869 [1] It was the second school in the U.S. to introduce domestic science into its curriculum. The seminary closed in 1955. [2]
The Robinson Seminary was established through the liberal bequest of William Robinson, a native of Exeter, but for many years a resident of Augusta, Georgia, where he died during the Civil War. It was his request that "the course of instruction should be such as would tend to make female scholars equal to all the practical duties of life; such a course of education as would enable them to compete, and successfully, too, with their brothers throughout the world when they take their part in the actual duties of life." In admitting applicants to the seminary "the preference should always be given to the poor and the orphan." [3]
The town of Exeter received the bequest, about US$250,000, [3] and carried out the provisions of the will by placing the fund in the hands of trustees, chosen by and responsible to it—then borrowed US$100,000, giving their note, principal and interest, payable all or in part, on demand of the trustees, who were expected to make tuition free to all female children of the town, with books and stationery, and further deducting from the income thus reduced all expenses for repairs, improvement on grounds, and all pecuniary expenses. [4]
A plan for the establishment and regulation of the seminary was carefully elaborated by a committee, adopted by the town, and received the sanction of the legislature of New Hampshire. The advantages offered by the school were extended to "any girl resident in the town who had reached the age of nine years and was qualified for the grammar school," without the payment of tuition. [3]
A school was opened in 1867 in the old town hall. A tract of land of nearly 16 acres (6.5 ha) was secured, and on July 4, 1868, the corner stone of the seminary building was laid. In 1869, the structure was completed. The seminary went into operation in September of the same year. [3]
The fund and school were under the management of a board of trustees chosen by the town. [3]
Eben S. Stearns, a graduate of Harvard College in 1841, was the first principal. He remained at the head of the seminary until 1875, during which time the school was thoroughly organized and very prosperous. Three years after organization there were nine instructors and 252 students. His successors during the following eight years were Harriet E. Paine and Annie M. Kilham. In 1883, George N. Cross, A. M., was appointed principal. [3]
When Cross arrived at the Robinson seminary in 1883, it was a critical time in the history of the school. The seminary had been in existence for 13 years and was suffering from the poverty resulting from depleted funds. The new principal went to work developing policies and a practical course of study. Within a few years, from an obscure school possessing not much more than extensive grounds and a bare, unfurnished building, Robinson seminary became a school known all over New England, housed in one of the most beautiful school buildings in the country. Years before art decorations in schools had been suggested elsewhere, Cross had hung the walls of his schoolrooms all over with costly and beautiful pictures and had lined the corridors with casts of Greek and Roman sculpture. But the extensive art collections were not merely for ornament. Every picture, bust and bas-relief had some share in Cross' plan for making real and vivid the lessons in history, mythology, or literature, as well as the history of art. After 23 years of service, Cross retired to devote his time to lecturing. [5]
The corps of instructors consisted of the principal and assistants. [3]
Most of the students of the seminary lived in Exeter, though nonresidents could be admitted upon the payment of a small tuition fee, and a few such were always in the school. [3]
Designed by architect Rufus Sargent, [6] the seminary was built of brick, with a granite basement, and three stories in height. [3]
It was furnished with a reference library, containing more than 6,000 volumes. There was extensive apparatus for illustrating natural philosophy and physiology, a dissecting microscope, and a Bausch & Lomb's student's microscope, with eyepieces and objectives of high and low powers. There were cabinets of minerals and geological specimens, a set of Henslow's botanical charts, together with various other maps and charts. A chemical laboratory and lecture room were fitted up for courses in general chemistry and qualitative analysis. [3]
The Robinson seminary placed itself alongside the Norwich Free Academy by the purchase of several hundred rare engravings, etchings, busts, and statuary, so that in the various halls, rooms, and stairways there was rare art, classical and historical. Cross began this collection through the various entertainments by the school, but later, substantial gifts were made. [7]
The course of study was arranged to extend over a period of eight years. There was also a course preparatory to admission to college of three years. As complete an education could be obtained at the seminary as at almost any other institution of the kind in the U.S. The great majority of the pupils did not complete the course. Out of an attendance of from 150 to 200, the number of graduates by 1898 averaged yearly about 10 only. But far the larger number of the pupils remained long enough to acquire an adequate education. [3]
In planning the education of the girls, Cross kept in view three ends: the development of the homemaking spirit and the dignity of domesticity, the cultivation of self-dependence, and the ability to earn an honorable livelihood; and for those who desired it, a thorough preparation for a college course. [5]
Robinson seminary was the second school in the U.S. to introduce domestic science into its course. Its demonstration kitchen furnished a model to be adopted by hundreds of schools. [5] Cooking lessons were taught by a graduate of the Boston Cooking School. [8]
For many years, a post-graduate course in pedagogy and methods of teaching was given to those graduates who desired to teach, and many of New England's teachers gained from that course their first knowledge of the science. [5]
The Robinson Seminary served as the town of Exeter's public school for girls beyond the elementary school level until 1955. Boys in those years attended Tuck High School. In 1954 the town's school district passed a bond issue to build an addition to Tuck School, creating Exeter High School, which saw the graduation of its first coeducational class in 1956. The Robinson Seminary building was destroyed by a fire in October 1961, [9] and the site is now occupied by the Lincoln Street Elementary School. [10]
Rockford University is a private university in Rockford, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary and changed its name to Rockford College in 1892, and to Rockford University in 2013.
Ipswich Female Seminary was an American female seminary in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The institution was an early school for the secondary and tertiary education of young women. Enrollment averaged 116 students. According to Academy records, 88 of the school's graduates went on to teach as educational missionaries in the western and southern United States.
Emma Willard School, originally called Troy Female Seminary and often referred to simply as Emma, is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women located in Troy, New York. Located on Mount Ida, it offers grades 9–12 and postgraduate coursework.
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy is a comprehensive secondary institution in Northwood, New Hampshire, United States. It serves all students from the towns of Strafford, Nottingham and Northwood.
Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau was an American academic and salon painter, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire. She was an American expatriate who died in Paris where she had lived most of her life. She studied in Paris under the figurative painter Hugues Merle (1823–1881), the well-known salon painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911), and finally under William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905). After Bouguereau's wife died, Gardner became his paramour and after the death of his mother, who bitterly opposed the union, she married him in 1896. She adopted his subjects, compositions, and even his smooth facture, channeling his style so successfully that some of her work might be mistaken for his. In fact, she was quoted as saying, "I know I am censured for not more boldly asserting my individuality, but I would rather be known as the best imitator of Bouguereau than be nobody!"
Exeter High School is a public high school in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 who reside in the towns of Exeter, Stratham, Kensington, Newfields, Brentwood, and East Kingston, New Hampshire. Exeter High School is ranked 9th within New Hampshire. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Exeter High School is 36 percent. The student body makeup is 48 percent male and 52 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 6 percent. Exeter High School is the only high school in the Exeter Region Coop School District. According to state test scores, 55% of students are at least proficient in math and 81% in reading.
Bedford High School is a public high school in the town of Bedford, New Hampshire, United States. The high school adjoins the town's Ross A. Lurgio Middle School. The combined schools are situated on a 40-acre (160,000 m2) campus at 47 Nashua Road. The two schools share an 810-seat theatre, a 2000-seat gymnasium, a FieldTurf football field and a synthetic 400-meter track. The approximate cost for constructing this facility in combination with Lurgio was $50 million.
Monticello Seminary, founded in 1835, was an American seminary, junior college and academy in Godfrey, Illinois. The 215 acres (87 ha) campus was the oldest female seminary in the west, before it closed in 1971. The buildings are now part of Lewis and Clark Community College.
Irene Sarah Clark Durrell was an American educator from New Hampshire. She served as preceptress of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Female College, now known as Tilton School.
Harriet Newell Haskell was an American educator and school administrator from the U.S. state of Maine. She taught from 1855 to 1860 in Waldoboro, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts. From 1860 to 1868, she was a teacher and principal at Castleton Collegiate Seminary, Vermont. Thereafter, for 39 years, she served as principal at Monticello Seminary of Godfrey, Illinois.
Anna Cheney Edwards was a 19th-century American educator from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. She served as Associate Principal of Mount Holyoke Seminary, 1872–1888; and as Professor of Theism and Christian Evidences, 1888–1890.
Mary Mortimer was a British-born American educator. She served as principal of the Milwaukee Female College and other women's educational institutions.
Mary Stuart MacMurphy was an American teacher, lecturer, clubwoman, and author. She was the author of Only Glimpses (1887) and Ferns of Wisconsin. She held positions at Albany Female Academy, Robinson Female Seminary, College Preparatory School, and Waller High School.
Eunice Caldwell Cowles was an American educator who influenced hundreds of women in the U.S. and abroad. She was the first associate of Mary Lyon in the opening of Mount Holyoke Seminary. She had previously graduated under Lyon and Zilpah Grant from Ipswich Seminary in 1829, where she was afterwards principal from 1844 to 1876. She also served as the first principal of Wheaton Seminary. She was also affiliated with the Christian Woman's Board of Missions (C.W.B.M.), having co-founded the Essex North Branch and serving as its president.
Catherine Fiske was an American teacher and principal who founded a girls' boarding school, Miss Catherine Fiske's Young Ladies Seminary. Located in Keene, New Hampshire, it was in operation from 1814 until the 1840s. Presently, the seminary's building serves as President's House, Keene State College. Fiske was also a benefactor for the New Hampshire State Hospital.
Miss Catherine Fiske's Young Ladies Seminary was a boarding and day school for young ladies, located in Keene, New Hampshire. Established in 1814, it achieved a national reputation. After the 1837 death of Catherine Fiske, the school's founder, the seminary continued to operate until the early 1840s. The property went through various changes but currently serves as the President's House at Keene State College.
Windom College is a former American parochial school in Montevideo, Minnesota. It is the second school established in southwestern Minnesota by the Congregational church. It was founded in 1885 with the hope that its students would take more advanced courses in Carleton College. Originally named "Western Minnesota Seminary", it became the "Windom Institute" in 1891 in honor of Hon. William Windom, United States Senator and Secretary of the Treasury, who was a member of the Congregational church in Winona, Minnesota, the earliest of the Congregational churches in southeastern Minnesota. The name change in 1912 to "Windom College" gave western Minnesota its first college. Windom College ended operations in 1923. Its building was purchased by and became the official home of the Masons of Montevideo.
Jane Grace Alexander was an American banker, the first woman banker in New Hampshire. Alexander was elected treasurer of the Security Savings Banks in Winchester, New Hampshire. She worked at the city's national bank for 52 years before retiring.
William Robinson was an American slave holder and benefactor of the Robinson Female Seminary in Exeter, New Hampshire, and the Summerville Academy in the Augusta, Georgia, historic district of Summerville.
Alabama Female Institute was one of the earliest educational institutions for women organized in Alabama. It opened in Tuscaloosa, in the fall of 1829, as "Sims' Female Academy". In 1831, it became the "Tuscaloosa Female Academy". The name change to Alabama Female Institute occurred in 1833, and this school was chartered in 1835. It continued to operate until 1873.