| Type | Female seminary |
|---|---|
| Active | 1836–1948 |
| Location | , , |
The Washington Female Seminary was a Presbyterian seminary for women operating from 1836 to 1948 in Washington, Pennsylvania. During the 19th century, it was "one of the best known and most noted institutions of its kind in the state". [1]
The Washington Female Seminary was part of a larger Female seminary movement. Creation of this particular institution began in 1835 and the Seminary opened 1 year later in 1836. [1] The two founders were abolitionist Francis Julius LeMoyne and Alexander Reed. [2]
It was formally chartered by the legislature in 1839. [1] The first principal was Mrs. Francis Biddle of Philadelphia, who left in 1840. [2] Sarah B. Hanna (a student of Emma Willard) was Principal from 1840-1874. [1] Miss Nancy Sherrard followed as Principal. [2]
By 1886, attendance hovered around 100 to 150 students. [1] The curriculum included both a preparatory course, which generally gained admission to the finest women's colleges, and a regular course, with studies in music, art, and elocution. [2] It was one of the few schools that taught the Bible from a literary point of view. [2]
Rebecca Harding Davis, who graduated in 1848, is its most famous graduate. [2] In April 2013, a historical marker in Davis' honor was placed near Swanson Science Center, the site of the former McIlvaine Hall/Washington Female Seminary. [3] The effort to place the marker there was led by Washington & Jefferson College English professor, Dr. Jennifer Harding. [4]
John Leighton Stewart served as a trustee. [5]
After the Seminary closed, its building was purchased by Washington & Jefferson College and renamed McIlvaine Hall. [6]
Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis was an American author and journalist. She was a pioneer of literary realism in American literature. She graduated valedictorian from Washington Female Seminary in Pennsylvania. Her most important literary work is the short story "Life in the Iron-Mills," published in the April 1861 edition of The Atlantic Monthly. Throughout her lifetime, Davis sought to effect social change for African Americans, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plight of these marginalized groups in the 19th century.
Western College for Women, known at other times as Western Female Seminary, The Western and simply Western College, was a women's and later coed liberal arts college in Oxford, Ohio, between 1855 and 1974. Initially a seminary, it was the host of orientation sessions for the Freedom Summer in 1964. It was absorbed by Miami University in 1974 after dwindling finances. Now known as the Western Campus of Miami University, it was designated a U.S. Historic district known as the Western Female Seminary Historic District in 1979.
Philo Norton McGiffin was an American soldier of fortune serving in Chinese service as a naval advisor during the First Sino-Japanese War. Although primarily skilled as an instructor and administrator, he proved a talented tactician during the September 17, 1894 Battle of the Yalu River as well as the first American to command a modern battleship in wartime.
The Institute for Colored Youth was founded in 1837 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It became the first college for African-Americans in the United States, although there were schools that admitted African Americans preceding it. At the time, public policy and certain statutory provisions prohibited the education of blacks in various parts of the nation and slavery was entrenched across the south. It was followed by two other black institutions— Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1854), and Wilberforce University in Ohio (1856). The second site of the Institute for Colored Youth at Ninth and Bainbridge Streets in Philadelphia was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is also known as the Samuel J. Randall School. A three-story, three-bay brick building was built for it in 1865, in the Italianate-style After moving to Cheyney, Pennsylvania in Delaware County, Pennsylvania its name was changed to Cheyney University.
The following is a timeline of women's colleges in the United States. These are institutions of higher education in the United States whose student population comprises exclusively, or almost exclusively, women. They are often liberal arts colleges. There are approximately 35 active women's colleges in the U.S. as of 2021.
Charles Pettit McIlvaine was an Episcopal bishop, author, educator and twice Chaplain of the United States Senate.
The David Bradford House is a historic house museum at 175 South Main Street in Washington, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1788, it was the home of David Bradford, a leader of the Whiskey Rebellion. It has both architectural and historic importance, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1983. It is open weekly between April and November, or by appointment.
Francis Julius LeMoyne was a 19th-century American medical doctor and philanthropist from Washington, Pennsylvania. Responsible for creating the first crematory in the United States, he was also an abolitionist, founder of Washington's first public library, co-founder of the Washington Female Seminary, and an instrumental benefactor to the LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School, to which he made a $20,000 donation in 1870.
Ralph Cooper Hutchison was president of Washington & Jefferson College and Lafayette College.
James Irwin Brownson, Sr., D.D. was a clergyman and academic in Washington, Pennsylvania. He served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, for over 50 years.
John McMillan was a prominent Presbyterian minister and missionary in Western Pennsylvania when that area was part of the American Frontier. He founded the first school west of the Allegheny Mountains, which is now known as John McMillan's Log School. He is one of the founders of Washington & Jefferson College.
David Belden Lyman was an early American missionary to Hawaii who opened a boarding school for Hawaiians. His wife Sarah Joiner Lyman (1805–1885) taught at the boarding school and kept an important journal. They had several notable descendants.
The John A. Swanson Science Center, also known as the Swanson Science Center is an academic building on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College. It was completed in February 2010 and was named after John A. Swanson, an engineer and businessman on the Board of Trustees, who donated $10 million towards its construction. This 47,500 square feet (4,410 m2) facility houses classrooms for Chemistry, Physics, Biophysics and Biochemistry and was designed to match its neighboring historic campus architecture. Its learning facilities include wet and dry teaching laboratories, faculty and student research labs, and a multi-disciplinary lab designed for non-science majors.
John Leighton Stewart was a prominent American businessman and newspaper publisher of the Washington Observer and Washington Reporter newspapers in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Steubenville Female Seminary, also known as Beatty's Seminary for Young Ladies or Steubenville Seminary, was a female seminary in Steubenville, Ohio. It was founded by Presbyterian minister Charles Clinton Beatty in 1829. Beatty served as Superintendent and his wife, Hetty Elizabeth Beatty, served as principal. The school had 7 students during the first year. The campus was located on South High Street between Adams and South Streets with a view of the surrounding hills.
Irving Female College, also known as Irving Manor Apartments and Seidle Memorial Hospital, is a historic school complex located in Mechanicsburg in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The complex consists of two buildings: Irving Hall and Columbian Hall. Irving Hall is the older building, dating from about 1856. It is a three-story, U-shaped brick building with wood trim in the Italianate style. An extension to the building was built about 1900. Columbian Hall, built in 1893, is a three-story, rectangular brick building with a wood-frame addition. It is in a combined Italianate / Spanish Renaissance Revival style. It features a projecting stair tower with a semi-conical roof. Both Irving Hall and Columbian Hall were converted to apartments in the late-1930s. The complex formerly included a third building, known as "Argyle," which was the home of the Irving College president. Built in 1911, it was a rectangular Spanish Renaissance Revival style dwelling, with a low hipped roof and wraparound verandah. "Argyle" was demolished in 1991 to make room for expansion of Seidle Hospital.
James Weston Miller (1815-1888) was an American Presbyterian minister, educator and Confederate chaplain in Texas during the American Civil War. He helped establish the First Presbyterian church in Houston and many Baptist and Methodist churches and schools for blacks. He also taught many daughters of the Southern aristocracy at the Live Oak Female Seminary in Gay Hill, Texas.
Joshua Hall McIlvaine (1815–1897) was an American clergyman known for his work in philology and orientalism.
Elise Mercur, also known as Elise Mercur Wagner, was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's first female architect. She was raised in a prominent family and educated abroad in France and Germany before completing training as an architect at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her first major commission, for the design of the Woman's Building for the Cotton States and International Exposition of Atlanta, was secured in 1894, while she was apprenticed to Thomas Boyd. It was the first time a woman had headed an architectural project in the South. After completing a six-year internship, she opened her own practice in 1896, where she focused on designing private homes and public buildings, such as churches, hospitals, schools, and buildings for organizations like the YMCA/YWCA.
Media related to Washington Female Seminary at Wikimedia Commons
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