The story
Founded by Mary Lyon in 1837.1
Mount Holyoke was founded in 1837 by Mary Lyon as "Mount Holyoke Female Seminary." Lyon developed her ideas on how to educate women when she was assistant principal at Ipswich Female Seminary in Massachusetts.
By 1837 she had convinced multiple sponsors to support her ideals and the nation's first real college for women. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary opened on November 8, 1837, in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The town had donated the land and main building. Lyon's layout of the campus provided a widely imitated model for the higher education of women by providing a physical environment that supported a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum equivalent to that of men's colleges. Lyon's innovative goals set her Seminary apart from other female seminaries of the period, offering a curriculum equivalent to those at men's colleges. All the students worked in one building with little privacy. There was close contact with the all-female faculty and daily self reports on their personal strengths and weaknesses. The college cut staff to the minimum as the 100 or so students each performed one hour of work a day, handling most of the routine chores like cooking and cleaning and maintaining the grounds.
Lyon rejected the goal of the men's colleges to promote individualism and independence and instead fostered the collective ideal of a united team of women could match the success of nearby men's colleges like Amherst and Williams. The curriculum allowed women to study subjects like geometry, calculus, Latin, Greek, science, philosophy, and history, which were not typically taught at other female seminaries in the 19th century. Lyon's efforts in founding an institution of higher education for women, despite the economic challenges of the time, paved the way for more women to have the same opportunities for higher education as their brothers.
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was one of several Christian institutions of higher education for young women established during the first half of the 19th century. Prior to founding Mount Holyoke, Lyon contributed to the development of both Hartford Female Seminary and Ipswich Female Seminary. She was also involved in the creation of Wheaton Female Seminary (now Wheaton College) in 1834. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was chartered as a teaching seminary in 1836 and opened its doors to students on November 8, 1837. Both Vassar College and Wellesley College were patterned after Mount Holyoke.
According to historian Amanda Porterfield, Lyon created Mount Holyoke to be "a religious institution that offered a model of Christian society for all to see." Students "were required to attend church services, chapel talks, prayer meetings, and Bible study groups. Twice a day teachers and students spent time in private devotions. Every dorm room had two large lighted closets to give roommates privacy during their devotions". Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was the sister school to Andover Seminary. By 1859 there were more than 60 missionary alumnae, by 1887 the school's alumnae comprised one-fifth of all female American missionaries for the ABCFM, and by the end of the century, 248 of its alumnae had entered the mission field.
Collegiate charter
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary received its collegiate charter in 1888, becoming "Mount Holyoke Seminary and College." The change in admission from Seminary to College included fundraising by the trustees, an overhaul of the entrance requirements, and course catalog. Entrance exams were introduced at this time, scheduled in June or September at the college. In 1889, students traveling from the midwest could take these examinations in Freeport, Illinois, and within a few years, this was expanded to other cities. Many additions were made to the course catalog, and starting in the 1889 academic year, students could choose to pursue degrees of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science. Within 4 years, the seminary enrollment dropped from 269 to 8. In 1893, the seminary course was discontinued, and the new title "Mount Holyoke College" was authorized.
Cottage-style living
A movement towards what was referred to as cottage-style living started in 1889 by the New York Association after the change to Mount Holyoke Seminary and College. $15,000 was raised, and plans were put in place for Mary Brigham Cottage, with accommodations for the president and thirty students, with priority given to those in the collegiate course. At the time, two South Hadley families agreed to host boarders. President Elizabeth Mead deemed these options unsatisfactory and pushed the trustees to build yet another cottage. Mrs. Mead was ready to relieve the students of a large share of the drudgery of domestic work that had made up a good portion of their studies since Mary Lyon's conception of the seminary. From 1895 to 1996 the trustees allotted funds for the employment of four women to wash the dinner dishes that had formerly constituted the task of eight or ten students.
On February 28, 1987, the United States Postal Service's Great Americans series issued a postage stamp featuring Mary Lyon, in honor of Mount Holyoke's Sesquicentennial (Mount Holyoke's 150th anniversary).
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Debate on becoming co-educational
In the early 1970s, Mount Holyoke had a long debate under the presidency of David Truman over the issue of coeducation. On November 6, 1971, the board of trustees voted to remain a women's college.
Admission of transgender students
At Convocation on September 2, 2014, President Lynn Pasquerella announced a new policy allowing the admission of transgender and non-binary students to the college. Of the Seven Sisters that had remained women's colleges, Mount Holyoke was the first to implement such policy.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mount Holyoke College, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5