Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:38:24.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

American Women's Colleges through European Eyes, 1865–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

James C. Albisetti
James C. Albisetti*
Affiliation:
The University of Kentucky
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In March 1904, at a time when the Prussian Ministry of Education was giving serious consideration to the admission of women to institutions of higher education, it received a petition signed by the rectors of eight of Prussia's nine universities. The rectors expressed strong opposition to the introduction of coeducation and called instead for the creation of a separate university for women, where they suggested that professorial appointments would “be open to the best scholarly talents among the women.” To support this viewpoint, they noted that in the United States, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley, Vassar, and Bryn Mawr colleges employed 249 women as professors, versus just 88 men.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , Winter 1992 , pp. 439 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the History of Education Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Rectors' “Denkschrift betreffend die Immatrikulation von Frauen an der preussischen Universitäten und die Begründung einer preussischen Frauenuniversität,” Mar. 1904, Rep. 76 Va., Sect. 1, Tit. VIII, no. 8, vol. XI, Zentrales Staatsarchiv (now Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz), Merseburg. For the context of this petition, see Albisetti, James C., Schooling German Girls and Women: Secondary and Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton, 1988), 242–50.Google Scholar

2 Carey Thomas, M., “Education of Women,” in Monographs on Education in the United States, ed. Butler, Nicholas Murray, 2 vols. (Albany, N.Y., 1900), 1: 319–58, esp. 357; International Congress of Women, Berlin, Der internationale Frauen-Kongress in Berlin, 1904 (Berlin, 1905), 128–29.Google Scholar

3 For example, Beck, Earl R. placed the beginnings of German interest in American education in the years after World War I: “The German Discovery of American Education,” History of Education Quarterly 5 (Mar. 1965): 3–14.Google Scholar

4 “Vassar Female College,” The English Woman's Journal 9 (Aug. 1862): 401–6.Google Scholar

5 College, Vassar, The President's Visit to Europe (New York, 1863); Clark Seelye, L., The Early History of Smith College, 1871–1910 (Boston, 1923), 18; Vassar's report in 1873 reprinted in John Howard Raymond, , Life and Letters of John Howard Raymond (New York, 1881), 561–72; Cole, Arthur C., A Hundred Years of Mt. Holyoke College: The Evolution of an Educational Ideal (New Haven, Conn., 1940), 165.Google Scholar

6 Stites, Richard, The Women's Liberation Movement in Russia: Feminism, Nihilism, and Bolshevism, 1860–1930 (Princeton, 1978), 75; “Vassar College,” The Queen 58 (28 Aug. 1875): 139.Google Scholar

7 Jahresbericht des Vereins für erweiterte Frauenbildung, Wien 8 (1895–96): 47.Google Scholar

8 Müller, Margarethe, Carla Wenckebach, Pioneer (Boston, 1908); Finch, Edith, Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr (New York, 1947), 155; on Stroebe, Leonard, John William, ed., Woman's Who's Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914–1915 (New York, 1914), 791; on Wipplinger, Palmieri, Patricia A., “In Adamless Eden: A Social Portrait of the Academic Community at Wellesley College, 1875–1920” (Ed.D., diss., Harvard University, 1981), 308.Google Scholar

9 Hippeau, Célestin, “L'éducation des femmes et des affranchis en Amérique,” Revue des deux mondes 93 (1869): 450–76; Burstall, Sara A., The Education of Girls in the United States (London, 1894), vii; Lamprecht, Karl, Americana: Reiseeindrücke, Betrachtungen, Geschichtliche Gesamtansicht (Freiburg, 1906), 86. Hippeau's article led to the first Italian commentary on Vassar: see Gabelli, Aristide, “L'Italia e l'istruzione femminile,” Nuova antologia 15 (1870): 145–67.Google Scholar

10 Barneaud, Charles, Origines et progrès de l'éducation en Amérique: Etude historique et critique; les états primitifs (Paris, 1898), 345; Dugard, Marie, La société américaine: moeurs et caractère—la famille—rôle de la femme—écoles et universités (Paris, 1896), 207; Strinz, Martha, “Die Geschichte der Frauenbewegung in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-amerika,” in Handbuch der Frauenbewegung , ed. Lange, Helene and Bäumer, Gertrud, 5 vols. (Berlin, 1901–6), 1: 467.Google Scholar

11 de Campo-Grande, Viscount, “Woman: Her Moral and Political Influence,” Education 4 (1884): 637; Paul, H. B. d'Estournelles de Constant, America and Her Problems , trans. Raper, George A. (New York, 1915), 331.Google Scholar

12 Parent, Marie, “Les collèges des femmes aux Etats-Unis,” La Ligue 4 (Apr. 1896): 55; Burstall, , Education of Girls, 114.Google Scholar

13 Gobat, Albert, Croquis et impressions d'Amérique (Bern, 1906), 205; Boos-Jegher, Eduard, Die Tätigkeit der Fran in Amerika (Bern, 1894), 10, 17; Giraud, Léon, Essai sur la condition des femmes en Europe et en Amérique (Paris, 1882), 5; Burstall, Sara A., Impressions of American Education in 1908 (London, 1909), 260; Revue féministe 3 (Nov. 1895): 135: Cauer, Minna, Die Frauen in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika (Berlin. 1893), 5, 21.Google Scholar

14 Münsterberg, Hugo, American Traits from the Point of View of a German (Boston, 1901), 130; Jannet, Claudio, Les Etats-Unis contemporains: ou, les moeurs, les institutions, et les idées depuis la guerre de la sécession, 2d ed. (Paris, 1876), 201, 205; Reich, Eduard, Die Emancipation der Frauen: Das Elend und die geistige Überspannung (Grossenhain, 1884), 6; Ziegler, Johannes, Die Mädchenhochschulen in Amerika: Eine Kulturstudie (Gotha, 1901), 3.Google Scholar

15 Mosso, Angelo, The Education of Women in the United States: Studies on America (San Francisco, 1902), 6.Google Scholar

16 Bentzon, Thérèse, “La condition de la femme aux Etats-Unis,” Revue des deux mondes 125 (Sep.–Oct. 1894): 885; Grundscheid, Carl, Coeducation in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-Amerika (Greifswald, 1906), 4.Google Scholar

17 Hippeau, , “L'éducation des femmes,” 461–65; Jex-Blake, Sophia, A Visit to Some American Schools and Colleges (London, 1867); M. D. C. (Moncure Daniel Conway), “Antioch College,” The English Woman's Journal 12 (Nov. 1863): 217–28; Higginson, T. W., “Englishwomen,” The Woman's Journal 3 (22 June 1872): 193; Beedy, Mary, “The Joint Education of Young Men and Women in American Schools and Colleges,” reprinted in The Education Papers: Women's Quest for Equality in Britain, 1850–1912 , ed. Spender, Dale (New York, 1987), 265. I believe that Beedy's article originally appeared in the Journal of the Women's Education Union in 1873.Google Scholar

18 Bonet-Maury, G., “Une visite aux collèges de l'enseignement supérieur des jeunes filles aux Etats-Unis,” Revue internationale de l'enseignement 27 (Jan. 1894): 3; Compayrée, Gabriel, L'enseignement supérieur aux Etats-Unis (Paris, 1896), 117; Schirmacher, Käthe, Le féminisme aux Etats-Unis, en France, dans la Grande-Bretagne, en Suede et en Russie (Paris, 1898), 18; Bentzon, , “La condition de la femme,” 885–99; Dissard, Clotilde, “La co-éducation,” Revue féministe 2 (1896): 317–19.Google Scholar

19 Jex-Blake, , A Visit, 246; Gneist cited in Twellmann, Margrit, Die deutsche Frauenbewegung im Spiegel repräsentativer Frauenzeitschriften: Ihre Anfänge und erste Entwicklung, 1843–1889, 2 vols. (Meisenheim am Glan, 1972), 2: 321; Zimmermann, Athanasius, Die Universitäten in den Vereinigten Staaten Amerikas: Ein Beitrag zur Culturgeschichte (Freiburg, 1896), 102.Google Scholar

20 Waetzoldt, Stephan, “National Features of Female Education,” Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1894/95, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1896), 1: 468; Jannet, , Les Etats-Unis, 392; Lanson, Gustave, Trois mois d'enseignement aux Etats-Unis: Notes et impressions d'un professeur français (Paris, 1912), 120; de Coubertin, Pierre, Universités transatlantiques (Paris, 1890), 221; Douarche, Léon, “L'enseignement supérieur aux Etats-Unis,” Revue Internationale de l'enseignement 61 (1911): 488.Google Scholar

21 Faithfull, Emily, Three Visits to America (Edinburgh, 1884), 60; Burstall, , Education of Girls, 128; idem, Impressions, 274.Google Scholar

22 Bonet-Maury, , “Une visite,” 4–5; Ziegler, , Die Mädchenhochschulen, 29.Google Scholar

23 Waetzoldt, , “National Features,” 470. For the context of this statement, see Albisetti, , Schooling German Girls, 155–56.Google Scholar

24 Bonet-Maury, , “Une visite,” 5, 7; Pfleiderer, Johann Gottlob, Amerikanische Reisebilder mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der dermaligen religiösen und kirchlichen Zustände der Vereinigten Staaten (Bonn, 1882), 36; Freeman, Edward A., Some Impressions of the United States (New York, 1883), 190; Bryce, James, The American Commonwealth, 2 vols., 3d ed. (New York, 1893), 2: 675; Stropeno, E., “Un collège de jeunes filles aux Etats-Unis, Wellesley College,” Revue Internationale dc l'enseignement 23 (Jan. 1892): 29; Barneaud, , Origines. 348.Google Scholar

25 Clarke, Edward H., Sex in Education; or, a Fair Chance for the Girls (Boston, 1873). See also Zschoche, Sue, “Dr. Clarke Revisited: Science, True Womanhood, and Female College Education,” History of Education Quarterly 29 (Winter 1989): 545–70.Google Scholar

26 Dugard, , La société américaine, 293; Faithfull, , Three Visits, 71; Klein, Felix, In the Land of the Strenuous Life (Chicago, 1905); Münsterberg, Hugo, The Americans (New York, 1904), 565.Google Scholar

27 de Lignereux, Saint-André, L'Amérique au XXe siècle (Paris, 1908), 201; Burstall, , Education of Girls, 146–53; Parent, , “Les collèges de femmes,” 53–54; d'Estournelles, , America and Her Problems, 331–32.Google Scholar

28 Hippeau, , “L'éducation des femmes,” 434; Faithfull, , Three Visits, 73; Giraud, , Essai, 388; Bryce, , American Commonwealth, 2: 690; Aubrey, Dr., “Higher Education of Women in America,” Leisure Hour 39 (1890): 757; Bentzon, , “La condition de la femme,” 881.Google Scholar

29 Compayré, Gabriel, L'enseignement supérieur aux Etats-Unis (Paris, 1896), 179; Münsterberg, Hugo, “Das Frauenstudium in Amerika,” in Die akademische Frau: Gutachten hervorragender Universitätsprofessoren, Frauenlehrer und Schriftsteller über die Befähigung der Frau zum wissenschaftlischen Studium und Berufe , ed. Kirchoff, Arthur (Berlin, 1897), 348; idem, The Americans, 422; Klein, , Land of the Strenuous Life, 288; Lignereaux, , L'Amérique, 200. In a very unusual list, Käthe Schirmacher included Mt. Holyoke and Barnard but omitted Smith and Radcliffe: Le féminisme, 17.Google Scholar

30 “The American University for Women,” The English Woman's journal 12 (Sep. 1863): 43; von Nathusius, Phillip, Zur “Frauenfrage” (Halle, 1871), 44; Sienkiewicz, Henryk, Portrait of America: Letters , ed. and trans. Morley, Charles (New York, 1959), 113.Google Scholar

31 Pfleiderer, , Reisebilder, 36; Ziegler, , Mädchenhochschulen ; Fulda, Ludwig, Amerikanische Eindrücke (Stuttgart, 1906), 114.Google Scholar

32 Zimmermann, , Universitäten, 76; Münsterberg, , “Frauenstudium,” 345; Waetzoldt, , “National Features,” 470. On the American students at the Victoria Lyzeum, see Albisetti, James C., “German Influence on the Higher Education of American Women, 1865–1914” forthcoming in German Influence on Education in the United States to 1917 , ed. Geitz, Henry, Heideking, Jürgen, and Jurgen Herbst (New York, 1993).Google Scholar

33 Compayré, , L'enseignement secondaire, 1–2; idem, L'enseignement supérieur, 54; Klein, , Land of the Strenuous Life, 337; Bourget, , Outre-Mer, 2: 111; Huret, Jules, En Amérique: De New-York à Nouvelle-Orléans (Paris, 1904), 247; Barneaud, , Origines, 343; Stropeno, , “Un collège,” 30; Vianzone, Thérèse, Impressions d'une française en Amérique (Paris, 1906), 90.Google Scholar

34 Sée, Camille, Lycées et collèges des jeunes filles, 6th ed. (Paris, 1896), 67–73; Mayeur, Françoise, L'enseignement secondaire des jeunes filles sous la Troisième République (Paris, 1977), 36.Google Scholar

35 This was true of the women as well. The names of Bentzon, Dugard, and Vianzone do not appear in the indices of recent works on female education or feminism in France, while Käthe Schirmacher was a German feminist living in France.Google Scholar

36 Dugard, , La société américaine, 252; Douarche, , “L'enseignement supérieur,” 488; Stropeno, , “Un collège,” 44–45; Bonet-Maury, , “Une visite,” 10. For an extended discussion of French opinion, see Gager, Delaye, French Comment on American Education (New York, 1925), 124–50.Google Scholar

37 Coubertin, , Universités, 109; Bentzon, , “La condition de la femme,” 877; Huret, , De New-York, 250; Dugard, , La société américaine, 258–59; Lanson, , Trois mois, 184.Google Scholar

38 Bourget, , Outre-Mer, 2: 119; Dugard, , La société américaine, 38; Huret, , De New-York, 261; Lignereaux, , L'Amérique, 200; Vianzone, , Impressions, 85–86; Lanson, , Trots mois, 179.Google Scholar

39 See Weisz, George, The Emergence of Modern Universities in France, 1863–1914 (Princeton, 1983).Google Scholar

40 Davies, Emily, The Higher Education of Women (London, 1866; reprint, New York, 1973); idem, Thoughts on Some Questions Relating to Women, 1860–1908 (Cambridge, Eng., 1910; reprint, New York, 1971); Ions, Edmund S., James Bryce and American Democracy, 1870–1922 (New York, 1970), 78. Bryce does not appear to have visited Vassar again before he wrote the favorable comments in The American Commonwealth, 2: 675. 690, 734.Google Scholar

41 Higginson, T. W., “The Second Annual Report of the ‘Annex,”’ The Woman's Journal 12 (31 Dec. 1881): 417. That the “recent English visitor” referred to by Higginson was in fact Bryce is confirmed by evidence in Higginson, Mary Thacker, ed., Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846–1906 (New York, 1969), 229, 322. Histories of Girton College do not mention Bryce's American experiences: see Stephen, Barbara, Emily Davies and Girton College (London, 1927; reprint, Westport, Conn., 1976); and Bradbrook, M. C., “That Infidel Place”: A Short History of Girton College, 1869–1969 (London, 1969).Google Scholar

42 “Women Physicians,” Macmillan's Magazine 18 (Sep. 1868): 370; Maudsley, Henry, “Sex in Mind and Education,” Fortnightly Review (Apr. 1874), excerpts reprinted in Strong-Minded Women: And Other Lost Voices from Nineteenth-Century England , ed. Murray, Janet Horowitz (New York, 1982), 220–22; Orton, James, “Four Years in Vassar,” Victoria Magazine 24 (Nov. 1874): 54–66; The Queen 58 (28 Aug. 1875): 139.Google Scholar

43 “Girton College,” The Nation 22 (27 Jan. 1876): 58–60, reprinted in The Woman's journal 8 (19 Feb. 1876): 58–59; and published in England as “An Interior View of Girton College,” presumably in the Journal of The Women's Education Union, now reprinted in The Education Papers , ed. Spender, , 277–83. The three versions vary slightly. The author is identified as Minturn, E. in Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802–1881, 523.Google Scholar

44 Bingham, Caroline, The History of Royal Holloway College, 1886–1986 (London, 1987), esp. 42–46, 52–55, 82.Google Scholar

45 Faithfull, , Three Visits, 61, 75; Ions, , James Bryce, 105; Bryce, , American Commonwealth, 2: 690, 734; Burstall, , Education of Girls, 110, 115.Google Scholar

46 McWilliams-Tullberg, Rita, Women at Cambridge: A Men's University—Though of a Mixed Type (London, 1975), 117; Beale's letter cited in Brittain, Vera, The Women at Oxford: A Fragment of History (London, 1960), 109.Google Scholar

47 Bingham, , Royal Holloway College, 88–92; Stephen, , Emily Davies, 334.Google Scholar

48 Great Britain Board of Education, Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Vols. 10 and 11: Education in America (London, 1902); Sadler, Michael, “Impressions of American Education,” Educational Review 15 (Mar. 1903): 217–31.Google Scholar

49 Burstall, , Impressions, 172–95, 200, 208.Google Scholar

50 See Albisetti, , Schooling German Girls, 151–59.Google Scholar

51 Schepeler-Lette, Anna, “Einrichtungen für weiblichen Erziehungswesen und Frauenerwerb in den Vereinigten Staaten,” Der Arbeiterfreund 14 (1876): 327; “Letter from Marie Zakrzewska,” The Woman's journal 12 (17 Sep. 1881): 300.Google Scholar

52 Among relevant works published in the mid-1890s, see Cauer, , Frauen in den Vereinigten Staaten; Schirmacher, Käthe, Der Internationale Frauenkongress in Chicago, 1893 (Dresden, 1893); Waetzoldt, , “National Features”; Zimmermann, , Universitäten ; Wenckebach, Karla, “Erwerbsmöglichkeiten für deutsche Frauen in Amerika,” Die Frau 1 (1893–94): 526–33; Rabinowitsch, Lydia, “Die amerikanischen Frauen und ihre Leistungen,” Die Frauenbewegung 3 (Aug.–Sep. 1897): 154–56, 171–72, 179–81.Google Scholar

53 Münsterberg, , “Frauenstudium,” 346, 348, 351. See also his American Traits, 131–32, 163; and The Americans, 422, 564–65.Google Scholar

54 Rabinowitsch, Lydia, “Das Studium der Medizin in verschiedenen Ländern,” in Der internationale Kongress für Frauenwerke und Frauenbestrebungen, Berlin 1896 (Berlin, 1897), 184; Tiburtius, Franziska, “Frauenuniversitäten oder gemeinsames Studium,” Die Frau 5 (1897–98): 575–85; Tiburtius, Dr. and Zacke, Dr., Bildung der Ärztinnen in eigenen Anstalten oder auf der Universität (Berlin, 1900).Google Scholar

55 Ziegler, , Mädchenhochschulen, passim; Meylan, Fanny Theodora, La coéducation des sexes: Etude sur l'éducation supérieure des femmes aux Etats-Unis (Bonn, 1904), 13; Sachs, Julius, “Co-education in the United States,” Educational Review 33 (Mar. 1907): 299.Google Scholar

56 Albisetti, , Schooling German Girls, 242–50. In a somewhat different appeal to American evidence, some professors at the University of Vienna in January 1905 tried unsuccessfully to block the Habilitation of the first female lecturer, Elise Richter, by asserting that “American colleges and universities that allowed women to teach did not enjoy great reputation.” See Pulgram, Ernst, “In Pluribus Prima: Elise Richter,” Cross Currents 5 (1986): 428.Google Scholar