Mary Lyon

All you want to know about Mary Lyon

This article is about the 19th century American educator. For the 20th century British geneticist, see Mary F. Lyon.
Mary Lyon

Portrait of Mary Lyon
1st President of Mount Holyoke College (Founder and Principal)
Term 1837 – 1849
Predecessor Mary Lyon
Successor Mary C. Whitman
Born 1797
Died 1849
Profession Professor

Mary Mason Lyon (28 February 1797 - 5 March 1849) was a pioneer in women's education in America. She established the Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts, (now Wheaton College). She also established Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, (now Mount Holyoke College), Massachusetts and served as its first president (referred to at that time as "principal)." [1]

Contents

Wheaton

In 1834, Eliza Wheaton Strong, the daughter and favorite child of Judge Laban Wheaton, died at the age of thirty-nine. Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton, the Judge's daughter-in-law, persuaded him to memorialize his daughter by founding a female seminary. [2] The family called upon Ms. Lyon, a noted women's educator, for assistance in establishing the seminary [3]. Miss Lyon created the first curriculum with the goal that it be equal in quality to those of men's colleges. She also provided the first principal, Eunice Caldwell. Wheaton Female Seminary opened in Norton, Massachusetts on 22 April 1835, with 50 students and three teachers.

Mount Holyoke

Mary Lyon and Eunice Caldwell left Wheaton to open Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1837 (now Mount Holyoke College)[4]. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was chartered as a teaching seminary in 1836[5] and opened its doors to students on 8 November 1837. Vassar College, Wellesley College and the former Western College for Women were patterned after Mount Holyoke.[6]

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1837
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1837

Lyon was an educational innovator who created a highly rigorous environment of higher education for women which was unusual for the early 19th century. Lyon mandated a 16 hour day for students at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which began at 5 a.m. and ended at 9:15 p.m. In addition, "the books used by the students were the same as used at men's colleges".[7] Lyon was also an innovator in science education for women, requiring:

seven courses in the sciences and mathematics for graduation, a requirement unheard of at other female seminaries. She introduced women to "a new and unusual way" to learn science—laboratory experiments which they performed themselves. She organized field trips on which students collected rocks, plants, and specimens for lab work, and inspected geological formations and recently discovered dinosaur tracks.[8]

Lyon, an early believer in the importance of daily exercise for women, required her students to "walk one mile (1.6 km) after breakfast. During New England's cold and snowy winters, she dropped the requirement to 45 minutes. Calisthenics—a form of exercises—were taught by teachers in unheated hallways until a storage area was cleared for a gymnasium. Domestic work often involved strenuous physical activity".[7]

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 College's Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary).[9][10]

References

  • Edward Hitchcock wrote a book on her life, (New York, 1860)
  • M. O. Nutting, Historical Sketch of Mount Holyoke Seminary, (Washington, 1876)
  • B. B. Gilchrist, The Life of Mary Lyon, (Boston, 1910)
  • Adams and Foster, Heroines of Modern Progress, (New York, 1913)

Honors

See also

Notes

  1. ^ List
  2. ^ Helmreich, P. (2002) Wheaton College, 1834-1957: A Massachusetts Family Affair: New York, Cornwall Books. ISBN 0845348817
  3. ^ Toffoli, Tom; Wilga, D., Shin, S. (1997). "Mary Lyon". Mt. Holyoke College. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  4. ^ Toffoli, Tom; Wilga, D., Shin, S. (1997). "Mary Lyon". Mt. Holyoke College. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  5. ^ First Charter of Mount Holyoke
  6. ^ Jennifer L. Crispen. "Seven Sisters and a Country Cousin". sbc.edu.
  7. ^ a b "Daily Life at Mount Holyoke", mtholyoke.edu. Retrieved on 2006-09-01. 
  8. ^ "Daily Mary Lyon's Influence on Science Education for Women", mtholyoke.edu. Retrieved on 2006-09-01. 
  9. ^ Stamp for Holyoke Founder
  10. ^ "The Mary Lyon Stamp", mtholyoke.edu. Retrieved on 2006-09-01. 

External links


Academic offices
Preceded by
New Position		 President of Mount Holyoke College (Founder and Principal)
1837-1849		 Succeeded by
Mary C. Whitman
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lyon"

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