Sophia Smith Endows New Women's College
On this day in 1870, a shy but determined woman from Hatfield willed that her fortune be used to establish a women's college in Northampton. The first woman in America to endow a college for women, Sophia Smith was not a social crusader, but she did believe that women's power for good would "be incalculably enlarged" by higher education. Like other women's colleges, Smith was considered a dangerous experiment. Many people feared that rigorous study would endanger women's health and their prospects for marriage. In 1876, at the close of the college's first year, all 14 of the students were reported to be in good health. Equally important, they had "accomplished as much work as in a college attended only by males."
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