course, but who desire to fit themselves for mercantile life, a course of instruction specially designed for this end.

The president of this institution is David H. Cochran, Ph. D., LL. D. (From "The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Retrospect and Outlook." Issued by the corporation, Brooklyn, 1890.)

KEUKA COLLEGE, 1890.

This institution, situated at Keuka, in Yates County, was granted a provisional charter by the regents in 1890, but surrendered it in 1895, not having attained the requirements for an absolute collegiate charter.

The following minute of the proceedings of the regents appears in the report of the secretary for 1897, page 173:

Keuka College.-The request of the trustees of Keuka College, that its provisional charter be made absolute, was submitted with the reports of the head inspector as to its financial and educational condition.

Voted, That the secretary notify the trustees that the institution does not meet the minimum requirements of ordinance 5 for college rank, and that therefore an absolute college charter can not be granted; but that in view of all the facts the regents have extended the provisional charter for three years in order to allow ample opportunity to meet the minimum conditions of the ordinances for a full college charter. (November 4, 1897.)

PROTESTANT COLLEGE AT SAO PAULO, 1891.

Chartered by New York legislature in 1891. Located at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its history not within the scope of this volume.

CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IN CHINA, 1893.

Incorporated by the regents in December, 1893, and located at Canton, China.

ADELPHIA COLLEGE, 1896, BROOKLYN.

This college was incorporated by the regents June 24, 1896, and began organized work in the fall of that year.

CHAPTER 6.

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES FOR WOMEN.

FIRST EFFORTS TOWARD THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN

NEW YORK STATE.

New York has reason to be proud of the part it has taken in solving the knotty problem of woman's education. Before the Boston Latin School had generously offered instruction to girls in summer, when the boys did not want to come; before Oberlin's audacious experiment in graduating women in the same class with men; long before the days of Mount Holyoke and Elmira and Vassar, an attempt was made in eastern New York to secure for women a higher standard of education. It was made by a remarkable woman, Mrs. Emma Willard, whose name the college woman of to-day delights to honor.

Mrs. Willard was the preceptress of a girls' school which she had established in 1814 at Middlebury, Vt. This seminary she moved to Waterford, N. Y., in 1819, hoping that the generosity of New York State toward the education of men might be extended to the education of women. With this hope she made, in 1819, an application to the legislature for aid, accompanying her petition with a "Plan for female education." In spite of the fact that Governor De Witt Clinton, in his annual message, strongly supported the application, and in spite of the masterly character of the plan itself, the legislature did not respond.

means.

Mrs. Willard then set to work to accomplish her purpose by other She elaborated the courses of study in her own school. This in 1821 was moved to Troy, and became known as the "Troy Female Seminary." Here Mrs. Willard worked until 1838. Finding the existing text-books inadequate in some departments of instruction, she attempted to supply the deficiency. It is said that she was the first to introduce the study of map drawing into schools. She prepared charts for historical and geographical study, for which she was awarded a gold medal at the World's Fair in London in 1851. The work in English at this seminary was of an unusually high character.

Many successful teachers have been sent out from this institution, which is still engaged in active work. Mrs. Willard severed her connection with it in 1838, leaving it in the hands of her son. She died in 1870, in the 84th year of her age.

Mrs. Willard's attempt to gain the cooperation of the legislature in carrying out her plans was a failure. But it may be that her prac

tical demonstration of the fact that a woman can obtain a thoroughly scholarly education largely by her own efforts and can spend her life in imparting it to others without the loss of either health or womanliness went far toward gaining from the legislature the charter of Elmira College in 1855 and of Vassar in 1861.

It is certain that her demonstrated success stimulated the establishment of similar "female" seminaries in all parts of the country, and thus helped to create a demand for an education equal to that offered by the colleges for men.

ELMIRA COLLEGE, 1855.

[Sketch furnished by President VAN NORDEN.]

Elmira College was opened in 1855. The site chosen was on the highest terrace of the Chemung, in the center of the beautiful and fertile intervale, girt about with hills, on which is built the flourishing city of the same name. Here, in a region exceptionally blessed in natural resources, with the "garden of America" to the north and the most prolific coal-oil and gas area in the world to the south and west, a region sure in time to become densely populated and very wealthy, it was resolved to carry out to logical conclusion previous tentative movements in the direction of the higher education of women; and here the very first real experiment in subjecting young girls to the tests of the best colleges for men was boldly ventured.

THE FIRST WOMAN'S COLLEGE.

The founding of Elmira College marked the commencement of a new era in the higher education of women. The quarter century immediately preceding had witnessed noble and successful efforts in establishing female seminaries, some of which were of great excellence and high grade. These mainly depended upon the personality of their proprietors, chiefly women, whose high character and executive skill gave them deserved success. It was, however, impossible to transfer to successors the personal influence, affection of pupils, and educational skill which gained the well-earned reputation of the founders, who, in many instances, after a period of successful labor, retired with a handsome fortune, leaving the seminary as a new business enterprise to some one else. There was no accumulation of educational forces, no conservation of what had been gained, no expectation of permanence and increased value.

MOTIVES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COLLEGE.

The success of the female seminaries, limited as it necessarily was, at least challenged thoughtfulness on the possibilities of expansion. Good and wise men agreed that the aptitudes and facilities of the minds of women had not been exhaustively cultivated, and that the experiment of a higher education need not be faithlessly attempted.