Emma Hart Willard
1787-1870
By Melissa Wallace
Introduction
Emma Hart Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in 1821. It was the first institution of its kind in the United States. It continues today as the Emma Willard School.
Historical contexts
At the time Emma Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary, James Monroe was in his second term as president.
About Emma Hart Willard
Emma Hart Willard was born in rural Berlin, Connecticut. She was the sixteenth of seventeen children. She showed an interest in learning at a very early age. Her father encouraged her and included her in discussions including politics, world affairs and mathematics. Emma enrolled in Berlin Academy when she was 15 and began teaching there a few years later. In 1807, she accepted a position as principal of the women’s academy at Middlebury, Vermont. At 20 years old, Emma was very successful as a teacher and administrator. When she was 22, she married Dr. John Willard who was a 50 year old widower. They only had one child together, a son named John Willard Hart.
In 1814, Dr. Willard suffered severe financial losses, so Emma opened a boarding school for girls in their Middlebury home. She included subjects that were traditionally denied to women, such as political thought, mathematics, sciences and philosophy. In 1819, Emma hoped to open her own school in Waterford, New York. She published a pamphlet titled A Plan for Improving Female Education. This pamphlet described the benefits to society of better education for women. Emma hoped to earn state financial support for her school so she presented the pamphlet to the New York legislature. The funding was denied. In 1821, the town of Troy, New York voted to raise $4,000 for a female academy providing that Emma would move her school there. The Troy Female Seminary opened that September. The school offered girls an education that was comparable to a college preparatory education for boys. Some of the subjects Emma included were trigonometry, zoology, natural philosophy, and chemistry. Emma knew that some of the students would still become wives and mothers so she included home economics and home management skills in the curriculum. If Emma could not find suitable books for her school, then she would write them herself. Her books and her school were a financial success. The Troy Female Seminary became a model for the comprehensive education of women. Emma proved the ability of women to learn and teach. Emma Willard headed the seminary until 1838. She then left the school’s leadership to her son. It continues today as the Emma Willard School.
Links
http://www.emma.troy.ny.us/about/history/ehwillard/shtml
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/~tnellen/tc/willard0.html
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/~tnellen/tc/ed_women.html
References
Emma Hart Willard. Retrieved October 14, 2001, from http://www.netstate.com/states/peop/people/ct_ehw.htm
Emma Hart Willard. Retrieved October 14, 2001, from Sunshine for Women Web site: http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/whm2001/willard1.html
Gift of Emma Willard School. Retrieved October 14, 2001, from Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies Web site: http://educate.si.edu/spotlight/school.html