Mary Lyon
Encyclopedia
Mary Mason Lyon surname pronounced ˈlaɪ.ən, was a pioneer in women's education. She established the Wheaton Female Seminary
in Norton
, Massachusetts
, (now Wheaton College
). Within two years, she raised $15,000 to build the Mount Holyoke School. She also established Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
(now Mount Holyoke College
) in South Hadley, Massachusetts
in 1837 and served as its first president (or "principal") for 12 years. Lyon's vision for Mount Holyoke fused intellectual challenge and moral purpose. She valued socioeconomic diversity and endeavored to make the seminary affordable for students of modest means.
, Lyon had a hardscrabble childhood. Her father died when she was five, and the entire family pitched in to help run the farm. Lyon was thirteen when her mother remarried and moved away; she stayed behind in Buckland in order to keep the house for her brother Aaron, who took over the farm. She attended various district schools intermittently and, in 1814, began teaching in them as well. Lyon's modest beginnings fostered her life-long commitment to extending educational opportunities to girls from middling and poor backgrounds.
Lyon was eventually able to attend two secondary schools, Sanderson Academy in Ashfield and Byfield Seminary in eastern Massachusetts. At Byfield, she was befriended by the headmaster, Rev. Joseph Emerson, and his assistant, Zilpah Polly Grant
. She also soaked up Byfield's ethos of rigorous academic education infused with Christian commitment. Lyon then taught at several academies, including Sanderson, a small school of her own in Buckland, Adams Female Academy (run by Grant), and the Ipswich Female Seminary
(also run by Grant).
) whose 'Discourse on Female Education' (1822) advocated that women should be trained to be teachers rather than "to please the other sex."
Mount Holyoke opened in 1837. Lyon strove to maintain high academic standards: she set rigorous entrance exams and admitted no students under the age of 16. In keeping with her social vision, she limited the tuition to $60/year, about one-third the tuition that Grant charged at Ipswich Female Seminary. 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 reduced the requirement to 45 minutes. Calisthenics—a form of exercise—was taught by teachers in unheated hallways until a storage area was cleared for a gymnasium.
In order to keep costs low, Lyon required students to perform domestic tasks—an early version of work/study. She also paid her teachers relatively poorly. Though her policies were sometimes controversial, the seminary quickly attracted its target student body of 200.
Lyon anticipated a change in the role of women and equipped her pupils with an education that was comprehensive, rigorous, and innovative, with particular emphasis on the sciences. She required:
(possibly contracted from an ill student in her care) on March 5, 1849. The Mary Lyon dormitories at Swarthmore College
, University of Massachusetts Amherst
and Plymouth State University
are named in her memory.
Vassar College
, Wellesley College and the former Western College for Women
were patterned after Mount Holyoke.
In 1905, Lyon was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
in the Bronx, New York.
She has been honored by the United States Postal Service
with a 2¢ Great Americans series
postage stamp.
Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Wheaton College is a four-year, private liberal arts college with an approximate student body of 1,550. Wheaton's residential campus is located in Norton, Massachusetts, between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1834 as a female seminary, it is one of the oldest...
in Norton
Norton, Massachusetts
Norton is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, and contains the village of Norton Center. The population was 18,036 at the 2000 census...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, (now Wheaton College
Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Wheaton College is a four-year, private liberal arts college with an approximate student body of 1,550. Wheaton's residential campus is located in Norton, Massachusetts, between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1834 as a female seminary, it is one of the oldest...
). Within two years, she raised $15,000 to build the Mount Holyoke School. She also established Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
(now Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
) in South Hadley, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in 1837 and served as its first president (or "principal") for 12 years. Lyon's vision for Mount Holyoke fused intellectual challenge and moral purpose. She valued socioeconomic diversity and endeavored to make the seminary affordable for students of modest means.
Childhood
The daughter of a farming family in Buckland, MassachusettsBuckland, Massachusetts
Buckland is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,991 at the 2000 census. The town shares the village of Shelburne Falls with neighboring Shelburne...
, Lyon had a hardscrabble childhood. Her father died when she was five, and the entire family pitched in to help run the farm. Lyon was thirteen when her mother remarried and moved away; she stayed behind in Buckland in order to keep the house for her brother Aaron, who took over the farm. She attended various district schools intermittently and, in 1814, began teaching in them as well. Lyon's modest beginnings fostered her life-long commitment to extending educational opportunities to girls from middling and poor backgrounds.
Lyon was eventually able to attend two secondary schools, Sanderson Academy in Ashfield and Byfield Seminary in eastern Massachusetts. At Byfield, she was befriended by the headmaster, Rev. Joseph Emerson, and his assistant, Zilpah Polly Grant
Zilpah P. Grant Banister
Zilpah Polly Grant Banister was an American educator known primarily for founding Ipswich Female Seminary in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1828....
. She also soaked up Byfield's ethos of rigorous academic education infused with Christian commitment. Lyon then taught at several academies, including Sanderson, a small school of her own in Buckland, Adams Female Academy (run by Grant), and the Ipswich Female Seminary
Ipswich Female Seminary
Ipswich Female Seminary in Ipswich, Massachusetts was founded in 1828 by Zilpah P. Grant Banister, making it one of the first major educational institutions for women in the United States. According to the United States Department of Education:...
(also run by Grant).
Mount Holyoke
During these early years, Lyon gradually developed her vision for Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which would resemble Grant's schools in many respects but, Lyon hoped, draw its students from a wider socioeconomic range. The college was unique in that it was founded by people of modest means and served their daughters, rather than the children of the rich. She was especially influenced by Reverend Joseph Emerson (brother of Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
) whose 'Discourse on Female Education' (1822) advocated that women should be trained to be teachers rather than "to please the other sex."
Mount Holyoke opened in 1837. Lyon strove to maintain high academic standards: she set rigorous entrance exams and admitted no students under the age of 16. In keeping with her social vision, she limited the tuition to $60/year, about one-third the tuition that Grant charged at Ipswich Female Seminary. 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 reduced the requirement to 45 minutes. Calisthenics—a form of exercise—was taught by teachers in unheated hallways until a storage area was cleared for a gymnasium.
In order to keep costs low, Lyon required students to perform domestic tasks—an early version of work/study. She also paid her teachers relatively poorly. Though her policies were sometimes controversial, the seminary quickly attracted its target student body of 200.
Lyon anticipated a change in the role of women and equipped her pupils with an education that was comprehensive, rigorous, and innovative, with particular emphasis on the sciences. She required:
- 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.
Religion
Conforti (1993) examines the central importance of religion to Lyon. She was raised a Baptist but converted to Congregationalism under the influence of her teacher Reverend Joseph Emerson. Lyon preached revivals at Mount Holyoke, spoke elsewhere, and, though not a minister, was a member of the fellowship of New England's New Divinity clergy. She played a major role in the revival of the thought of Jonathan Edwards, whose works were read more frequently then than in his day. She was attracted by his ideas of self-restraint, self-denial, and disinterested benevolence.Death and memory
Lyon died of erysipelasErysipelas
Erysipelas is an acute streptococcus bacterial infection of the deep epidermis with lymphatic spread.-Risk factors:...
(possibly contracted from an ill student in her care) on March 5, 1849. The Mary Lyon dormitories at Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
and Plymouth State University
Plymouth State University
Plymouth State University, formerly Plymouth State College, is a regional comprehensive university located in Plymouth, New Hampshire and part of the University System of New Hampshire....
are named in her memory.
Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, Wellesley College and the former Western College for Women
Western College for Women
Western College for Women was a women's college in Oxford, Ohio between 1855 and 1974.-History:Western College was founded in 1853 as Western Female Seminary. It was a daughter school of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Its first principal Helen Peabody and most of the early...
were patterned after Mount Holyoke.
In 1905, Lyon was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
Hall of Fame for Great Americans
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is the original hall of fame in the United States. "Fame" here means "renown"...
in the Bronx, New York.
She has been honored by the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
with a 2¢ Great Americans series
Great Americans series
The Great Americans series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Postal Service, starting on December 27, 1980 with the 19¢ stamp depicting Sequoyah, and continuing through 2002, the final stamp being the 78¢ Alice Paul self-adhesive stamp. The series, noted for its simplicity...
postage stamp.
Further reading
- Conforti, Joseph A. "Mary Lyon, the Founding of Mount Holyoke College, and the Cultural Revival of Jonathan Edwards," Religion and American Culture, Winter 1993, Vol. 3 Issue 1, pp 69–89
- Green, Elizabeth Alden. Mary Lyon and Mount Holyoke: Opening the Gates (1979), the standard biography
- Handler, Bonnie S. and Carole B. Shmurak. "Mary Lyon and the Tradition of Chemistry Teaching at Mount Holyoke Seminary, 1837-1887," Vitae Scholasticae, 1990, Vol. 9 Issue 1/2, pp 53–73
- Horowitz, Helen. Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women's Colleges from Their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s (1984)
- Porterfield, Amanda. Mary Lyon and the Mount Holyoke Missionaries (1997)
- Sklar, Kathryn Kish. "The Founding of Mount Holyoke College," in Carol Ruth Berkin and Mary Beth Norton, eds. Women of America: A History (1979) pp 177–201
- Turpin, Andrea L. "The Ideological Origins of the Women's College: Religion, Class, and Curriculum in the Educational Visions of Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon," History of Education Quarterly, May 2010, Vol. 50 Issue 2, pp 133–158
Films
- "Mary Lyon: Precious Time," directed by Jean M. Mudge; San Anselmo, Calif.: Viewfinder Films, [n.d.] ISSN: 00182680