The First Women Arrive

When the first women were admitted in March of 1870, they took classes in the Agriculture Course alongside the men because the Agriculture Course was the only course taught at the College at the time. Classes included algebra, chemistry, horticulture, geology, and more. The women were required to do agricultural work, as were the men, as part of their education with the horticultural department. 

The first 10 women were: Isabel Allen, Mary L. Jones, Ella Brock, Catharine C. Bacon, Mary E. Daniels, Harriet A. Dexter, Emma H. Hume, Elizabeth Emmeline Sessions, Catharine Estelle Steele, and Gertrude Howe. They ranged in ages from 16 to 24. All but one was from Michigan and many were local to Lansing.

The women did not have a dedicated space at the college when they arrived. While some of the women commuted, six of them lived in Williams Hall alongside the steward’s family. Two years later, only four women out of twenty applicants were admitted because they were the only ones who did not need boarding at the college. Eva D. Coryell became the first women graduate of Michigan Agricultural College in 1879.

To learn more about each of the first women, please see their biographies.

Horticulture Class.

Professor Taft teaches Horticulture to a group of male and female students circa 1892. This photograph was part of the exhibit on M.A.C. at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892.

From University Archives (A000205)

Civil Engineering Class Surveying.

The students taking a civil engineering class pose for a photo while surveying. Pictured are (Left to Right) P. B. Woodworth '85, Jennie A. Towar Woodard '86, E. A. Bartmess '85, Louise Truman '85, and Perry G. Towar '85. Photo taken in the early 1880s.

From University Archives (A009273)

1893 Women's Ring inscribed with M.A.C.

Made by Wright Kay and Co. in Detroit. Only seven of these were made.

From MSU Museum (Museum Object ID 3992.1)

Page from Faculty Meeting Minutes, 1870.

The Faculty Meeting Minutes of 1870 note the arrival of the first ten women students and some of the women students' requests.

From University Archives (UA 14.1 Academic Senate records, 1857-1995. Meeting of minutes (volumes), February 1857-August 1877, Volume 1)

Transcription

Michigan State Agr’l [Agricultural] College, Lansing Mar. [March] 14th 1870 Page 00291

Regular meeting of the Faculty, Mrsrs. Abbot, Niles, Kedzie, Fairchild, Cook & Tracy present. The records of the previous meeting were read & approved, & absentees unexcused were reported.

Also that four ladies have been admitted to the College in accordance with the/an informal vote of the Faculty, a full understanding of the conditions of their admittance, (upon their own request & without invitation on the part of the College,) having been made known to their parents. Voted that the Ladies have Rhetorical Exercises with the Senior Class.

Page from Diary of T. C. Abbot, 1870.

Theophilus Capet Abbot was the State Agricultural College's third president. In his diary he notes when the "lady students" arrived, what classes they took, and how to best educate the male students with regard to their behavior around the women.

From University Archives (UA 2.1.3 Office of the President. Theophilus Capen Abbot papers)