Helen Magill 1873 courtesy Wikipedia
Helen Magill was born in Providence, Rhode Island on November 28, 1853. Her parents, Edward Hicks Magill and Sarah Warner Beans Magill, later had five more daughters, raising them in a Quaker setting. As such, she was brought up to believe she could and should have the same education as a man, and indeed, she and her five sisters became college teachers.
In 1859, the family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Helen enrolled as the only female student at Boston Public Latin School, probably because her father was submaster there, teaching French and Latin.
When Helen was 16, her father became a professor at the new Swarthmore College, founded by Quakers, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She enrolled as an undergraduate, graduating in the Class of 1873, one of five women graduating in the first graduating class at the college, along with one man. By this time, her father had been the college’s second president for two years, and he went on to serve in that position for the next 15 years.
Helen attended graduate school at Boston University, earning her doctorate in Greek in 1877. She was the first female Ph.D. in the United States. She then traveled to England, studying at the University of Cambridge. However, due to illness (she struggled with depression most of her life), she ranked only third in her 1881 honors examination at Newnham College, which she felt negatively impacted her academic career.
An interesting note here is that her dissertation, The Greek Drama, was lost until being located in her papers in the Rare Book and Manuscript Collections of Cornell University Library in 2018.
Apart from Helen, Boston University is also known for awarding other notable degrees: To Anna Oliver, the first degree to a woman in theology in the US in 1878; To Lelia Robinson, the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1881; and to Solomon Carter Fuller, the first place psychiatrist in the US. He graduated from the university’s School of Medicine in 1897, and made significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.
Helen’s career began with serving for one year at a private school in Pennsylvania, before being recommended to organize Howard Collegiate Institute in Massachusetts in 1883. At the time, the school hosted about 40 women, and Helen hired teachers and taught college courses. She taught here until 1887.
Andrew D. White 1885 courtesy Wikipedia
Helen met her future husband, Andrew D. White, around this time while presenting a paper about her time at Newnham College. A college contemporary of Helen’s father, he had formerly served as the first president of Cornell University, His wife had died a year earlier. He encouraged her to apply as Director of Sage College for Women at Cornell, but she was hesitant because of her previous experience at Howard College and her ongoing depression.
After leaving Howard Collegiate, she taught at Evelyn College for women, an annex of Princeton University, leaving there (perhaps following a bout of depression) to teach geography at Brooklyn High School for several years. During this time, Helen kept in communication, finally marrying in 1890. They had three children together.
Helen joined her husband in St. Petersburg and Berlin where he served in diplomatic posts. She was an asset to his career, presented at both courts, and was much sought after for her understanding of architecture, sculptures, music, and literature.
When they returned to the US, she maintained a private life, choosing to keep her home and raise her children away from the public or academic spotlight.
After her husband died in 1918, and with her children grown and on their own, she lived several years abroad, returning to the US, then retiring to Kittery Point, Maine, where she died in 1944, one month shy of her 91st birthday.
While Helen’s letters and correspondence indicated she felt she could have achieved much more if she’d criticized less, there is no question that she was a brave woman who tested social norms and changed university traditions that usually excluded women. As such, we can remember her this month for making room for all of our daughters, sisters, and granddaughters in higher education.
Leave a comment about Helen Magill White and share your thoughts about her persevering spirit.
About Donna:
A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers' groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed writers eager to tell their story.
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Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_University
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Magill_White
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