On this Day…1853 Helen Magill White by Donna Schlachter

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.



www.DonnaSchlachter.com

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Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_University

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Magill_White

The Finger Lakes--historical gem of New York State

Thousands of years ago, when glaciers carved the hand print of God into Central New York State, a perfectly beautiful region was formed known as the Finger Lakes. Growing in popularity only in recent decades, it has long been a hidden paradise known to lucky upstaters like me. World class wineries, picturesque landscapes, orchards, sailing, a NASCAR raceway, and glens and gorges with hiking trails laid by FDR's Works Progress Administration, name only some of the attractions drawing tourists in recent years. History is rich in this region. Come and take a virtual tour with me.

Early in New York's settlement, plentiful native-growing grapevines were discovered, and attempts to cultivate them date back into the 1600's. In the early 1800's two godly men found success in creating a palatable wine. Deacon Samuel Warren and the Reverend William Bostwick had vintner ambitions springing from a desire to produce communion wine as well as a good table wine to compete with the too-plentiful grain alcohol responsible for the rampant over-indulgence of the 1800's. The lake winecountry, with its micro-climate and prolonged seasons has been compared to Germany for growing some of the finest white wines in the world. Early successes in the region involved champagne, including Pleasant Valley Wine Company's award winning vintage that won the coveted medal at the Vienna World Exposition in 1873. It was the first American wine to be so recognized internationally. Prohibition hit many of these vineyards especially hard, but some of the old wineries exist today. 

Seneca Lake, the deepest of the Finger Lakes, holds many distinctions historically. Salt mines supplied table salt since the mid nineteenth century. The long body of water connected the Erie Canal to smaller regional waterways, such as the Chemung Canal, from the early 1800's. At the southernmost tip of the lake is Watkins Glen, which has its own intriguing history. First named for a Mohawk Chieftain's daughter Catherine, it was an early tourist attraction and center of industry. The natural wonders of a glen carved through layers of shale became a travel destination over a century ago. In later years, motor car races attracted a faithful following at Watkins Glen International Raceway. 

On the upper, east side of the lake, a military depot was built in Romulus and trained servicemen since the 1940's. Seneca Army Depot, and a Naval Training Station later converted to Samson Airforce Base, were active military posts in their time. Sonar tests were conducted in the depths of Seneca Lake during World War II, Airmen were trained there for the Korean War, and the base reportedly held underground nuclear silos for a time. In recent years, the closed depot offers a military museum while a nature preserve on the grounds protects the largest herd of wild white Whitetail deer in the world.

Cayuga Lake is the second biggest finger lake. Ithaca, at the southern tip, boasts Cornell University, the first Ivy League college to admit women.

Another claim to historical fame, along the northern shore of Cayuga Lake was the birthplace of the women's suffrage movement at Seneca Falls. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were two abolitionist women who had been spurned from taking part in a London anti-slavery convention, so they organized a meeting for women near Stanton's home in Seneca Falls in 1848. Two hundred women met at the Wesleyan church on July 19 over social, civil, and religious concerns, launching the women's rights movement in earnest, and ultimately leading to the female vote. 

Like Seneca, the geography near Cayuga Lake is full of gorges and glens surrounding the lake, including one of my favorite summer places, Robert Treman State Park. It has spectacular waterfalls, natural swimming holes, and hiking trails like Watkins Glen State Park which were both built during the Works Progress Administration, building infrastructure and putting Americans to work during hard times. Hiking paths with slate pathsascend miles of trails, and have weathered the decades beautifully, making it a tourist draw for nature lovers and photographers as well as camping enthusiasts the world over.

From the rolling farmland to the world-class vineyards and wineries, to sports and recreation, to historical landmarks, Upstate New York's Finger Lakes region challenges all rivals for beauty and romance. Cruising the crystal waters, or picking apples in the orchards, horseback riding, touring the wineries, or hiking the glens, can't you just imagine the stories begging to be told here? I sure can! Thank you for visiting. I hoped you enjoyed your tour of the beautiful and historic Finger Lakes.

 Kathleen L. Maher’s first literary crush was Peter Rabbit, and she’s had an infatuation with books and fictional heroes ever since. She has a novella releasing with Barbour in the 2018 Victorian Christmas Brides collection, featuring her hometown of Elmira, NY. Her debut historical “Bachelor Buttons” was released in 2013, and incorporates her Irish heritage and love of the American Civil War. She won the American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest for unpublished writers, historical category, in 2012. 
Kathleen and her husband raised their three children in an old farmhouse in upstate NY, along with a small zoo of rescued dogs, cats, and birds. They run an art business in their spare time and enjoy spoiling their grandchildren on the weekends.

Find Kathleen on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mahereenie
And on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/kathleenlmaher

(photo credits to Kathleen L. Maher and Nancy Carmichael)