Science education for women in antebellum America.

Abstract

W OMEN TOO SHARED in the popular enthusiasm for science which A,, lemerged in America in the second third of the nineteenth century. Schools for women placed a new emphasis on natural history and natural philosophy. Books about science directed specifically at women proliferated, as did scientific articles in the general women's magazines, and public scientific lectures attracted large numbers of women. The message presented through these various media was a cultural one: the efforts of scientists should be supported, their achievements appreciated. The audience was encouraged to become "cultivators" of science, not necessarily "practitioners."' Once interested, however, some women-indeed a substantially larger number than is generally recognized-went on to pursue science on their own. By 1860 the foundations were securely planted for women's involvement in America's scientific enterprise. Public education for women, practically nonexistent in the colonial and early republican periods, began to flourish in the 1820s, and within a few decades dozens of academies, seminaries, and colleges were established. Most of those admitting women were for women only, but some were coeducational; most were in the Northeast, but a good number were in the South and West.2 Many educators sought to establish curricula for women similar to that available to men. Evidence for this is easily multiplied, but for now let suffice two typical declarations of purpose. The Elmira Female College was founded "with the design of affording a superior education to young ladies, with all the advantages furnished by the best [male] Colleges in the country." Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn aimed to furnish "all the advantages for thorough and complete education that are enjoyed by the other sex in our best appointed colleges."3 To be sure, Emma Willard's