Mrs. Mills of California, who embodies the spirit of her own beloved teacher, Mary Lyon?
Ohio has the distinction of first admitting women into its colleges. Oberlin opened in 1833 as a collegiate institute and admitted women. It granted three diplomas in 1841 to women and was chartered as a college in 1850. Antioch College opened to both men and women in 1853 under Horace Mann, a pioneer friend of college women. In 1855 Elmira College was the first woman's college chartered.
About the middle of the century three movements began which have spread rapidly; the opening of state universities to women; the founding of coeducational colleges, and the organization of women's colleges. From their opening the state universities have admitted women as follows: Utah, 1850; Iowa, 1856; Washington, 1862; Kansas, 1866; Minnesota, 1868; Nebraska, 1871; Oregon, 1876. Indiana, founded in 1820, opened its doors in 1868; Michigan, in 1870. At present all the colleges and universities in the West,—excepting those under Catholic management,—admit women, though Stanford University will not admit more than 500 at one time. A few years ago among the state universities Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana alone remained closed. In addition to all these open doors immense endowments were bestowed upon colleges during this period. At the end of the nineteenth century the United States had 480 colleges and 336 admitted women. Of the sixty leading colleges only ten (all on the Atlantic Coast) did not admit women to some department. The four leading women's colleges,—Vassar, 1861, Smith, 1875, Wellesley, 1875, Byrn Mawr, 1885, stand among the sixty leading colleges in wealth, equipment, teachers, students, and curricula. Indeed, it is said that a woman who completes the course at Bryn Mawr does more work than is required in any man's college.
