Mary Lyon

Mary Mason Lyon (28 February 1797 - 5 March 1849) was the founder of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, (now Mount Holyoke College), Massachusetts and a pioneer in women's education in America.

Background

Lyon was born in Buckland, Franklin County. Lyon's father, Aaron Lyon, died when she was five, so her mother, Jemima Shepard Lyon, taught her farm trades until she remarried and left, leaving Lyon and her brother, also named Aaron, behind to fend for themselves. Lyon was thirteen at the time. Afterwards, she kept house, and her brother, who had taken over ownership of the farm, paid her one silver dollar per week for her services.

Throughout this time, Lyon went to school in Buckland, where she was lucky to be able to attend year-round (at that time, girls would usually be able to attend school during the summer, when the boys were needed in the fields, and the teacher had nothing else to do). In spring, fall, and winter, girls would be forced to sit outside of the school house listening for tidbits of the teacher's lessons. Lyon was an avid learner, as shown by her mastery of English grammar in four days and Latin grammar in three.

Lyon's fairly extensive education was enough to get her a teaching job in the neighboring town of Shelburne Falls when she was 17. She was paid 75 cents, while her male counterparts were making 2 to 3 dollars. At the time, female teachers were somewhat in demand, as men were moving west and were therefore harder to find.

Women's education

Now that she was teaching, Lyon felt that she needed and wanted more education. At the time, there were many female seminaries in the New England area, but their curricula did not interest her. These seminaries taught arts which they thought pertinent to being a lady, such as embroidery, and theorem painting (painting on velvet). Moreover, these were expensive schools, which were meant to train wealthy young women, and Mary was not of the upper class.

Lyon wanted to learn the subjects which were taught at schools for men such as mathematics, science, Latin, and history. She thus collected money from her inheritance, wages, and from making blankets and coverlets to receive a part-time education at Amherst and Ashfield academies. She attended the Reverend Joseph Emerson's Female Seminary at Byfield, Massachusetts, a pioneer in its way, where she found a curriculum considered by many too intellectual and strenuous for "young ladies."

Lyon developed the reputation as an excellent teacher. She was invited to be part of many schools throughout New England, and was soon at the forefront of education for women.

As Lyon's experience grew, so too did the stability of her philosophy. She saw the inequality of education between man and woman, and decided to create an institution for the higher education of women which would equal to the existing colleges for men. She thus raised funds for the development of her school over the next three years, traveling from Boston all the way to Detroit for money even though the country was in the midst of a severe economic depression.

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

Lyon first created the initial curriculum at Wheaton College (then called Wheaton Female Seminary) in 1836. On November 8, 1837, she founded Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Buildings were capable of holding up to 80 pupils, but in the first year the attendance was greater than the capacity. Students were told to bring a Bible, an atlas, a dictionary, and two spoons.

Mount Holyoke was a great success, and in its second year, had to turn away more than half of its applicants. During the last 12 years of Lyon's life, attendance increased to 300. She wrote an account of the seminary and a book called The Missionary Offering.

In 1888 it became Mount Holyoke College.

Death

Mary Lyon died in 1849 and is buried on the grounds of Mount Holyoke. She is a member of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.

References

Edward Hitchcock wrote a book on her life, (New York, 1860)
M. O. Nutting, Historical Sketch of Mount Holyoke Seminary, (Washington, 1876)
B. B. Gilchrist, The Life of Mary Lyon, (Boston, 1910)
Adams and Foster, Heroines of Modern Progress, (New York, 1913)

Honors

On February 28, 1987, a stamp featuring Mary Lyon was issued in honor of The Sesquicentennial (Mount Holyoke's 150th anniversary) ^*.
USS Lyon (AP-71), a World War II transport ship in the United States Navy, and SS Mary Lyon, a Liberty ship, were both named for her.

External links

1797 births | 1849 deaths | Mount Holyoke College | Mount Holyoke College faculty | American educators