Women’s education has a long and complicated history. Education was not as accessible to women as it was men and even when women’s colleges came about, the quality of learning was not the same.
Longfellow Hall
One particular women’s college that is relevant to Silent Sky, is Radcliffe College. Many notable women attended Radcliffe, including Henrietta Leavitt herself. Radcliffe was one of the seven sister colleges, which included Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Vassar, and Radcliffe.
The college’s first president was Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz who ran a school for girls in her Cambridge home 1855-1867. Eventually, in 1879, it was established as the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women and nicknamed the “Harvard Annex.” And finally, it was renamed to Radcliffe College in 1894 after Ann Radcliffe who set up the first scholarship fund.
There was always tension between Radcliffe and Harvard. Radcliffe students were sometimes referred to as “Cliffies” and the Harvard students were encouraged to stay away from them.
Finally, during WWII, Harvard began admitting female students. And by 1963, Radcliffe quit giving out diplomas altogether. At this time, female graduates received Harvard diplomas that were jointly awarded by Harvard and Radcliffe.
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz House
In 1999, Harvard and Radcliffe officially merged andRadcliffe became Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Many women’s colleges have similar histories to that of Radcliffe and overall, women were not afforded the same opportunities as men. The federal Office of Education began collecting information on education for 1869-1870. At that time, there were only 63,000 students attaining higher education and 21% of those were women.
It is amazing to see the history of education and to specifically look at the struggles of women at Radcliffe. Henrietta Leavitt was one of the amazing women who defied odds and made something of herself, despite the limitations put on women.