This book is part of a series on historical female figures. It features Mary Lyon, an American educationalist born in 1797. She is best known for pioneering women's education and founding Mount Holyoke and Wheaton Colleges. These were the first all women seminaries devoted to the empowerment of young women and the creation of female leaders in a male-dominated world. In her words, when you choose your fields of labor go where nobody else is willing to go. Lyon continues to inspire women today and is still celebrated for her strength and determination in the field of women's emancipation.
This book provides an in-depth look at the life of Mary Lyon, a pioneer in the field of women's education. Written by her close friend and colleague Fidelia Fiske, it includes personal reminiscences, letters, and anecdotes that shed light on Mary Lyon's character, values, and contributions. This is a must-read for anyone interested in women's history or education. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
In 1837, by virtue of dogged determination and never removing her sight from her goal, Lyon founded Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, the world's oldest continuing college for women. This volume draws together the major documents and writings of her remarkable career.
Excerpt from The Life of Mary Lyon Every book has many authors; the title-page names but one. To all those who in countless ways have furthered the making of this book, I gratefully acknowledge my debt: men and women who knew Miss Lyon personally; their sons and daughters; alumnae of Mount Holyoke and people holding no affiliation with it, some of them concerned with other schools; members of the college faculty who throughout the work have given me so wise a seconding. The warm helpfulness which Miss Lyon evoked in life has met her biographer at every turn. The book is immediately derived from a request made several years ago by President Woolley, voicing a demand that has been gathering force through more than thirty years. In its preparation all known manuscripts bearing intimately or remotely on Miss Lyon's life have been read, but it is not unlikely that some writings exist which have escaped the inquisitor's eye. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
Excerpt from Life Story of Mary Lyon: Founder of Mount Holyoke College It has been wisely said, that the greatest statues require least drapery. Certainly, the men and women who have been most useful require least eulogy. The object of this sketch is to give in fewest words the essence of a noble life. Miss Lyon's work can be better seen, from this standpoint, in the History of Time than from any former one, and now, as her child, The Mount Holyoke Seminary is rising as a Phœnix from its ashes, it seems desirable that we should review it. President Hitchcock, of Amherst College, assisted by several ladies who had intimately known her, prepared a memoir of Miss Lyon soon after her death. This has been widely circulated and highly prized in America, in England and in some of the islands of the sea. The American Tract Society, in 1858, published a review of this work. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
American women played in important part in Protestant foreign missionary work from its early days at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This work allowed them to disseminate the Prostestant religious principles in which they believed, and by enabling them to acquire professional competence as teachers, to break into public life and create new opportunities for themselves and other women. No institution was more closely associated with women missionaries than Mount Holyoke College. In this book, Amanda Porterfield examines Mount Holyoke founder Mary Lyon and the missionary women she trained. Her students assembled in a number of particular mission fields, most importantly Persia, India, Ceylon, Hawaii, and Africa. Porterfield focuses on three sites where documentation about their activities is especially rich-- northwest Persia, Maharashtra in western India, and Natal in southeast Africa. All three of these sites figured importantly in antebellum missionary strategy; missionaries envisioned their converts launching the conquest of Islam from Persia, overturning "Satan's seat" in India, and drawing the African descendants of Ham into the fold of Christendom. Porterfield shows that although their primary goal of converting large numbers of women to Protestant Christianity remained elusive, antebellum missionary women promoted female literacy everywhere they went, along with belief in the superiority and scientific validity of Protestant orthodoxy, the necessity of monogamy and the importance of marital affection, and concern for the well-being of children and women. In this way, the missionary women contributed to cultural change in many parts of the world, and to the development of new cultures that combined missionary concepts with traditional ideals.
