Hope College's First Female Graduates
1 media/27574694_thumb.jpg 2021-07-01T13:41:28+00:00 Maria Seidl 0869508ba0ec90ac5bbe111a5342c219b214a290 1 6 The first female graduates of Hope College pictured in 1882. Clockwise from back left: Sarah G. Alcott '82, Frances F.C. Phelps '82, Mary E. Alcott '85, Lizzie Phelps '85. 1882. "First Female Graduates of Hope College," 1882. Envisioning Hope College (H89-MP1035-015). Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, MI. https://library.artstor.org/asset/27574694. plain 2021-07-08T19:23:44+00:00 Maria Seidl 0869508ba0ec90ac5bbe111a5342c219b214a290This page is referenced by:
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Founding of STEM at Hope
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Founding of STEM at Hope
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Though most women at Hope College from 1925-1950 majored in the humanities or fine arts departments, a significant proportion majored in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM). Given that Hope was created to prepare students for teaching, missionary work, and ministry, this finding seemed unusual at first glance. The first reason why this seemed unusual was because STEM departments at Hope were newer and less established. Moreover, STEM did not seem to directly correlate with any of the fields that Hope was meant to prepare students for. Lastly, given that women in STEM are still a minority, it seemed to be progressive for 26.32% of female Seniors at Hope College in 1934 to have majored in STEM.
Historical Women in STEM
Assuming that female interest in STEM is a recent phenomenon is both an oversimplification and blatantly incorrect. According to the Historical Dictionary of Women’s Education in the United States, women have been players in the creation of STEM since its early days in the United States. Science was a practice for amateurs in the nineteenth century as practitioners rarely had degrees and found informal education through lectures, museum visiting, and reading textbooks. Women were such avid consumers of these textbooks that an entire genre of textbooks was dedicated to female readers. These textbooks were imported from England and taught young women about topics like philosophy, biology, and chemistry. Two popular books were Conversations on Chemistry, published in 1806 by Jane Marcet, and Conversations on Natural Philosophy, published in 1819 [1].
Education and Separate Spheres
However, women in science were effectively marginalized as the field became formalized. Single gendered schools, common for the time, were part of this process. Male colleges formed their curriculums around classical training in Latin, Greek, and English. Classical training was seen as disciplined and masculine. These schools utilized the theory of “separate spheres,” meaning that men and women belonged in different roles. The public sphere, politics, work, law, etc. was meant for men. The private sphere, childcare, housework, religion, etc, were for women. Therefore, classical training was a part of the male, public sphere. Moreover, because women rarely entered higher education, they had no need for classical training. Instead, administrators looked to the sciences to teach “critical observation and… logical thought” [2]. Science became a core part of many female academies and colleges, whereas, it was a more peripheral addition to men’s education.
STEM at Hope
Origins
Hope College was originally a men’s college founded on classical and biblical training [3]. Evidence of this foundation in classical training is clear in the 1866 Catalog where it explicitly states “the Academy has been conducted mainly, though not exclusively, with reference to the training of ministers and teachers… those pursuing a full classical course, are preparing for College.” [4]. Classical training was not the only training that students received, but it was the basis for further education and future vocations. Moreover, the academic week was divided between Latin days (Monday and Wednesday), Greek days (Tuesday and Thursday), and a Rhetoric day (Friday) [5]. Most of the students in 1866 took the classical track or course with only two men out of twenty-seven listed students in the catalog taking a different course [6]. It is not clear whether the students listed are academy or college students given that the academy was incorporated into the College in 1866 [7]. Regardless, the frequency of the classical track is significant. Hope College’s reliance on classical training was normal for colleges and universities of the nineteenth century.
Students were required to train in Dutch so that they could preach to a region populated with Dutch immigrants. Although Hope College’s emphasis on classical training was typical, its emphasis on STEM was unique. Science was regarded highly though the practice was newer. This is exemplified in Reverend Issac Wickoff’s speech at President Phelp’s inauguration in 1866 where he says, “It is intended and expected that this college shall be a seminary of evangelical religion as well as of secular science” [8]. By 1893, students could matriculate with bachelor’s degrees in science or the arts [9]. From the founding of Hope, science was not seen to be contradictory to religion but rather, complementary.
Courses
By the 1906-1907 school year, STEM’s burgeoning popularity can be seen with the introduction of three STEM courses. The course catalog offered a biological course, a Philosophical course, and modern-language-mathematics alongside modern-language-English, and classical courses [10]. According to the catalog, this was meant to develop a “refined sense and aesthetic taste, a practical utility in the life and affairs of a progressive world, a manly character and loyal citizenship.” [11] Moreover, the storage building, established in 1867, was the original science lab. By 1903, Van Raalte Hall opened up a section of laboratories [12]. In 1909, the chemistry and physics departments were separated into two departments [13].
Departmental Expansion
The science wing of Hope expanded greatly under Gerrit Van Zyl from 1923-1964. Gerrit Van Zyl, a former Hope student, was appointed as head of the chemistry department in 1923. By 1929, 125 alumni had earned PhDs in chemistry from leading research universities [14]. Van Zyl created research opportunities year round, mentored future educators, and attended American Chemical Society’s national meetings to promote Hope’s chemistry department and network [15].
The science wing at Hope continued to expand with the hiring of Harvey Kleinheksel in 1928 to teach chemistry and biology [16]. Similarly, Harry Frissel, the first Hope teacher with a doctorate in physics, was hired to teach physics in 1948 [17]. Science became a general education requirement for the first time in 1936 [18]. The catalyst for the growth of the science curriculum was the creation of the science building (now Lubbers Hall) in 1941-1942 [19]. To showcase the growth, you only have to compare course offerings from 1865 to 1945. In 1865, the science curriculum was composed of a single class in astronomy and chemistry and four courses in mathematics [20]. Within a single century, our team counted that the curriculum grew to sixty four different courses in biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics [21]. The alumni magazine reported that by April 1947, there were over 200 medical doctors and 100 college science professors alumni [22].
STEM has only continued to expand at Hope College. Currently, Hope College is tied with Cornell in national rankings for undergraduate research. Moreover, Franklin and Marshall’s 1998 study found that Hope ranked in the top three percent in the nation out of 1,036 institutions for producing graduates who went on to earn a PhD in the sciences between 1920 and 1995 [23].
Female Education at Hope
Hope College was both typical in its foundation in classical training and unique in its emphasis on secular science. However, our question is how women factored into this complex relationship. Albertus Van Raalte, the founder of Holland and Hope College, considered female education to be a “pet project” of his [24]. As early as the second meeting of the executive committee in August 1866, plans were discussed to provide female education in the Hope College preparatory school and later, the college.
Sixty acres were purchased for a designated “Hope Female Seminary.” The female seminary was never constructed and many faculty opposed taking on the responsibility of a separate school. Eventually, this plot of land was sold to finance the school. Instead, the Grammar School opened classes for both sexes in 1875 [25]. Eventually, there was a Ladies Department of Hope College, though there were difficulties with finances and spacing [26]. It took another eleven years until the college admitted females.
Though attempts have been made to find a clear reason for why women were admitted for the first time in 1878 as opposed to other years, there has been no conclusive data found. The Hope College Circular from 1876-1877 gave this explanationThe higher education of females seems to furnish the proper medium between the spirit of oriental barbarism which regards women as fitted to be only mother and housekeeper, and the infidelity of women’s rights, false so called. [27]
Regardless, the decision was not taken lightly. The Board of Trustees minutes from this time period show multiple conversations about women in higher education that never reached a conclusion. However, in the 1878 minutes from June 19th, the Board of Trustees made a decision as the discussion was "resolved that the academic department be opened for the admission of ladies" [28].
The creation of Voorhees Hall in 1907, the first women’s dorm, provided a place for women to live. Women were admitted to Hope College in 1863, and by 1916, 63 women had graduated from Hope helped by the creation of Voorhees Hall [29]. Eventually, national gender ratios continued to equalize so that women were no longer a minority. After 1980, women became the majority on college campuses nationally and at Hope [30].
References:
[1] Linda Eisenmann, Historical Dictionary of Women’s Education in the United States (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998), 349, EBSCOhost.
[2] Eisenmann, Historical Dictionary, 350.
[3] Jacob Nyenhuis, Hope College at 150 (Holland: Van Raalte Press, 2019), 4.
[4] 1865-1866. Catalog (Holland: Hope College, 1865), 31, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/2/.
[5] 1865-1866. Catalog, 34.
[6] 1865-1866. Catalog, 31-33.
[7] 1865-1866. Catalog, 1.
[8] Nyenhuis, Hope College at 150, 74.
[9] 1892-1893. Catalog. (Holland: Hope College, 1892), 30, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/22/.
[10] 1906-1907. Catalog. (Holland: Hope College, 1906), 10, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/36.
[11] 1906-1907. Catalog., 11.
[12] Valerie Van Heest, A Century of Science: Excellence at Hope College (Holland: Hope College, 2009), 19.
[13] Van Heest, A Century of Science, 13.
[14] Articles, 1924-1966, Box 1, Van Zyl, Gerrit (1894-1967). Papers, 1923-1968. (H88-0183.), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.; Van Heest, A Century of Science, 25.; Milestone 1942 (Holland: Hope College, 1942), 17, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/26.
[15] Van Heest, A Century of Science, 25.
[16] Van Heest, A Century of Science, 27.
[17] Van Heest, A Century of Science, 86.
[18] 1935-1936. V74.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1935), 30, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/103.
[19] Milestone 1943 (Holland: Hope College, 1943), 70, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/24.
[20] 1865-1866. Catalog, 34.
[21] 1944-1945. V83.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1945), http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/112.
[22] Nyenhuis, Hope College at 150, 84-85.
[23] Van Heest, A Century of Science, 59.
[24] Nyenhuis, Hope College at 150, 512.
[25] Wynand Wichers, A Century of Hope (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 87-89.
[26] Wichers, A Century of Hope, 89.
[27] 1876-1877. Circular. (Holland: Hope College, 1876), 91, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/9/.
[28] "19 June, 1878", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[29] Wichers, A Century of Hope, 90.
[30] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 134, 10.1257/jep.20.4.133. -
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Enrollment at Hope College
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This page describes enrollment trends at Hope College
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Historical Context
According to the 1916 Hope College semicentennial bulletin, Holland, Michigan was founded in 1847 by Albertus Van Raalte and other immigrants from the Netherlands. As they started settling and laying foundations for the future, the obvious need for a school took precedent. However, the community lacked the resources to establish the Christian school that they desired so they reached out to the Reformed Church of America (RCA) that provided resources for their journey to Holland [1]. In October of 1851, a Pioneer School was founded to the relief and excitement of the community. Eventually, it was reorganized as Holland Academy in 1857. Finally, the school was incorporated as Hope College in 1866 [2].Hope College was created with the intention of training teachers and ministers and preparing missionaries to serve abroad [3]. This reflected the importance of its relationship with the RCA; the RCA supplied resources and the college supplied people. The first cohorts that matriculated from Hope were small with the first consisting of only eight men in 1866. Six men graduated the next year. Financial struggles restricted growth in the college which prompted the opening of Hope College to women in 1878. Slowly, cohorts increased with the upward growth condensed mostly around the turn of the century. By 1927, there were 513 total students enrolled at the college [4].
National Trends
National trends indicate that there was a parity between men and women in college enrollment from 1900 to 1930 [5]. Moreover, higher education enrollments increased after 1915 and doubled by 1924. Overall enrollments rose during the Great Depression, stalled, and resumed growing in the latter half of the 1930s [6]. Specifically, male enrollment increased during the 1930s and the Great Depression because many men sought ways to increase their employability. Also, many men had little else to do so working towards a degree was a productive way to spend time [7].
During World War II, male enrollment sharply decreased as they were enlisted and shipped off to battle. This changed after the end of the war as the G.I. Bill was created in order to provide benefits and assistance to veterans. Some of these benefits included finances for higher education and as a result, many men enrolled in college. This was significant in furthering the national shift from elite higher education to mass higher education that began in the interwar period (1918-1939). Schools had begun shifting from elite higher education which served students of privileged social backgrounds or those with impressive talent to mass education which served anyone who met the admissions qualifications. Moreover, elite higher education emphasized culture as it sought to form character and prepare students for leadership. Meanwhile, mass higher education aimed to prepare students for a broad variety of vocations [8]. Traits of elite higher education and mass higher education were not mutually exclusive and one college could inhabit traits of both. However, the interplay between the two shifted who attended higher educational institutes and for what purpose.
Male college graduates continued to increase after World War II with the expansion of men who were eligible for the G.I. Bill after serving in the Korean War (1950-1953). The trend of mass higher education led to the expansion of college and the subsequent creation of higher education as a requirement for entry into jobs [9]. The national maximum in college enrollment gender imbalance was in 1947 [10]. However, by 2021, the gender ratio has flipped and there are more women than men enrolled nationally and at Hope [11].
Hope College Data Analysis
Comparison to National Trends
During the span of our research, 1925-1950, Hope broadly matched these trends, though there was some variability. The main deviation was that enrollment began decreasing in 1927 and continued through the 1930s. Therefore, the Great Depression was not the only factor in the shrinkage of total enrollments. Moreover, at Hope, there was never a parity between male and female enrollments. Except for during World War II when men were drafted, men were always more numerous at Hope. However, Hope followed the Post-WWII boom in male enrollments. Similarly, 1947 was the year with the most extreme gender imbalance. Overall, Hope conformed to broad trends in enrollment but deviated with specifics.
The Great Depression
The overall pattern that enrollment at Hope College followed was a decline in all students after 1927 when 513 students were enrolled. This number was not surpassed again until 1940 when 525 students were enrolled. The decrease happened during the years 1929 (434 people), 1930 (423), 1931 (420). Then, enrollment increased slowly with occasional dips. According to national trends, this increase may have been due to the lack of employment opportunities available for men. Therefore, education would ease boredom and provide potential job opportunities [12]. Another reason may have been that incoming students were able to find resources to fund their college education when before they were unable to. Regardless, Hope benefitted from the gradual expansion of enrollment.
World War II
During 1941 and 1942, enrollment stayed consistent with only six more students counted in 1942. There was a slight decrease in enrollment in 1943 with 529 students. Enrollment sharply decreased in 1944 with 300 students registered at Hope which is the minimum of this data set. This is directly related to the start of American involvement in World War II and the draft. However, 276 men took part in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) that used Hope’s facilities. With the men included, the total number of students was 576 which continued the upward trajectory that Hope’s enrollment had previously taken.In 1945, the total number of students increased from 1944 (without the ASTP included) with 312. There were no figures presented for the ASTP because it had ended the year prior. After the war, enrollment increased by 224.4% in one year with 700 students enrolled in 1945. The next year, 1946, jumped by 185.7% from 1945 with 1300 students registered for classes. The next years (1947-1948) increased marginally until 1949 with 1189 students listed. Then, enrollment began to decrease in 1950 with 1124 students.
Gender Demographics
Looking at gender demographics, which were self-reported by the school in the bulletin after 1935, reveals distinct gender ratio patterns throughout the 15 years analyzed. Men were consistently enrolled more than women except for 1944 and 1945 during World War II. By 1947, this imbalance was as extreme as men outnumbering women two to one. This ratio juxtaposes the year prior, 1946, as 1946 was the year closest to gender parity in this time period. In 1946, there were 408 men and 339 women. However, this data may be skewed because in 1946, 1947, and 1948, students were deducted for double counting but we do not know what gender they were. Therefore, we have kept them included in the data set. In the bulletin, 47 people were listed as being deducted for counting twice in 1946. 113 were deducted in 1947. However, the gender parity in 1946 could make sense if men took a gap year after the war while recovering emotionally and physically. Regardless, male students clearly outnumbered female students from 1935-1950 with the 1935-1941 being the closest to gender parity and the war (with more female students) and post-war years (with many more male students) being the furthest from parity.
References:
[1] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1916), 10, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/49; 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin., 14.; 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin., 15.
[2] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin., 1.
[3] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin., 13-14.
[4] 1927. V65.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1927), 62, http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/90.
[5] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 133, 10.1257/jep.20.4.133.
[6] Roger L. Geiger, The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015), 429, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7ztpf4.1?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
[7] Goldin, Katz, and Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women,” 136.
[8] Geiger, The History of American Higher Education, 428.
[9] Geiger, History of American Higher Education, 428.
[10] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 133, 10.1257/jep.20.4.133.
[11] Goldin, Katz, and Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women,” 134.
[12] Goldin, Katz, and Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women,” 136.
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Majors for Women at Hope
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Majors for Women at Hope
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Historical Context
Hope College was founded in coordination with the Reformed Church of America (RCA) [1]. The 1916 Semicentennial Catalog reveals the intention behind the creation of the college as it says
They wanted a Christian school to prepare, in a general way, for high grade American citizenship and the intelligent development of Christian character; but, more specifically, they wanted a school to serve the three-fold purpose— to equip competent teachers, to train ministers, and to prepare missionaries for the foreign field [2].
Teaching, missionary work, and ministry were the three vocational pillars that guided the founders in creating the school curriculum. As a result, emphasis was placed on classical training in Greek, Latin, and English. Classical curriculums were often elemental parts of higher education for male colleges in the United States since it was meant to prepare men for the public sphere. This included politics, work, and law. Moreover, knowledge of Greek, Latin, and English were required for admission to graduate programs. As a result, classical training was seen as disciplined and masculine [3].
The importance of classical training to Hope is evident in the 1866 Course Catalog where the only three options for courses of study were normal (teaching), English, and classical. The two men who took normal and English courses were temporarily absent from the school. Therefore, the classical course was the only active option for students [4]. This analysis does not include the Junior College or the School of Music. We only looked at Hope College. As the school expanded, more departments and courses of study opened up. By 1916, the semicentennial, there were six courses of study open to students - classical, philosophical, natural science, modern-language English, modern-language mathematics [5].By 1925, the first year analyzed in this study, there were six courses of study available - classical, science, modern language-English, mathematics, history, and Latin [6]. Those remained the same six courses available until 1930. There is no available data on majors recorded in 1931 since the course catalog does not list available courses and no Milestone was published. In 1932, eight courses were offered - business administration, classical, English, history, Latin, mathematics, modern language, and science [7]. These same courses were offered until 1936.
From 1931-1932, the four year course schedule for each major that had been in the bulletins was no longer included. They were reintroduced in 1933 but only for Freshmen and Sophomores rather than Upperclassmen. After 1933, formal recommendations for four year plans were no longer included in the bulletin. However, in 1945, four year plans were listed for those on pre-professional tracks like nursing, dentistry, law, forestry, journalism, engineering, theology, social service, library science, and business administration. These plans were listed under “suggested professional curricula” [8]. This continued after the 1950 school year which is out of the scope of this research. No schedule recommendations were given during this time for majors. It is important to clarify that women could take different tracks like the pre-medical track or pre-professional tracks without them qualifying as their primary major. These would not be listed in the Milestone sometimes. Therefore, the lack of women in these fields during this time period (1925-1950) does not necessarily mean that they did not take them. For example, stenography was a certification that women could get but could not major in.Moreover, lists of available majors were not included in 1931 but were reintroduced in 1932. This could have been due to the expansion of available majors. However, a more likely theory is that the college wanted to save money on printing costs or felt that it was unnecessary to include the information. By 1936, only “groups” were specified that students could take courses in rather than majors. These groups were English, foreign languages, science, and social studies in 1936 [9]. After 1936, music was added to the list of groups. Departments and majors fit under these umbrella categories but were not individually listed [10].
The option of three science and math courses in the 1916 Semicentennial catalog (philosophical, natural science, and modern-language mathematics) reveal a significant shift towards incorporating hard sciences in addition to classical courses [11]. In 1942, a science building, Lubbers Hall, was opened which allowed room for physical expansion of the science department [12]. In 1943, the Army Specialized Training Program began at Hope. The College provided engineering courses for the troops, so Hope split into the Army College with an emphasis on mathematics and science and the other was civilian with an emphasis on liberal arts education [13]. More information on the creation of the STEM departments can be found on our page about the Founding of STEM at Hope and Women in STEM.
References:
[1] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1916), 15, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/49.
[2] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin., 13-14.
[3] Linda Eisenmann, Historical Dictionary of Women’s Education in the United States (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998), 350, EBSCOhost.
[4] 1865-1866. Catalog (Holland: Hope College, 1865), 31-33, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/2/.
[5] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin, 105.
[6] 1925. V63. 03. November Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1925), 10-11, http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/86.
[7] 1931-1932. V70.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1931), 28, http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/99.
[8] 1944-1945. V83.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1945), 35, http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/112.
[9] 1935-1936. V74.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1935), 30, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/103.
[10] 1936-1937. V75.01. February Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1936), 28, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/104.
[11] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin., 105.
[12] Milestone 1943 (Holland: Hope College, 1943), 70, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/24.
[13] Correspondence between Hope College and Army, July 1943-September 1943, Military Training Programs, records, 1917-1951, (H88-0266), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI. -
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Women's Education at Hope
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Hope College was both typical in its foundation in classical training and unique in its emphasis on secular science. However, our question is how women factored into this complex relationship. Albertus Van Raalte, the founder of Holland and Hope College, considered female education to be a “pet project” of his [1]. As early as the second meeting of the executive committee in August 1866, plans were discussed to provide female education in the Hope College preparatory school and later, the college.Sixty acres were purchased for a designated “Hope Female Seminary.” The female seminary was never constructed and many faculty opposed taking on the responsibility of a separate school. Eventually, this plot of land was sold to finance the school. Instead, the Grammar School opened classes for both sexes in 1875 [2]. Eventually, there was a Ladies Department of Hope College, though there were difficulties with finances and spacing [3]. It took another eleven years until the college admitted females.
Though attempts have been made to find a clear reason for why women were admitted for the first time in 1878 as opposed to other years, there has been no conclusive data found. The Hope College Circular from 1876-1877 gave this explanation
The higher education of females seems to furnish the proper medium between the spirit of oriental barbarism which regards women as fitted to be only mother and housekeeper, and the infidelity of women’s rights, false so called. [4]
Regardless, the decision was not taken lightly. The Board of Trustees minutes from this time period show multiple conversations about women in higher education that never reached a conclusion. However, in the 1878 minutes from June 19th, the Board of Trustees made a decision as the discussion was "resolved that the academic department be opened for the admission of ladies" [5].
The creation of Voorhees Hall in 1907, the first women’s dorm, provided a place for women to live. Women were admitted to Hope College in 1863, and by 1916, 63 women had graduated from Hope helped by the creation of Voorhees Hall [6]. Eventually, national gender ratios continued to equalize so that women were no longer a minority. After 1980, women became the majority on college campuses nationally and at Hope [7].
[1] Nyenhuis, Hope College at 150, 512.
[2] Wynand Wichers, A Century of Hope (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 87-89.
[3] Wichers, A Century of Hope, 89.
[4] 1876-1877. Circular. (Holland: Hope College, 1876), 91, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/9/.
[5] "19 June, 1878", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[6] Wichers, A Century of Hope, 90.
[7] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 134, 10.1257/jep.20.4.133.