A Culture Unto Itself

A look at Aimee's Foundational Early Years

Jun 28, 2024

Release Date: July 5, 2024

The Evolution of Women’s Education

The three boarding schools Aimee Henry attended between 1896 and 1910 were, in large part, representative of the history of education for girls and young women.

Miss Kimball’s School for Girls in Worcester, MA, was something of a throw-back to earlier times when all-girl academies were popular. The school’s founder and principal, Ellen Kimball, had graduated from such a school in 1877, and begun her teaching career almost immediately. The school she ran was in her home and provided students with a homelike atmosphere. Coursework could be customized to meet the needs and expectations of parents and guardians and included both academic and ornamental programming.

And there was a marked difference.

The goal of the academic program at Miss Kimball’s School was to prepare students to enter either college or the teaching field. Coursework focused on reading, writing, arithmetic, history and geography.

The goal of the ornamental program, on the other hand, was to prepare students for fulfilling lives as wives, mothers and gentlewomen. This more traditional form of female schooling included instruction in art, elocution, foreign language, instrumental and vocal music, penmanship and decorative needlework, and was seen as a way to promote “artistic sensibilities, discriminating taste, social skills, and moral integrity” in students.¹

Although it appears Ellen Kimball taught most of the academic courses and supplemented her students’ formal education with frequent lectures and readings, many of the ornamental classes were taught by others, including Mary C. Patten of Boston.

Mary joined the staff at Miss Kimball’s School as an art teacher in 1899 and came with an impressive resume according to an article published in the local newspaper:

[Miss Mary C. Patten] comes here from the Grundmann Studios. Recently she spent three years in Paris, studying at the Bonnencontre School under [Louis-Maurice ] Boutet de Monvel and Alexis Kreyder. She studied art history at the Louvre and in the National Gallery… Her outline cards have been highly recommended by such men as J. Frederic Hopkins, Director of Art in the Boston Public Schools and Mr. Sargent, Assistant State Superintendent.” ²

In addition to a dedicated art teacher, Miss Kimball’s School also boasted two Boston-based music teachers, George A. Burdett for piano and Willian Heinrich for voice. And for boarding students like Aimee, several members of the household staff were native speakers of French or German, offering exposure to foreign languages in a more immersive and natural learning environment.

Linden Hall Seminary, the second boarding school Aimee attended, was more in keeping with a later form of female education, despite having been established during colonial times. Whereas same-gender academies like Miss Kimball’s were housed in private homes and students were often taught by instructors of dubious credentials, female seminaries were housed on large campuses like those of men’s colleges and featured professional teachers of repute.

Coursework was different, as well. While students at Linden Hall were still exposed to the ornamental subjects – in addition to embroidery, the school offered classes and extracurricular activities in instrument and voice music, drama, art, expressive reading and languages – the focus was on providing young women with a quality academic education that would allow them to become responsible citizens, reach their full potential and serve as role models for others. Classes, formal lectures and readings were available on a wide range of topics, from history, math and science to classic literature, sanitary chemistry and natural philosophy, and students routinely attended outside events to further enrich their educations. ³

Having been established by the Moravian Brethren in 1746 as a parochial school, Linden Hall held fast to its original promise to be “a school for piety, virtue and industry”, as well. ⁴ During the years Aimee was there, students were assigned chores, tended community vegetable gardens and orchards, and were expected to participate in chapel and church services throughout the week.

The third and final boarding school Aimee attended, Mrs. Mead’s School for Girls, represented yet another era in the education of girls. As founder and headmistress of a college preparatory school, Elizabeth Burr Mead boasted in advertisement of the day that her graduates had “certificate privileges in fourteen colleges and universities in New England and the Middle States”.

Of course, the same ad noted there were general courses of study for girls not wanting to go to college, a wink-and-nod to parents who were looking for a finishing school which would take the rough edges of their daughters and prepare them for society.

In 1905, there were about 80 women-only colleges in America, including all seven of the “Seven Sisters”, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliff, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley colleges. In addition, there were about 200 co-educational colleges and universities in which women were allowed to enroll.

There are at least a few clues Aimee’s education at boarding school may have been oriented more toward the ornamental rather than academic subjects, which makes sense given Mary Martha’s social standing and reputation. Preparing the “niece” of a Boston blueblood for anything other than society would likely have raised some eyebrows.

Near the end of her first year at Linden Hall, an article appeared in the school’s monthly newsletter announcing Aimee had been named the Most improved Reader of the year. Good for her, but it seems to suggest that the level of reading she’d arrived with was not up to the expectations of her new teachers or the skill level of her fellow students.

Three years later, another piece noted that Aimee had missed the very first word in the school’s annual Spelling Bee and received a donut as booby prize – for which she was teased. Organized by class, the winner of Aimee’s group was Mary Louise Hagen, aged 10. Aimee herself was 14 and had been attending school for eight years.

On the other hand, several articles appear which suggest Aimee genuinely excelled at music, foreign language and ornamental needlework, the latter of which had been a mainstay in the education of girls since colonial times, and held a place of honor at Aimee’s second boarding school, Linden Hall Seminary in Lititz, PA.

Why Boarding School?

In the first decade of the 19^th century, not everyone recognized the name Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, but women across the nation were already huge fans of her work under the pen name Dorothy Dix.

Dorothy Dix was a powerful journalist, feminist, suffragette and social reformer.

She was also an “ardent advocate” of boarding schools, believing “every girl should be sent away from home for at least two or three years of her schooling.” ⁵

Why? In short because it was a “heaven-ordained means of regeneration for the spoiled American girl.”

Yeah, Dorothy Dix was never one to hold back.

Staying in the family home during the teen years, she said, represented “a great danger”. Girls would want to have boyfriends and go to parties. And, when prevented by their mothers from doing so, they would “begin a course of lying and deceit and meeting boys on the sly, and going to forbidden places that may end in God only knows what tragedy.”

The solution, of course, was boarding school.

And relentless, toxic peer pressure.

“One single shaft of ridicule from another girl, the lifting of a teacher’s eyebrow, or a sneer from a fellow student …will work like lightening reformation and have more effect in a minute than a mother’s constant reproofs have had in fifteen years.”

In boarding school, she said, a girl was guaranteed to “get a snubbing that does her good to the longest day she lives.”

If there were any questions as to what Dorothy meant, she painted a picture:

“When [the spoiled girl] goes off and moons in a solitary, neglected state, nobody notices it, or, if they do, they call her cranky and peculiar instead of speaking of it in an awesome whisper as Sadie’s ‘sensitiveness’. When she gets her feelings hurt, nobody cares, and nobody apologizes, and, as for her cleverness that used to make her family regard her as a genius, why, she’s thrown in with girls that know so much more than she does, and are so much brighter in every way, that she gets her head reduced to its proper size.” ⁶

I don’t know how well that advice aged.

But I think it does provide some insight into the struggles Aimee Henry had with her classmates at boarding school.

Having never experienced the same kind of nurturing and encouraging homelife as other students, Aimee’s self-confidence and sense of self-importance had never developed. She’d never been the center of anyone’s universe. So, when subjected to the “snubbing” which was baked into the boarding school experience, and which Dorothy Dixon and others like her believed was a primary benefit of sending young girls away, Aimee wasn’t just humbled. She was crushed.

Dressed to the Nines

In the fall of 1909, a syndicated column appeared in newspapers across America titled, “Suitable Costumes for the Girl at Boarding School”. Spread across an entire page, the piece featured various illustrations of young women dressed in the latest fashions and included helpful instructions on what to pack before heading off to school. ⁷

In her later years, Aimee would recall that, despite everything else, Mary Martha always made sure she was handsomely dressed while in school. Perhaps she’d gotten her inspiration from an article like this.

So, here are some highlights.

Every student needed the basics: an “afternoon coat and skirt costume, school dresses and simple frocks for evening wear”. But exactly what those basics looked like depended on whether the boarding school was in a city or in the country, and whether the student was a day pupil or a boarder.

For example, while young women attending school in a city should have “pretty and becoming” school dresses, students at country boarding schools would do best choosing school dresses that could be put on as quickly as possible. The idea being that students who attended city schools were primarily day pupils who could dress at home, while students at country schools were more likely to be boarders.

The best option across the board was a dark blue sailor dress, although brown was a good option, and, of course, black if the student were in mourning.

Country mice like Aimee who boarded at Linden Hall Seminary also needed “at least one separate skirt of homespun, cheviot, coarse serge or some such stout texture which will withstand the hardest possible usage. Even if her other skirts have been lengthened to her ankles, this skirt should be above the shoe tops, as it is to be worn for tennis, skating, coasting and all other outdoor games that relieve the irksome duties of the schoolroom. There should be a warm flannel waist for this skirt, and of course a sweater to be worn with or without an ulster, according to the temperature.”

As for evening wear, “striped gauzes, voiles, crepe de chine and all such clinging fabrics are most attractive”.

Finally, to finish things out, both sets of students needed two hats, “one to wear with the smart afternoon and Sunday costume, the other for everyday wear, and then some sort of soft felt, perhaps a tam.”

I don’t know about you, but that seems like more than would fit in just one trunk!

I should note, I came across a number of diaries of and interviews with former boarding school students at the turn of the century, and many of those ladies had wonderful memories of their education, their school community and the boarding experience. I think a testament to that can be seen in the number of graduates from Linden Hall Seminary especially, who sent their own daughters and granddaughters there, and who were active and enthusiastic participants in the school well past their own graduations.

What experiences have you or family members had with boarding schools? I’d love to hear your thoughts and insights into this important aspect of early education in America, and one which continues to play a role to this day. Let’s talk in the comments section!

Endnotes

¹ Exhibition Notes: Needlework and the Education of Girls, Caroline Fraser Zinsser, Ph.D., April 18, 2010, https://florencegriswoldmuseum.org/exhibition-notes-needlework-and-the-education-of-girls/

² Lewiston Evening Journal, Lewiston, ME, June 1, 1899, p. 3.

³ History of Linden Hall, https://www.lindenhall.org/about-linden-hall/history-of-linden-hall

⁴ A Century and Three-Quarters of Life and Service: Linden Hall Seminary, Lititz, PA, 1746-1921, by Herbert Beck. 1921. P. 16.

⁵ Dorothy Dix, “The Boarding School Girls” The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, CA, August 23, 1907, p. 18.

⁶ Suitable Costumes for the Girl at Boarding School, Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, CA. September 5, 1909 P. 38.