Litchfield Female Academy facts for kids
| Type | Female academy |
|---|---|
| Active | 1792–1863 |
| President | Sarah Pierce |
| Location | , , |
The Litchfield Female Academy was a very important school for girls in Litchfield, Connecticut. It was started in 1792 by Sarah Pierce. This school was one of the best places for girls to get an education in the early USA.
In the first 30 years, over 2,000 students came to the school. They came from 17 different states and territories of the new country. Some even came from Canada and the West Indies! We know about 1,848 students by name from old school lists, diaries, and letters. Many more attended, especially before 1814, when they started keeping official attendance records.
This school was special because it lasted a long time and had so many students. Girls came from all over, which helped them learn about different parts of the new nation. This gave them a wider view of the world than most people had back then.
Most students (over 80%) were from out of town. They lived with families in Litchfield, and Sarah Pierce watched over them. The girls became part of the town's social and religious life. Litchfield was known for its strong Federalist politics (a political party at the time) and Congregational religion. Important people in town, like Reverend Lyman Beecher and Senator Uriah Tracy, helped attract students. They also gave talks to the students sometimes. Reverend Beecher even taught religion for free tuition for his own children. Town leaders and their wives would judge the students' art, maps, and needlework at annual shows, which made the school even more famous.
The Litchfield Female Academy became well-known at the same time as the Litchfield Law School. This law school was also in Litchfield, CT, and started in 1784. Often, brothers would go to the Law School while their sisters attended the Female Academy. Because the schools were so close, many students from both schools ended up getting married!
Contents
Sarah Pierce: The Founder
Sarah Pierce was born in 1767. She was the fifth of eight children. Her mother died when Sarah was young, and her father passed away in 1783. Her older brother, John Pierce, then had to take care of his stepmother and seven younger siblings.
During the American Revolution, John Pierce was a brave soldier. He became a high-ranking officer and was a friend of General George Washington. After the war, he was in charge of settling the army's debts. John Pierce was going to get married. To help support the family, he sent his younger sisters, Mary and Sarah, to schools in New York City. They trained to become teachers.
When Sarah Pierce came back to Litchfield, she brought a few students from New York with her. This is how she started her school. It was a family effort! Her sister Mary managed the students who boarded (lived) there and handled the school's money. Her brother-in-law, James Brace, also taught at the school.
The School's Later Years
By 1828, Sarah Pierce was getting older and couldn't run the school anymore. Her nephew, John Pierce Brace, took over. He led the school until 1832. Then, he left to become the principal at the Hartford Female Seminary.
After John Pierce Brace, Henrietta Jones became the principal in 1833. She was then replaced by Mary Amelia Swift. Swift was the principal until at least 1835, possibly with one of her sisters. Other teachers, like Miss Jones and Miss Heyden, also led the school later. The rules for the Litchfield Female Academy were updated several times by the Connecticut General Assembly (the state's government), up until at least 1863.
The Academy Building
The school became very popular. So, in 1798, town leaders in Litchfield raised money to build a special schoolhouse. Before this, Sarah Pierce taught classes in her own home. They raised $385, and a school building was built next to Sarah Pierce's house.
A student named Lucy Sheldon Beach described the building. It was a large room with a special wall that could swing open or close. This meant the room could be made bigger or smaller as needed. There was a fireplace at each end to keep warm and a piano along one wall. Students sat on benches without backs during lessons.
By 1827, the school needed an even bigger building. The new board of trustees wanted to "extend the benefits of the female academy" by building a new, more modern school. This new building was built where the old one stood. It was 42 feet long and 30 feet wide. It had two stories and was covered in white wooden siding. There were decorative columns on the front and a small tower on the roof with a large brass bell inside.
The original school building is not there today. A marker on North Street in Litchfield shows where the school used to be. Sarah Pierce's house is also gone. It was torn down in 1896 to build another home.
Republican Motherhood: Women's Role in the New Nation
Sarah Pierce strongly believed in an idea called "Republican Motherhood." This idea was popular after the American Revolution. It said that women had a very important job: to teach their children good morals and knowledge when they were young. People believed this was key for the new country to survive and thrive.
Pierce thought that boys and girls were equally smart. She believed that giving girls more education would not change the idea that men and women had different roles in society. She didn't think women should go to all-male colleges or become doctors or lawyers. Instead, she believed that women's work as mothers, and in helping others through charities, was just as important, if not more so, than men's work.
What Students Learned
The Litchfield Female Academy had a school plan that grew and changed over its 31 years. When it first opened in 1792, it was similar to many other small girls' schools. Sarah Pierce first taught basic English, history, geography, math, and writing.
Some historians have thought the school focused too much on art and needlework. But Sarah Pierce actually used painting and embroidery to help students learn academic subjects. For example, a student might embroider a map to learn geography. Sarah Pierce herself wasn't good at art, music, or French. So, she hired other teachers for those subjects. Parents usually wanted their daughters to learn these traditional skills.
However, Pierce also wanted to offer more challenging academic subjects. She sent her nephew, John Pierce Brace, to Williams College to learn how to teach advanced math and science. He joined the school in 1814 and taught until 1832. He then left to lead the Hartford Female Seminary, which was started by his former student, Catharine Beecher. Sarah Pierce even wrote her own history textbook because she wasn't happy with the books available at the time.
The school's strong academic program helped prepare the way for later, famous women's schools. These included schools started by Catharine Beecher and Emma Willard, both of whom had connections to the Litchfield Female Academy. Under John Pierce Brace, the school offered classes in Latin, Moral Philosophy (studying right and wrong), Logic (how to reason), and Rhetoric (how to speak well). They even taught Natural Philosophy (early science). These subjects were often debated as to whether they were suitable for women. Girls who finished a full course of study received diplomas. These young women knew they were getting the best education available to women in the United States at that time.
The Students' Lives
Some people used to think that students at early girls' academies came only from very rich families. But records show that students at the Litchfield Female Academy came from many different kinds of families. Rich families wanted their daughters to have a "finishing" education. Many fathers who had gone to college wanted their daughters to get the highest level of intellectual education possible.
For girls from middle-class families, an academy education was important if they wanted to become teachers. Teaching in a female academy paid much more than teaching in a regular school. More than 20 students became assistant teachers at the academy. Also, 58 students from the Litchfield Female Academy went on to open their own schools or teach at other academies.
Sarah Pierce believed that all learning—academic, moral, religious, and social—was important for a girl's complete development. She often taught about good behavior and feelings. She used readings from the Bible, history, biographies, and British magazines to show examples of proper conduct. The art and embroidery projects also showed desired female behavior. Pierce gave many talks on how to behave well in all parts of life. Girls even received marks for every part of their lives at school and in the community.
The students' writings show their thoughts on many topics. These included education for women, religious beliefs, social life, dating, and marriage. The school also encouraged students to help others through charity work. This inspired many women to become leaders in women's reform efforts later in the 1800s.
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