Smith College
SMITH COLLEGE, an American institution for the higher education of women, at Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by the will of Sophia Smith (1796-1870) of Hatfield, who gave money to Smith Academy in Northampton and to Andover Theological Seminary, and who left about $365,000 " for the establishment and maintenance of an institution for the higher education of young women, with the design to furnish them means and facilities for education equal to those which are afforded in our colleges for young men "; she chose Northampton as the site of the college and selected the trustees. The college was chartered in 1871 and was opened in 1875.
On the college campus in the central part of Northampton are College Hall, with administrative offices, an assembly hall, and lecture rooms; Seelye Hall, with department offices and recitation rooms; a library, completed in 1910 and containing 30,000 volumes in that year; an auditorium, with a large organ and a seating capacity of 2500; the Lilly Hall of Science; Chemistry Hall; an astronomica observatory; Music Hall; the Hillyer Art Gallery, with an en dowment of $50,000 for the increase of its collections; the Students Building for the social life of the students; the Lyman Plant House and the Botanic Garden; the Alumnae Gymnasium; the Allen Recreation Field; sixteen (in 1910) dwelling-houses for the student on the plan of private homes, not dormitories; an infirmary; am Sunnyside, a home for convalescents. Entrance requirements diffc little from those of the College Entrance Examination Board. Al undergraduate courses are largely elective and lead to the degrei of Bachelor of Arts. Graduate courses lead to the degrees o Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy, the latter degree being rarely conferred and " only in recognition of high scholarly attain ment and of ability to carry on original research." In igog-igK there were 104 teachers and 1635 students (of whom 8 were graduati students), and the college had an endowment of about $1,300,000 The annual tuition charge was $100 until 1909, when it became $150 There are six fellowships, of $500 each.whichare granted for gradual research ; and there are many undergraduate scholarships, and loan are made to needy students by the Smith Students' Aid Societi (1897). The College contributes to the American Classical Schools a Athens and Rome, to the Zoological Station at Naples, and to th Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Th irst president of the college from 1873 to September 1910 was ..awrenus Clark Seelye (b. 1837), a graduate of Union College and of Andover Theological Seminary.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
