BRYN MAWR

COLLEGE  , an institution of advanced learning for women, at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 5 m . W. of Philadelphia . The site occupies 52 acres and overlooks a broad expanse of rolling country . The buildings are of grey stone in the Jacobean Gothic style, and consist of an administration and lecture hall, a science hall, a library containing in 1998 about 55,00o volumes mostly for special study, a gymnasium, a hospital and six halls of residence . The requirements for matriculation are high; students are required to choose their studies according to the " group system," which permits them to specialize in two or more subjects; and instruction is given largely by means of lectures . The college is open to " hearers " who are not required to matriculate, to undergraduate matriculated students who are not studying for a degree, to undergraduate matriculated students who are candidates for the degree of B.A., and to graduate students who are candidates for the degree of M.A. or Ph.D . The government rests in a board of thirteen trustees and sixteen directors, all the trustees being members of the board of directors . The president of the college is a trustee and director . The institution was founded by Dr Joseph W . Taylor (1810-188o), a member of the Society of Orthodox Friends, and he provided that the trustees also should be members, but otherwise Bryn Mawr College is non-sectarian . It was incorporated in r88o, and was opened for instruction in 1885 . In 19o8 it had 419 students .