Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MARY MASON LYON (1797-1849)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 173 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

MARY See also:MASON See also:LYON (1797-1849)  , See also:American educationalist, was See also:born on the 28th of See also:February 1797 on a See also:farm near See also:Buckland, See also:Franklin See also:county, See also:Massachusetts . She began to See also:teach when shewas seventeen, and in 1817, with the earnings from her See also:spinning and See also:weaving, she went to See also:Sanderson See also:Academy, Ashfield . She supported herself there, at See also:Amherst Academy, where she spent one See also:term, and at the girls' school in Byfield, established in 1819 by See also:Joseph See also:Emerson (1777-1833), where she went in 1821, by teaching in See also:district See also:schools and by conducting informal normal schools . In 1822-1824 she was assistant See also:principal of Sanderson Academy, and then taught in See also:Miss Zilpah P . See also:Grant's See also:Adams See also:Female Academy, in See also:Londonderry (now Derry), N.H . This school had only summer sessions, and Miss See also:Lyon spent her winters in teaching, especially at Buckland and at Ashfield, and in studying See also:chemistry and natural See also:science with See also:Edward See also:Hitchcock, the geologist . In 1828-1834 she taught in Miss Grant's school, which in 1828 had been removed to See also:Ipswich, and for two years managed the school in Miss Grant's See also:absence . In 1828-183o she had kept up her See also:winter " normal " school at Buckland, and this was the beginning of her greater See also:plan, " a permanent institution consecrated to the training of See also:young See also:women for usefulness . . . designed to furnish every See also:advantage which the See also:state of See also:education in this See also:country will allow . . . to put within reach of students of moderate means such opportunities that none can find better." She was assisted by Dr Hitchcock, and her own mystical See also:enthusiasm and See also:practical See also:common sense secured for her plan ready See also:financial support . In 1835 a site was selected near the See also:village of See also:South See also:Hadley and See also:Mount See also:Holyoke; in 1836 the school was incorporated as Mount Holyoke Female See also:Seminary; and on the 8th of See also:November 1837 it opened with See also:Mary Lyon as principal, and, as assistant, Miss Eunice Caldwell, afterwards well known as Mrs J . P .

Cowles of Ipswich Academy . Miss Lyon died at Mount Holyoke on the 5th of See also:

March 1849, having served nearly twelve years as principal of the seminary, on a See also:salary of $20o a See also:year . From her See also:work at Holyoke sprang See also:modern higher education for women in See also:America . See Edward Hitchcock, See also:Life and Labors of Mary Lyon (1851); B . B . Gilchrist, Life of Mary Lyon (See also:Boston, 191o) .

End of Article: MARY MASON LYON (1797-1849)
[back]
LYNX CAT
[next]
NATHANIEL LYON (1818-1861)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.