Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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To Spencer Trotter

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THE HALCYON OF NINETEEN SEVENTEEN T Swarthmore College A Reminiscent History HE GERMINAL idea of a school where both sexes might have equal advantages in higher education was in the minds of certain members of the Society of Friends for some years before it took definite shape in the founding of Swarthmore Col- lege. The first movement in the real beginning of the college came largely through the activities of Martha Tyson, of Baltimore, and Benjamin Hallowell, then living at Alexandria, Virginia. A Joint Committee of Friends from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, was appointed, and this Committee issued an address in 1861, setting forth the desirability of establishing a boarding school for Friends children and for the education of teachers. One hundred and fifty thousand dollarswas named for the purchase of a farm and the erection of suitable build- ings, and a Board of Managers was elected when one-half of the aforesaid sum was sub- scribed. This was the founda- tion of Swarthmore College. On the tenth of May, 1866, the cornerstone was laid, and at the suggestion of Benjamin Hal- lowell ' s wife the college was GEORGE FOX ' S RESIDENCE called Swarthmore, from Swarthmore Hall, the home of George Fox, near Ulverstone, in the County of West- moreland, England. (The name is properly Swarthmoor, a much more beautiful and appropriate name than the existing meaningless termination. If a society should ever be organized for the re-establishment of the rightful names of places, this will probably receive attention). Three and a half years after this event, on the eighth day of November, 1869, the college was opened, with about one hundred and seventy students and a faculty of four members. A notable fact is that the instructor in Pure Mathematics this first year was Miss Susan J. Cunningham, who subsequently became full professor, retiring a few years ago. As Friends from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, were all equally inter- ested in the founding and future of the college, the selection of the site of Swarthmore was possibly a geographical one, from its central position in relation to the t hree cities. It is a wonderful location on an upland terrace overlooking the valley of the Delaware. Page Eleven