{"id":119,"date":"2022-08-10T14:51:13","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T14:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wbbm.digitalprojects.brynmawr.edu\/dev\/?page_id=119"},"modified":"2026-08-27T15:43:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T19:43:27","slug":"founding","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wbbm.digitalprojects.brynmawr.edu\/why-build\/exhibit\/founding\/","title":{"rendered":"Founding Bryn Mawr"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This exhibition explores the earliest years of Bryn Mawr College from its conception in 1872 and the laying of its foundations in 1879, <\/span>to its opening in 1885 and first decade of operation. It considers the motives and philosophies of the white Quaker men and women <\/span>who brought the College into being. <\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n

These earliest years were marked by contestation and compromise, as competing visions shaped the physical and conceptual <\/span>landscape of the College. <\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Every aspect of Bryn Mawr\u2019s campus  \u2013 from the stones of its buildings to the height of its stairs \u2013 was vigorously debated and <\/span>consciously designed. The exhibition reads the physical evidence of the built-environment to discern the founders’ formative <\/span>ideologies. It examines archival documents to expose the patriarchal and <\/span>white supremacist<\/a> <\/strong>beliefs that shaped the curriculum and <\/span>residential life of this new college, founded in the wake of the Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877).<\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n

The exhibition observes the ways in which Quakers undertook the higher education for women as part of their broader vision of social <\/span>reform. These individuals aimed to produce students who conformed to ideal notions of femininity that were rife with contradictions. <\/span>Students were left to resolve these competing demands. On the one hand, they were expected to fulfill societal ideals of morality, <\/span>refinement, and subordination to patriarchal authority, on the other hand, to realize unprecedented ambitions for intellectual, <\/span>physical, and professional achievement.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Continue Exploring Founding Bryn Mawr<\/em>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Interrogating Progress<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Nineteenth-Century Quakerism<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Quakers of Bryn Mawr College<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Competing Ideas at the Quaker Educational Conference<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Three Phases, Many Visions<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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