Description: "Ohio Central Normal School, or Worthington Female Seminary" illustration from "Historical Sketches of the Higher Educational Institutions, and also of Benevolent and Reformatory Institutions of the State of Ohio," 1876. The Ohio Central Normal School, formerly the Worthington Female Seminary, was founded in 1839 and was the first female seminary of the Methodist Church west of the Alleghenies. The seminary was originally located in the Masonic Temple New England Lodge No. 4, located at 634 High Street in Worthington, Ohio. Students from Worthington and surrounding communities--as well as a few from around the country, primarily Methodist ministers' daughters--were educated at the seminary. It was initially very successful, often having as many as one hundred and fifty students, but after the establishment of the Ohio Wesleyan Female College in 1853, the Worthington Female Seminary lost support and closed in 1857. The building became home to the Ohio Central Normal School in 1871, providing training for kindergarten, primary, intermediate, and secondary teachers. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04162
Subjects: Worthington (Ohio); Cultural Ohio--Education; Women--Education - Ohio; Teachers--Training of
Places: Worthington (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: The Ohio Female College was located in Pleasant Hill, a community near Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1846 to 1872. The area where the college was built was known as College Hill because of its proximity to a number of educational institutions. The school first opened its doors in 1846, and offered a range of educational choices. Students who were not yet ready to enter college could enroll in the preparatory program, while others earned four-year degrees or even two-year graduate degrees. The school offered a broad range of courses in the sciences, mathematics, and humanities. John McLean, a former Ohio senator and U.S. Supreme Court justice, served as the college's first president of the board of trustees. The Ohio Female College had a short history--it was rebuilt after a fire in 1868, but closed permanently in 1872. In 1873, a group of Cincinnati doctors and businessmen purchased the property to open the Cincinnati Sanitarium, the first private psychiatric facility in the United States outside of the East Coast. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04163
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Education; Women--Education - Ohio; Universities and colleges--Pictorial works
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Teacher Lucy Yates Seall in her elementary school classroom, ca. 1930-1949. Her students are displaying art projects and puppets. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03560
Subjects: Women--Employment; Multicultural Ohio--Ohio Women; Education--Ohio
Places: Canal Winchester (Ohio); Fairfield County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated June 18, 1868, this is a diploma for Emma Ford from the Western Female Seminary in Oxford, Ohio. The document is signed by Principal Helen Peabody, President Henry Little, and Secretary G.Y. Rootz. Founded in 1853, the Western Female Seminary was a daughter school of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. After over 100 years as a women's collection, Western became part of Miami University. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS5558
Subjects: Diplomas; Legal documents; Cultural Ohio--Education; Women
Places: Oxford (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio)
 

Description: Girls' Industrial School inmates in the classroom, ca. 1910-1919. The purpose of the school was "the reformation of exposed, helpless, evil disposed, and vicious girls." In 1878, the term "incorrigible" was added. A five-member board of trustees purchased a piece of property known as the Ohio White Sulphur Springs Resort, eighteen miles north of Columbus. The first six girls were admitted to the school in October 1869. The inmates spent their mornings performing domestic chores. They also learned various vocational trades, including basket-making, music, sewing, and stenography. In the afternoons, the girls attended school, where they studied, reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, literature, and United States history among other topics. The girls remained at the school until they reached seventeen years of age or completed their sentence. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00210
Subjects: Women--Education - Ohio; Multicultural Ohio--Ohio Women; Delaware (Ohio); Women--Education - Ohio; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Delaware County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows an aerial view of Oberlin College's campus in Oberlin, Ohio. Oberlin College was founded in 1832 by Presbyterian minister John L. Shipherd. It quickly grew, primarily due to the support of Charles Grandison Finney, one of the leading religious revivalists of the day. Shipherd intended for the college to educate both men and women. The first women formally admitted to the college program enrolled in 1837. The four women who enrolled that year made Oberlin College the first coeducational college in the United States. Three of the four women graduated with A.B. degrees in 1841. They were the first women in the United States to receive this degree. Oberlin College was also one of the first institutions of higher education to admit African Americans. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06514
Subjects: Education; Oberlin College; African Americans--History; Women--Education - Ohio
Places: Oberlin (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)
 

Description: Home Economics Extension School, ca. 1910-1919. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00634
Subjects: Women--Education - Ohio; Multicultural Ohio--Ohio Women
 

Description: Portrait of Dora Sandoe Bachman of Columbus, Ohio. Bachman (1869-1930) was included on the "Ohio State Honor Roll" from the League of Women Voters of Ohio, ca. 1930, which listed prominent Ohio women involved in the suffrage movement. Her brief biography from the Honor Roll reads: "Dora Sandoe Bachman was for fifteen years a member of the Executive Board of the Ohio Suffrage Association and was pioneer in the Votes for Women movement in Franklin County. She took an active part in the campaign for municipal suffrage which was granted in 1917 in Columbus, and since the organization of the Franklin County League of Women Voters she has been a member of its board. She was the first woman member of the Columbus Board of Education and was always a leader in good citizenship." This photograph comes from the League of Women Voters of Ohio Collection. The League of Women Voters was first formed at the national level in early 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Soon, additional leagues began to form at the state and local level, with the League of Women Voters of Ohio being organized in May 1920 in Columbus. The League was first formed to empower women to use their newfound right to vote, and today its primary purpose remains citizen education. To this goal, it supports voter registration efforts, provides information on candidates and issues, sponsors debates and offers publications on public policy and voter engagement topics. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS354_B10_LWVO_DoraSandoeBachman
Subjects: Women--Suffrage; Social movements; League of Women Voters of Ohio; Suffragists; Activism; Education--Ohio;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio);
 

Description: The campus of Ursuline College in Cuyahoga County. Ursuline College was founded in 1871 as a Roman Catholic liberal arts college for women. It is in Pepper Pike, Ohio in Cuyahoga County. It is one of the oldest college for women in the United States. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07256
Subjects: Women--Education - Ohio; College buildings; Universities and colleges
Places: Pepper Pike (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: The caption reads: " 'Never too old to learn!' Carrie Kirk, an ex-slave who is 101 years of age, is a regular student in a WPA literacy class in Sterling Library, Cleveland. "Mother Kirk," as she is known to the other class members, was born on March 31, 1837, on a plantation in West Virginia. During the Civil War, her master sold her services for $100 a year as a seamstress in a large factory in Charlotte where she made Confederate uniforms. She is the mother of 16 children. she has lived in Cleveland for 18 years, having moved in 1920 from Richmond, Virginia." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F05_011_001
Subjects: Works Progress Administration; Older women; African American women--Ohio; Adult education--Ohio; Literacy; Former slaves
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph identified as Clinton Elementary School, about 1915. This school, built in 1895, replaced an original red brick building on the site at Clinton Heights Avenue and North High Street. It served as the primary school for Clintonville children from its construction until it was replaced with a larger building in 1922. This yellow brick building also served as the Clinton Township High School from 1897 through 1905, when a secondary building was built to house high school pupils for the township. This image was included in a "Memory Book" compiled by Mrs. H. V. Cottrell, historian for the Clinton League (sometimes called the Clinton Welfare League) from 1938-1943. The book shows the development of the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, and records the history of the League. The Clinton League was a women's group founded in 1912 to promote child welfare and later general welfare in Columbus, but which was based in and primarily focused on the area of Clintonville. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P285_MB1_167
Subjects: Clintonville (Ohio); Clinton League; Women--Charities; School buildings; Education--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the "Old High School," used to house high school students for Clinton Township from 1905 until 1910. This building, just east of the main school building at Clinton Heights Avenue and North High Street, continued in use as an annex to the original Clinton Township school (built in the 1890s) as well as the newer Clinton Elementary (built in 1922) before being demolished in 2014. This image was included in a "Memory Book" compiled by Mrs. H. V. Cottrell, historian for the Clinton League (sometimes called the Clinton Welfare League) from 1938-1943. The book shows the development of the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, and records the history of the League. The Clinton League was a women's group founded in 1912 to promote child welfare and later general welfare in Columbus, but which was based in and primarily focused on the area of Clintonville. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P285_MB1_168
Subjects: Clintonville (Ohio); Clinton League; Women--Charities; School buildings; Education--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)