First Advisor

Caroline Litzenberger

Date of Publication

1-1-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in History

Department

History

Language

English

Subjects

Elisabeth Jesser Reid, Women's higher education movement, Bedford College -- History, Women -- Education (Higher) -- England -- History, Women's colleges -- England -- History

DOI

10.15760/etd.209

Physical Description

1 online resource (v, 141 p.)

Abstract

Bedford College, established in 1849, was the first institute of higher education for women in England, and with it came the beginning of the women's higher education movement. While Bedford is often dismissed or ignored by modern scholars for not being equal to the women's colleges associated with Cambridge and Oxford, it was crucial in the development of these later colleges and was a bellwether of the women's higher education movement. By examining personal letters and official college documents and carefully assessing later-written histories of Bedford and the other women's colleges, this thesis will explain why and how the College was successfully founded two decades before any other college for women in England. It will also include a thorough discussion of the events that occurred before and during Bedford's establishment, its enigmatic founder Elisabeth Jesser Reid and the role of the women's higher education movement in Bedford's development. This thesis will also show how the successful foundations of Girton and Newnham Colleges at Cambridge University and Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville College at Oxford were made possible by the monumental strides made by Bedford College's influence on the creation of the women's higher education movement.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

Portland State University. Dept. of History

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/7092

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