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The Durant Bedchamber: Henry Fowle Durant and His Relationship to Women’s Education
At the beginning of the 19th Century, it is likely that the Cottage was rented. After some period, it fell into the hands of William and Harriet Smith. They had four children while living in Webster Cottage. The third of these children was Henry Wells Smith. Henry was born on February 10th, 1822. He was educated in Hanover, under the charge of his father’s sister Miss Waity Smith. It is likely that she came to Hanover to teach in a private school for a short while. Henry proved himself to have a hunger for learning at this early age. After moving from Hanover in 1833, Henry attended a different private school in Waltham, Massachusetts. He then attended Harvard, graduating in 1841, and immediately began to study law. After a short time working with his father, Henry moved to Boston. Here he realized that there were far too many lawyers named “Henry Smith” in Boston, so he changed his name to Henry Fowle Durant.
Private schools, such as the two Durant would have attended as a child, during this period were mostly separated between boys and girls. While smaller district schools would have taught boys and girls in the same room, private institutions often separated the students. In district schools, girls and boys were taught essentially the same curriculum of reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. Outside of those publicly funded schools, and at a higher level, women were taught art, elocution, singing, and literature (among other things depending on the institution), for the purpose of preparing them for married life.
Household management was another skill taught to women and not men. This was a continuation of what young women would learn in their homes. Needlework, such as the samplers on display in the Durant Bedchamber, was standard curriculum. By the 19th Century more elaborate pieces with decorative motifs such as verses, flowers, houses, religious, pastoral, and/or mourning scenes were being stitched. The parents of these young women proudly displayed their embroideries as showpieces of their work, talent, and status.
Higher education was mostly available for men during the early 19th Century. Many colleges, including Dartmouth, had been opened, but none were open to women. Eventually higher education began to become available for women, such as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary which opened in 1837. A later example of these institutions was Wellesley College.
After a highly successful career as a lawyer, Henry Fowle Durant decided to change the way he was living. He decided to dedicate his life to god and began preaching. After doing this for a while, he decided to devote himself to the good work of properly educating women. He spent millions on an estate and the first buildings of Wellesley College. The school opened on September 8th, 1875, and is still around today.