ABSTRACT
Palmer, Alice Elvira Freeman (1855-1902). American college president. Born at Colesville, New York, Alice Freeman was the daughter of a farmer who became a doctor. Both her parents were devout Christians. She had learnt to read at the age of three, attended Colesville district school, 1860-5, and Windsor Academy, New York, 1865-71, where she was introduced to Greek, Latin, French and mathematics. Alice entered the University of Chicago, 1872, though first having to overcome parental opposition. She studied history and despite the fact that she temporarily taught in a school in her first year in order to help the family finances, she gained a BA, 1876. To earn a living, Alice Freeman taught at a girls’ seminary in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the following year, then began post-graduate work in history at Ann Arbor. Her sister’s illness and her father’s financial position made it necessary to abandon these studies. She became principal, Saginaw High School, Michigan, 1877-9. Having already received offers of two teaching posts at Wellesley College from its founder, Henry F. Durant, Freeman accepted the headship of the history department at the college in 1879. Her intellectual ability and administrative skills were so outstanding that in 1882, at the age of 27, she became president of Wellesley College. During the next six years, she transformed the institution from almost a boarding school into a fully-fledged college. Academic standards were raised, full consultation with departmental heads was instituted, the four-year Bible course was improved, lectures in practical physiology were introduced and links were made with the 15 ‘feeder’ Wellesley preparatory schools throughout the United States. During these years, the College grew in numbers from 450 to 600 students. Freeman promoted the education of women and was one of the founders of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, later, the American Association of University Women, and its president, 1885-6. On her marriage to George Herbert Palmer, professor of Philosophy, Harvard University in 1887, she resigned from Wellesley, but continued as a trustee of the board and a member of its executive committee. There were no children of the marriage. The University of Chicago opened as a co-educational college in 1892 and Alice Palmer became the first dean of women, supervising the students’ studies and arranging suitable accommodation, until her retirement in 1895. She continued to devote her energies to raising funds for the advancement of women’s higher education. From 1889, Palmer was member of the Massachusetts State Board of Education and was awarded honorary degrees from the Universities of Michigan and Columbia. She died in Paris at the age of 47 in 1902. See The Teacher: Essays and Addresses (1908), with Palmer, George H., and Palmer, George H., The Life of Alice Freeman Palmer (1908).
