Timeline

Mary Lyon accepts her first teaching job in Shelburne Falls. At the time, teachers needed no formal training—young Mary Lyon's reputation as an excellent student years earlier was enough of a qualification.

Over the next 20 years, she taught at schools in western and eastern Massachusetts, and in southern New Hampshire. She became an authority on the education of women and worked hard to expand academic opportunities for young women to prepare them to become teachers, one of the few professions open to women at the time.

On November 8, Mount Holyoke opens with 80 students. Tuition, room and board, and fees are $60 per year.

Mary Lyon writes a book called A Missionary Offering (a plea for support of missionary work).

Lydia W. Shattuck graduates. She served as a teacher for chemistry and botany until 1889 and became a leading botanist in the U.S.

Dr. Sophronia Fletcher appointed as the first resident physician.

Course of study expanded from three to four years.

Students make 300 sewing kits to be distributed to Union soldiers.

Class jewelry tradition begins when seniors decide to have a class pin.

Helen M. French (1857) becomes principal.

Greek becomes part of the curriculum.

Williston Hall opens as one of the first collegiate art museums in the U.S.

Elizabeth Blanchard (1858) becomes Principal.

First known African-American student, Hortense Parker, graduates.

First record of Deacon Porter’s Hat served as a dessert.

Laboratories outfitted with new compound microscopes, dissecting microscopes, and other equipment.

First elective courses offered.

Bridge across Stony Brook to Prospect Hill completed.

Title of chief administrative position changes from principal to president.

Elizabeth Storrs Mead becomes first non-alumna president.

Teachers required to earn Ph.D. in their respective fields.

Names of classes changed to freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.

Alumnae elected to board of trustees for the first time.

Seminary Building wired for electricity.

First Shattuck Hall opened to house facilities for the study of chemistry and physics.

First honorary degrees are awarded to Rebecca Corwin (1855), Alice Gordon Gulick (1867), and Ellen C. Parsons (1863).

Seminary Building destroyed by fire; students and teachers lose most of their possessions and most board with South Hadley residents for the remainder of the academic year.

Students’ League (predecessor of Student Government Association) established to allow students a measure of self-government.

Elizabeth Storrs Mead retires as president; Mary Emma Woolley is named as her successor.

Laurel Ceremony begins at Commencement when seniors place a wreath on Mary Lyon’s grave.

Seniors prepare a time capsule for members of the class of 2000 to open just before graduating.

First known May Day celebration; May Queen selected by students.

Dwight Memorial Art Building opens to house galleries, lecture rooms, and studios for the study of art.

Mount Holyoke chapter of College Settlement Association founded to promote health care, vocational education, recreational opportunities, and other services among the poor at local, state, and national levels.

Existing library building torn down; bricks are donated to South Hadley for use in construction of Gaylord Memorial Library opposite the College.

For the first time, students are allowed to dance with men at the Junior Prom.

Pratt Music Building opens; contains a recital hall, library, practice rooms, and other facilities to support the music program.

Class emblems (Sphinx, Pegasus, Griffin, and Lion) and colors adopted.

Celebration of 75th anniversary includes dedication of Field Memorial Gateway and “Festival Procession” with costumed students representing the history of liberal arts and sciences.

College Chapter of National College Equal Suffrage League established.

Big Sister/Little Sister tradition begins with seniors actively supporting and encouraging new students.

Opening of College delayed because of polio epidemic.

Students march in Armistice Day Parade in Holyoke celebrating end of World War I.

Outing Club established to encourage students’ participation in sports and recreation.

First annual poetry contest honors memory of Kathryn Irene Glascock.

Hillside (now Mandelle) dormitory opens.

Mary Woolley elected president of the American Association of University Women.

W.E.B. DuBois gives lecture on “Negro Literature.”

Students participate in anti-war demonstration in Northampton, Massachusetts.

T.S. Eliot gives informal lectures to members of the Blackstick literary organization.

Mary Woolley retires; Roswell Gray Ham becomes first male president.

American Civilization (later American Studies) interdisciplinary major added to curriculum.

Joseph A. Skinner transferred deed to the Orchards Golf Course to MHC for $25K.

Students vote to cancel formal dances in support of the war effort.

New Student Government Association established.

History professor Peter Viereck wins Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Lakeside (now Torrey) Hall dormitory opens.

Richard Glenn Gettell becomes president; presents “A Plea for the Uncommon Woman” as inaugural address.

Prospect Hall constructed.

Jewish Student Union/Hillel (JSU) founded as Jewish Group.

Gettell Amphitheater constructed for Commencement ceremonies and other events.

Blue Key honorary organization established, providing student guides for visitors; members selected “for personal and academic qualifications which will make them good representatives of the College.”

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. gives sermon in Gettell Amphitheater on “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life.”

Betty Friedan lectures about her controversial new book The Feminine Mystique (on the recommended reading list for freshmen), which examines the pervasive unhappiness of U.S. women in traditional roles.

MHC is first women’s college to participate in A Better Chance (ABC) summer program to improve educational opportunities for talented girls from disadvantaged environments.

Ham Hall opens.

Mount Holyoke Moppets rock and roll band travels to concerts in a 1957 Cadillac hearse and is featured in a in Look magazine article.

Afro-American Society organizes to support increasing numbers of African American students.

MacGregor Hall opens.

New Hammond Wing provides improved facilities in Pratt Music Hall.

Classes no longer held on Saturdays.

David Bicknell Truman becomes president.

Afro-American Center (now Betty Shabazz House) provides African American students with place for meetings, parties, and other functions.

Exchange program allows students to spend a semester or year at Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Smith, Vassar, Wesleyan, Wheaton, or Williams.

New Five College Winter Term (later January Program or January Term) allows students to pursue internships or independent study projects and take credit or noncredit courses outside of the usual curriculum.

Emily Wick (1943) appointed first dean of faculty.

Mary Lyon Society launched.

Alternative vegetarian meals provided by Food Services.

Fathers’ Weekend tradition replaced by Parents’ Weekend.

Asian Student Association founded to celebrate and support people of Asian descent at MHC and in the wider community.

Elizabeth Topham Kennan (1960) becomes first woman president of MHC since 1937 and first alumna to serve in that office in 89 years.

Students and faculty stage anti-apartheid sit-in urging the College to divest of stock in U.S. companies doing business in South Africa.

Seniors begin tradition of singing “Bread and Roses” at conclusion of Laurel Parade as an expression of women’s solidarity.

Women’s studies interdisciplinary program added to curriculum.

Under new Third World Requirement students must take courses with non-Western perspective.

Writing Center (later Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Center) established to provide students with assistance in writing, reading, and speaking.

UMMA organization for Muslim students founded as Islamic Cultural Alliance.

Sesquicentennial anniversary celebration launched and with it the $100m campaign—the largest fundraising campaign ever mounted by a women’s college.

Two-cent Mary Lyon stamp issued.

History and Russian professor Joseph Brodsky wins Nobel Prize for literature.

First MHC computer network established for email and other functions.

Equestrian Center opens, offering fully equipped areas for instruction and observation as well as classroom facilities.

Kosher-halal kitchen established for use by Jewish and Muslim students.

Members of entering class now referred to as “first years” instead of freshmen.

Village Commons opens featuring shops, restaurants, services, and rental housing.

Miles-Smith Library completed; Williston Memorial Library renovated to increase space for resources, consolidate science collections, and provide facilities for state-of-the-art interactive multimedia teaching tools.

Smoking prohibited in all nonresidential buildings.

Native Spirit (later Zowie Banteah) Cultural Center opens for students who identify as Native American or have Native American ancestry.

New Community-Based Learning Program links students with local communities through courses, independent studies, and internships.

Center for Leadership and Public Interest Advocacy established to promote educational activities which enhance students’ understanding of and capabilities for leadership and public responsibility.

Harriet L. and Paul M. Weissman Center for Leadership (later Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts) established combining work of the Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program and Center for Leadership and Public Interest Advocacy.

Jeannette Marks House opens as community center for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and allied students.

New Asian Center for Empowerment provides students of Asian descent with space for meetings, lectures, and social events.

Mount Holyoke is first among the Five Colleges to open a kosher-halal dining hall for Jewish and Muslim students.

Center for Global Initiatives established to promote, coordinate, and implement Mount Holyoke’s commitment “to educate all students for careers and citizenship in a global world.”

Architectural studies interdisciplinary major added to curriculum.

Miller Worley Center for the Environment dedicated.

New boathouse on Connecticut River opens.