Alice Freeman Palmer

American educator and social reformer

• Born: February 21, 1855
• Birthplace: Colesville, New York
• Died: December 6, 1902
• Place of death: Paris, France

The second president of Wellesley College, Palmer championed the cause of educational reform for women, greatly influencing attitudes of educators and society at large concerning the need for high-quality education for women at every level.

Early Life

Alice Freeman Palmer was born Alice Elvira Freeman. She was the oldest of four children of James Warren Freeman and Elizabeth Josephine Higley Freeman. When she was nine years old, her father decided to pursue his interest in medicine in the hope of improving the family economic situation. Elizabeth Freeman assumed full support of the children for two years and her husband received his degree from the Albany Medical College in 1864. Alice’s early education came mostly from her parents. Her mother and grandmother had experience as schoolteachers, and her father was adventurous and inquisitive. The family was deeply religious and active in promoting moral and social causes. Alice was given household responsibilities that often included the care of younger siblings. She gained much practical knowledge and developed a deep love of nature that she carried into adulthood. At three years of age, Alice had taught herself to read; by the next year, she began to attend the village school. In the one-room school, however, educational stimulation was limited.

In 1865, Dr. Freeman moved his family to the nearby village of Windsor, New York, to begin his medical practice. Alice was enrolled at Windsor Academy, a coeducational preparatory school where she came into contact with formal, rigorous education for the first time. The academy’s teachers came from prestigious institutions such as Harvard and Andover, and Alice excelled in her work. At the age of fourteen, she became engaged to a theology professor. She soon realized, however, that her own goals in life depended on her receiving adequate education. She viewed marriage as an equal partnership that would be impossible without an education equal to that of her mate. Six months after the young professor left for seminary at Yale, Alice broke the engagement.

The Freeman family lived in relative poverty to which the members responded with a certain resourcefulness and creativity. Although the parents valued education, for financial reasons it was decided that the funds available must go to Alice’s brother, who would one day likely be in a position of supporting a family of his own. Alice had been preparing diligently at Windsor to enter college and was willing to sacrifice whatever was necessary to attend. She bargained with her parents that if they would even partially finance her higher education, she would take on no family responsibilities of her own until each of her three siblings had received the education they desired, and her father gave his consent.

Alice had thought of entering newly founded Vassar College, but was not satisfied that the college would offer women as rigorous an education as men received at the finest schools. Instead, she chose to travel far from home and take entrance examinations at the University of Michigan, one of the few universities in the country offering a coeducational program. However, she failed the examinations. During her interview, however, she attracted the attention of the university president, who interceded on Alice’s behalf.

Alice was allowed six months to prove her suitability as a student. This she did admirably and, after years of financial hardship and sometimes ill health, graduated in 1876, with a bachelor of arts degree. Family finances had deemed it necessary for Alice to interrupt her studies in 1875 and take a temporary position as preceptress at a struggling high school in Ottawa, Illinois. From the outset, her skill as an administrator was evident. She negotiated smoothly with faculty and students and designed quality courses of study. Nevertheless, finishing her own education was her priority, and she returned as soon as possible to the university despite pleas from the community to remain.

Life’s Work

After graduation from the University of Michigan, Alice Freeman embarked on a succession of difficult years as she fulfilled her resolution to help her family and educate her siblings. Jobs were low paying and not always of her choice; however, her record of achievements was no less than excellent in each situation. She taught in a girls’ seminary in Lake Geneva from 1876 to 1877 and from 1877 to 1879 at the high school of Saginaw, Michigan. In 1877, she received her first invitation to teach at Wellesley College as an instructor of mathematics, but refused for personal reasons. In 1878, Henry Fowle Durant, the founder of Wellesley, contacted her again with the offer of a position in the Greek department. Her sister Stella, to whom she was devoted, was ill and needed her care. Again, she declined. Stella died in 1879, and, although it was a time of deep sorrow for Alice, she was freed to go about her work with a more independent spirit. When Durant called for the third time, she accepted the chairmanship of the history department in 1879, and went to Wellesley.

The college had been founded by Durant and his wife in an effort to promote the same kind of education for women that was offered to men in the United States. The ideals were in close kinship with those that Freeman upheld, and she worked tirelessly with the young women whom she taught. The college was experimental and liberal in its program of studies, and Durant was insistent that research and laboratory work were more important than simply learning from a textbook. This placed a large demand on the faculty not only to lecture but also to prepare detailed reading lists from which the students worked. Shortly after Durant’s death in 1881, Ada L. Howard, the president of Wellesley, resigned. Alice Freeman, whose work had shown dedication and consummate skill, was chosen at the age of twenty-six to be vice president of the college and acting president. In 1882, she became the second president of Wellesley, where her talent as an administrator and organizer of human resources found an ideal outlet.

During her six years as president, much of Freeman’s time was spent stabilizing the academic and administrative structure while implementing goals Durant had set for the college. She organized the Academic Council made up of heads of the academic departments to which she turned often for advice and consultation in academic matters. Standing faculty committees were formed and a building program was begun that included a gymnasium and dormitories. Networks were created with feeder high schools in the country, and the preparatory school was discontinued. Freeman’s full energy then went into improving the collegiate program by raising academic standards and simplifying and standardizing the courses of study that were offered. Although tuition was increased, Freeman also endeavored to make more scholarships available to students. Her contacts in the field and keen sense of people’s abilities also culminated in successful efforts to build the faculty.

Alice Freeman’s professional life was not restricted to the Wellesley campus, but extended to matters of general education. She was instrumental in establishing the Association of Collegiate Alumnae in 1882 (forerunner of the American Association of University Women), which brought together educated women nationwide who were interested in raising standards of education for women. She served two terms as president in 1885-1886 and 1889-1890. In 1884, she was one of three American delegates elected to attend the International Conference on Education in London.

In 1887, Alice Freeman’s life took a new turn. A friendship with Harvard philosopher George Herbert Palmer developed into a romance, and the two were married on December 23. Having decided that her work at Wellesley was finished and the college was ready for a time of quiet growth and the watchful care of someone new, she resigned her position shortly before her marriage, much to the despair of the college and of her public, especially those who felt she had compromised her profession for marriage. Instead, she envisioned her future as an opportunity to continue to pursue her goals within the comfort of a lifestyle that for the first time included leisure.

Alice was constantly available for public addresses and gave unselfishly of her time to any organization that supported the ideals of excellence in education, particularly that of women. She remained on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees at Wellesley until her death and was active as well in the founding of Radcliffe College as separate from, but affiliated with, Harvard. Her work was separate from that of her husband, but each received ample support and respect from the other. The couple spent several sabbaticals in Europe, where they traveled many miles on bicycle enjoying the countryside. Alice and her husband also spent many summers at the Palmer family farm in Boxford, Massachusetts, twenty-five miles north of Boston, where they enjoyed tranquillity not possible in the city.

In 1891, Alice Palmer was one of five delegates from Massachusetts chosen to attend the World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, an event that highlighted the work of international women in many professions, including education. In 1892, she received a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan. In the same year, she was invited by the new University of Chicago to serve as their dean of women. Although Alice and her husband were both offered positions, they decided not to leave Boston. The university’s president, William Rainey Harper, was determined to entice the most capable woman he knew in the field and persisted in modifying the conditions until she agreed to serve. She was required to spend only twelve weeks’ residence in Chicago, allowed to elect her own sub-dean, and released from any teaching responsibilities. She stayed until 1895, having established policies on which others could build.

Palmer’s professional activity continued and included work with the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church and the Women’s Educational Association, an organization founded in Boston in 1891 and of which she was president for nine years. The Massachusetts Board of Education appointed her to its membership in 1889, and she helped to raise levels of high school education in the state and ensure free high school education for every citizen. In 1902, while on sabbatical with her husband, Alice Palmer died in Paris of a heart attack at the age of forty-seven.

Significance

Alice Freeman Palmer was a true pioneer in the field of education for women. Her life was spent in preparation for her work and in professional endeavors that helped to drastically change the quality of academic opportunity offered to women in the United States. Her accomplishments were numerous, and, fortunately for society, came early in her brief life. She had a gift for working among people that called for the best from them and herself. Recognition included honorary degrees from Columbia University in 1887 and Union University in 1896.

In 1920, Palmer became the second youngest person to be named to the Hall of Fame at New York University, which recognizes professionals from a variety of fields. She left no writing for posterity other than a few articles and a book of romantic poems called A Marriage Cycle (1915). Her lasting mark was made, however, through her interaction with students and faculty and her willingness to involve herself fully with important causes in cooperation with others, thus bringing many worthwhile ideas to fruition. Her efforts made a difference for all women who have followed her as she opened the doors to educational and professional challenges never before possible.

Bibliography

Bordin, Ruth B. Alice Freeman Palmer: The Evolution of a New Woman. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993. The most recent biography of Palmer, Bordin’s work gives an excellent account of Palmer’s achievements, impact, and interaction with other prominent figures in the struggle for equal education for women.

Kenschaft, Lori J. Reinventing Marriage: The Love and Work of Alice Freeman Palmer and George Herbert Palmer. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005. Examines the couple’s attempt to create a new type of marriage that would allow both partners to pursue satisfying careers. Kenschaft uses the couple’s correspondence and other sources to trace the Palmers’ changing relationship.

Palmer, George Herbert. The Life of Alice Freeman Palmer. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924. Written by her husband, this biography offers an intimate look at Alice Palmer’s life and work. Some correspondence and poetry are included.

Palmieri, Patricia A. “Here Was Fellowship: A Social Portrait of Academic Women at Wellesley College, 1895-1920.” History of Education Quarterly 23 (Summer, 1983): 195-214. A scholarly article that discusses the lives of various figures encountered by Palmer during her tenure as professor and then as president of the college.

Storr, Richard J. Harper’s University: The Beginnings. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. This history of the University of Chicago gives insight into Palmer’s tenure as the first dean of women.

Weimann, Jeanne Madeline. The Fair Women. Chicago: Academy Chicago, 1981. This account of the Women’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition discusses Palmer’s involvement with the education exhibition.

Wein, Roberta. “Women’s Colleges and Domesticity: 1875-1918.” History of Education Quarterly 14 (Spring, 1974): 31-47. The article explores activity at Wellesley and Bryn Mawr at a time when decisions made had a major effect on whether female education would continue to perpetuate feminine passivity or foster independence.