Image
Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, circa 1886.
Credit: Courtesy of the Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College
Founded in 1885 through a bequest by physician Joseph W. Taylor, who wanted to establish a college "for the advanced education of females," Bryn Mawr college was the nation's the first institution of higher education to offer graduate degrees, including doctorates, to women. Originally affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Bryn Mawr had become non-denominational by 1893. This early photo shows Taylor and Merion Halls, the Gymnasium, and the Deanery.