Robinson Female Seminary

Robinson Female Seminary (ca. 1870–80)

Robinson Female Seminary was a girl's school in Exeter, New Hampshire, established in 1867, and graduting its last class in 1955.

History

The Robinson Seminary was established through the liberal bequest of William Robinson, a native of Exeter, but for many years a resident of Augusta, Georgia, where his death occurred during the civil war. It was his request that "the course of instruction should be such as would tend to make female scholars equal to all the practical duties of life; such a course of education as would enable them to compete, and successfully, too, with their brothers throughout the world when they take their part in the actual duties of life." In admitting applicants to the seminary "the preference should always be given to the poor and the orphan."

A plan for the establishment and regulation of the seminary was carefully elaborated by a committee, adopted by the town, and received the sanction of the legislature of New Hampshire. The advantages offered by the school were extended to "any girl resident in the town who had reached the age of nine years and was qualified for the grammar school," without the payment of tuition.

The amount realized from Mr. Robinson's bequest was about US$250,000.

A school was opened in 1867 in the old town hall. A tract of land of nearly 16 acres (6.5 ha) secured, and on July 4, 1868, the corner stone of the seminary building was laid. In 1869, the structure was completed. The seminary went into operation in September of the same year.

Architecture and fittings

The seminary was built of brick, with a granite basement, and three stories in height.

It was furnished with a reference library, containing more than 6,000 volumes; extensive apparatus for illustrating natural philosophy and physiology; a dissecting microscope, and a Bausch & Lomb's student's microscope, with eyepieces and objectives of high and low powers; cabinets of minerals and geological specimens; a set of Henslow's botanical charts, together with various other maps and charts, and a chemical laboratory and lecture room, fitted up for courses in general chemistry and qualitative analysis.

Administration

The fund and school were under the management of a board of trustees chosen by the town.

Eben Sperry Stearns, a graduate of Harvard College in 1841, was the first principal. He remained at the head of the seminary until 1875, during which time the school was thoroughly organized and very prosperous. Three years after organization there were 9 instructors and 252 students. His successors during the following eight years were Harriet E. Paine, and Annie M. Kilham. In 1883, George N. Cross, A. M., was appointed principal.

Most of the students of the seminary lived in Exeter, though nonresidents could be admitted upon the payment of a small tuition fee, and a few such were always in the school. The corps of instructors consisted of the principal and assistants. The number of students as of 1898 was about 200.

Course of study

The course of study was arranged to extend over a period of eight years. There was also a course preparatory to admission to college of three years. As complete an education could be obtained at the seminary as at almost any other institution of the kind in the U.S. The great majority of the pupils did not complete the course. Out of an attendance of from 150 to 200, the number of graduates by 1898 averaged yearly about 10 only. But far the larger number of the pupils remained long enough to acquire an adequate education.