LibGuides: Greenville Woman's College Records, 1855-1976; bulk 1920-1937: Organizational History

Organizational History

In 1821, the South Carolina Baptist Convention was organized for the purpose of establishing an institution of higher education in the state to prepare young men for the ministry. On June 23, 1853, a committee chaired by Dr. William B. Johnson met in Greenville and recommended that the convention extend its concern to the education of women. Following the adoption of this report, a committee consisting of Rev. John G. Landrum, T. P. Brockman, and Peter C. Edwards, professor of Hebrew and Exegesis at Furman University, was appointed to "take into consideration the subject of female education as a denominational interest" and to report their findings to the next annual meeting of the convention.

The next year, the convention once again met in Greenville, the subject of establishing a female college was the most pressing item on the agenda. On Tuesday, June 25, 1854, the committee's report recommending the immediate establishment of a "Female College of high order" was adopted after lengthy debate. The convention selected Greenville because the town fathers offered $20,000 and the buildings and property occupied by the nearly defunct Greenville Academies.

After the convention had the money, it began erecting a building suitable for the use of the college and set January 1, 1855 as the opening date for the Greenville Baptist Female College. The convention expected the college to be supported by tuition and fees, so no thought was given to an endowment to provide operating capital. The convention placed the fledgling institution under the control of the Furman University Board of Trustees, which retained legal authority over the Female College until December 1908. In practice, the trustees appointed an executive committee that assumed responsibility for the college and reported to the trustees. There was never a unified administration for both Furman and Greenville Female College, although it was proposed at least once. The convention appointed the president, who ran the college on a day-to-day basis, appointed all teachers, and set the fees.

Beginning with the presidency of Reverend H. A. Duncan (1855-1861), the president of the college leased the facilities from the convention and operated it as a private enterprise. The president remained under the general direction of the Furman trustees. This system remained operative until 1894.

Charles H. Judson, president from 1864 to 1878, returned to teaching at Furman. Judson had a lasting impact on the school, most notably bringing his sister, Mary Camilla Judson, to teach at the school beginning in 1860. From 1860 until 1874, Miss Judson taught at the Female College periodically. In 1874, she returned permanently for 38 years, serving as Dean much of that time. Mary C. Judson, more than any other individual, was responsible for forging the character and traditions of the college. Almost single handedly, she pulled the school through some very difficult financial and administrative crises in the 1890's.

During these early years, the college consisted of a primary department offering 2 years of study, an academic department providing 3 years of study, and a collegiate department requiring 4 years of study. The curriculum consisted of the classics, English and French, literature and composition, and the arts (especially music and drawing). Upon the completion of the collegiate department a woman was awarded either a degree of "Graduate of the English Course" or "Degree of Full Graduate," the latter requiring study in classical languages. Certificates of proficiency documented work at a lesser level. The first class graduated in 1858.

Professor Alexander Sloan Townes, president 1878-1894, took the first steps in modernizing this course of study when he introduced the Bachelor of Arts degree and instituted modern requirements for its attainment. The first B.A. degree was awarded in 1893. In 1889, the Alumnae Association was organized. It served the college in many ways and was especially helpful when it came to raising funds to meet a crisis or take care of a specific need. Following Professor Townes' departure, several presidents followed in quick succession. One of these, Dr. Edward Carroll James, president from 1901 to 1910, left his mark on the school by obtaining its independence from the control of the Furman Board of Trustees in December 1908.

In 1911, Dr. David Marshall Ramsay began his nineteen-year tenure as president (1911-1930). A strong proponent of "standardization" in upper level education, Dr. Ramsay phased out the remnants of the original classical curriculum, as well as the primary and academic departments. He raised requirements for teachers, and by the time he left, most of the faculty had master's degrees. In 1914, he gained approval to change the name of the institution from Greenville Female College to Greenville Woman's College. By 1926, he had met all of the goals he had set for changing the course of the college except for an endowment. By 1929, enrollment was at a record high of 657, a figure that the college never exceeded.

The final years of Dr. Ramsay's presidency were marked by increasing financial difficulties. The period of the Great Depression was marked by declining enrollment and a corresponding decline in revenue. The lack of endowment prevented the college not being a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and not being able to grant fully standard degrees.

The college trustees asked Furman University to take over the management of the school in 1932. Described as an emergency situation in the newspaper, the coordination was to preserve the identity of the school but allow the female students to take courses under Furman professors and make their degrees fully standard. This also allowed male students to take music classes on the Woman’s College campus. Furman provided transportation for students to travel back and forth between campuses.

By March of 1933, the Greenville Woman’s College trustees asked Furman to assume full control, with one board and one president of both institutions.

The convention formally approved the total merger in 1937. The Greenville Woman's College officially ceased to exist in January 1938 when it became the Woman's College of Furman University.

By 1961, students from both campuses moved to the present Furman campus and any real distinction between them disappeared. In 1964, the downtown Woman's College campus was sold to the City of Greenville and all the buildings were razed. The property, now known as Heritage Green, is the site of the Greenville Theatre, Museum of Art, and Children’s Museum.