author
Alice Freeman Palmer
1855–1902
A gifted educator who rose with remarkable speed, she became one of the most influential champions of higher education for women in the late 19th century. Her years at Wellesley and the University of Chicago helped shape what serious academic opportunities for women could look like in the United States.
2 Audiobooks
Why Go to College? An Address
by Alice Freeman Palmer
The Teacher: Essays and Addresses on Education
by George Herbert Palmer, Alice Freeman Palmer
About the author
Born in Colesville, New York, in 1855, Alice Freeman Palmer showed unusual academic promise early on and studied at the University of Michigan. She entered teaching while still very young and quickly built a reputation for intelligence, energy, and strong standards.
She is best known for her work at Wellesley College, where she became president in 1881 at just twenty-six. During her presidency, she helped strengthen the college's academic life and administrative direction, and her influence on Wellesley lasted well beyond her short term there.
After leaving Wellesley, she married Harvard philosopher George Herbert Palmer and later served as dean of women at the newly founded University of Chicago. She also became a widely respected public speaker on education and women's opportunities, and by the time of her death in Paris in 1902, she was remembered as a leading voice for women's higher learning in America.