author
Mary Emma Woolley
1863–1947
A pioneering college president and public advocate, she helped turn Mount Holyoke into a stronger, more ambitious institution while pushing for women's education, suffrage, and peace. Her life joined campus leadership with a wide sense of civic duty.
1 Audiobook
The Early History of the Colonial Post-Office
by Mary Emma Woolley
About the author
Born in Connecticut in 1863, Mary Emma Woolley built her career in education at a time when women were still fighting for full access to academic life. She studied at Brown University and is widely remembered as its first female student, then taught before moving into college leadership.
Woolley became president of Mount Holyoke College in 1900 and led the school for more than three decades. During those years, she raised academic standards, expanded the faculty and curriculum, and helped strengthen Mount Holyoke's national reputation as a serious college for women.
Her interests reached well beyond campus. She was active in the women's suffrage and peace movements, and she became known as a public voice for education and reform. Woolley died in 1947, but she is still remembered as one of the notable builders of women's higher education in the United States.