Joseph Wright Taylor (1810 – 1880) is best known for being the financial catalyst for the founding of

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

. He was a graduate of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, a physician and a member of the Society of Friends (popularly known as

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

), and originally wanted the college to promote the ideals of the Quaker religion and the advancement of

women's education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

. In 1878 he paid $53,500 for forty acres in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. In 1879, Taylor had begun to give physical shape to his idea for a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

. He was involved in the planning of the practical and conceptual aspects of the new institution, including the selection of a site, an architect, and a

landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

er. Among the practical considerations for the final site selection were the location's healthfulness and proximity to the railroad,

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The original campus, a small segment of the Thomas-Humphries Tract and part of a larger property deeded by

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

to Edward Pritchard and Co. in 1682, comprised thirty-two acres between Merion, Roberts, Gulph and Yarrow roads. By 1893, the Board of Directors had expanded from the Quaker focus to make the college

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. Overview The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Joseph W 1810 births 1880 deaths Educators from Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr College 19th-century Quakers American Quakers Patrons of schools Physicians from Pennsylvania University and college founders 19th-century American educators 19th-century philanthropists