Mary Ann Rutherford Lipscomb (1848 — 1918) was an educator born in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

. Lipscomb believed in childhood education, and she helped make primary education required for all children in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. After she was widowed, Lipscomb went to work at the

Lucy Cobb Institute The Lucy Cobb Institute was a girls' school on Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia, United States. It was founded by Thomas R.R. Cobb, and named in honor of his daughter, who had died of scarlet fever at age 14, shortly before construction was c ...

, under the direction of her sister,

Mildred Lewis Rutherford Mildred Lewis "Miss Millie" Rutherford (July 16, 1851 – August 15, 1928) was a prominent white supremacist educator and author from Athens, Georgia. She served the Lucy Cobb Institute, as its head and in other capacities, for over forty years, ...

; in 1895, Lipscomb took over leadership of that school. Lipscomb founded the

Tallulah Falls School Tallulah Falls School is a private boarding and day school located in the town of Tallulah Falls, Georgia, United States, within Habersham and Rabun Counties. The school is located on a wooded campus in northeast Georgia on the southern slopes ...

in 1909. Both Lipscomb and Rutherford have student dormitories named after them at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. Lipscomb was named a Georgia Woman of Achievement in 2010.

References

Early childhood education in the United States People from Athens, Georgia Educators from Georgia (U.S. state) American women educators 1848 births 1918 deaths {{US-edu-bio-stub