Mary Elizabeth Garrett (March 5, 1854 – April 3, 1915) was an American
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. She was the youngest child and only daughter of
John W. Garrett
John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884), was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most ...
, a philanthropist and president of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
(B. & O.).
[Sander, Kathleen (2008). ''Mary Elizabeth Garrett: Society and Philanthropy in the Gilded Age''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. .]
Well known for her "coercive philanthropy", Mary Garrett donated money to start the
Johns Hopkins University Medical School in 1893 on the condition that the school would accept female students "on the same terms as men".
She founded
Bryn Mawr School
Bryn Mawr School, founded in 1885 as the first college-preparatory school for girls in the United States, is an independent, nonsectarian all-girls school for grades PK-12, with a coed preschool. Bryn Mawr School is located in the Roland Park co ...
, a private college-preparatory school for girls in Baltimore, and generously donated to
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 ...
of Pennsylvania with the requirement that her intimate friend
Martha Carey Thomas be the president. Like many other suffragists of the nineteenth century, Garrett chose not to marry; instead, she kept a lifelong working and emotional relationship with Thomas. In her later years, she collaborated with her longtime friends
Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
and
Anna Howard Shaw
Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first ordained female Methodist ministers in the United States.
Early life
Shaw ...
to try to secure the right for women to vote in the United States.
Biography
Childhood
Mary Elizabeth Garrett was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 5, 1854. Both of her parents,
John W. Garrett
John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884), was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most ...
and Rachel Ann Harrison, came from prominent and wealthy Baltimore families.
Mary was the only daughter and youngest child of John W. Garrett. She was the favored child of the family, and her father often said, "I wish Mary had been born a boy!" purportedly because he felt that Mary's potential was being suppressed by social barriers against women at the time.
[Mukau, Leslie (2012)]
"Johns Hopkins and the Feminist Legacy: How a Group of Baltimore Women Shaped American Graduate Medical Education"
(PDF). ''American Journal of Clinical Medicine''. 9: 118–127 – via American Association of Physician Specialists.![John W](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/John_W._Garrett.jpg)
Mary Garrett was raised in a wealthy household. After her father was elected president of B&O Railroad, the Garrets moved into a mansion in Mount Vernon Place. Although living in a luxurious house in the most prosperous part of Baltimore, Garrett had a lonely and unhappy childhood. Her youngest brother was 5 years older than her, and the age difference made it difficult for her to connect with her brothers.
Moreover, according to her memoir, she had serious trouble with the bone of her right ankle until she received effective treatment at the spas of Cape May.
Garrett learned about charitable works in her young age as both her parents and grandparents were involved in philanthropy. Furthermore, she eavesdropped on her father's conversations with famous politicians and businessmen at home, during the Civil War. She was also greatly influenced by other Maryland women, who offered significant assistance to Union soldiers during the Civil War by providing water, refreshments and nursing care.
School life and self-education
Garrett went to Miss Kummer's School when she was twelve. At school, she met two lifelong friends, Julia Rebecca Rogers, nicknamed "Dolly" and Elizabeth King, nicknamed "Bessie". Both Dolly and Bessie were from well-known families associated with the Garrett family in Baltimore. Dolly was the daughter of a steel magnate and became the legal ward of John W. Garrett after her father's death. Bessie, from a famous Quaker family, was the daughter of an associate of Mary's father. Mary was initially excited about school life and enjoyed it, but she gradually got bored because of her school's conservative stances toward girls' education. The school principal, who once had a very good relationship with Mary, believed "in cultivation, not in college."
Also, the school restricted girls from studying science. In response to the restrictive school policy, the three girls formed their own study group to learn biological science, and dissected a rat to everyone's horror.
Disappointed with the lackluster experiences of school education, Mary quit school at age seventeen and never returned to school in the following years. She preferred to teach herself at home and read literary classics. With only self-education, she learned to speak fluent Italian and French and practiced German and Greek.
Adolescence
Adolescence was not a period of comfort and happiness for Garrett. She felt uncomfortable with the Victorian expectations of women at the time and was also uncomfortable with the attitude towards sex in her family. Every family member avoided sex-related topics on purpose, and she had to teach herself about puberty.
Garrett showed interests in business and managed her personal business matters by herself during this time period. Given a weekly allowance of five to ten dollars per week, she kept record of all expenses in her notebook. Besides, she kept all the letters from her relatives and friends, including Julia and Elizabeth.
Garrett also kept a diary, which was given to her by the philanthropist and longtime friend of the Garret family,
George Peabody
George Peabody ( ; February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American financier and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as the father of modern philanthropy.
Born into a poor family in Massachusetts, Peabody went into business in dry go ...
, the respectable founder of the
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...
and
George Peabody Library
The George Peabody Library is a library connected to the Johns Hopkins University, focused on research into the 19th century. It was formerly the Library of the Peabody Institute of music in the City of Baltimore, and is located on the Peabody c ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.
After leaving school, she continued to learn from her father about commerce and the operation of a railroad company, later serving as his secretary.
Adulthood
Garrett and her friends, including
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life
...
, Mamie Gwinn, Elizabeth "Bessie" King, and Julia Rogers, were known as the "Friday Evening" because of their bi-weekly meetings on Friday nights.
[A Biographical Sketch of Mary Elizabeth Garrett"](_blank)
. ''The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine''. Through collective effort, the members of "The Friday Evening" started the
Bryn Mawr School for Girls in Baltimore, 1885. It was an elite preparatory institution for girls, named after the famous women's college,
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 ...
of Pennsylvania.
Garrett was the major financial supporter of the new school.
Later on, Garrett shifted her focus to medical education. At the age of 22, she requested special permission from Daniel Coit Gilman, the first president of the Johns Hopkins University, to enroll in Johns Hopkins University, but was denied entrance due in part to her status as a woman.
However, her opportunity to establish justice came soon after. When the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...
was under construction in the late nineteenth century, the school board quickly ran out of the original endowment from Johns Hopkins. Garrett and her friends founded the Women's Medical School Fund Committee and promised to make up for the deficit provided that women were accepted "on the same terms as men."
The condition was accepted by the school board, and since then, medical education had become more and more accessible to females. Garrett was also hugely involved in Women's suffrage movement, working with her friends Anna Howard Shaw, Julia Ward Howe, and Susan B. Anthony and serving as a major benefactor of the movement.
Garrett spent her final years at the Bryn Mawr College with
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life
...
. Thomas and Garrett shared the same campus home, "the
Deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
" at Bryn Mawr.
Career
Secretary
Prior to inheriting a fortune of about $2 million following her father's death,
Garrett worked as a personal secretary for her father, John W. Garrett. She thus had opportunities to meet with many business magnates in America, including
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
,
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
,
William Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821 – December 8, 1885) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the eldest son of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, an heir to his fortune and a prominent member of the Vanderbilt family. Vanderbi ...
, and
Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...
.
This experience exposed Mary to professional finance and endowed her with the skills to be an effective negotiator and businesswoman.
Philanthropist
Founding the Bryn Mawr School for Girls
Using her inherited wealth, Garrett helped found the
Bryn Mawr School for Girls in Baltimore, so named to reference the already-popular
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 ...
of Pennsylvania, which focused on scholastic achievement in traditionally male-dominated disciplines, such as mathematics and science. She spent over $500,000 on the construction and decoration of the school, and she supervised much of the construction processes.
Although she was greatly hailed for her work, her donations were also controversial at the time and sometimes criticized for breaking social norms. Women at the time were expected and restricted to be good housekeepers, mothers, and wives. Thus, the great amount of money invested to raise the standard of women's education seemed like a waste, since women would eventually stay at home and do household chores. For instance, "The ''Kitchen Magazine'' asked, 'Why does not Miss Garrett or some other philanthropist invest a quarter of a million dollars in a model school of domestic economy, in which we prepare girls for housekeeping and homemaking,' adding that 'without thoroughly trained, competent housekeepers it is a folly to hope for well-trained, pleasant homes.'"
Enriching the Bryn Mawr College of Pennsylvania
![Deanery Interior 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Deanery_Interior_4.jpg)
Garrett enriched Bryn Mawr College, donating $10,000 per year to help the college and pay all the bills of the school on the condition that M. Carey Thomas be the president.
She redesigned the
Deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
, home of the school president and employed
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
, the designer of New York's Central Park and the campus of Stanford University, to help with the campus plan.
Funding the establishment of the Johns Hopkins Medical School
Alan Chesney, dean emeritus of the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...
, describes Garrett's role by writing: "For to this lady, more than any other single person, save only Johns Hopkins himself, does the School of Medicine owe its being." Garrett endowed the
Johns Hopkins Medical School
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...
with a great sum of money. At first, the president of Johns Hopkins University,
Daniel Coit Gilman
Daniel Coit Gilman (; July 6, 1831 – October 13, 1908) was an American educator and academic. Gilman was instrumental in founding the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale College, and subsequently served as the second president of the University ...
requested $100,000 to open the medical school, but he increased this amount to $500,000 even before the Women's Medical School Fund committee (WMSF) started to raise the money.
[Sander, Kathleen]
"A Pleasure to Be Bought"
''Johns Hopins Magazine''. The trustees of the WMSF, many of whom were daughters of members of the Johns Hopkins University board of trustees, had a strong incentive to fund a Hopkins initiative.
They reached the goal of raising $100,000 after two years of work, but the balance, more than $300,000, seemed intimidating. Garrett, failing to secure additional funding and disappointed by the WMSF trustees, finally donated $306,977 by herself to the medical school.
She paid annual installments of $50,000 and also a 5% interest rate to the school until all the needed money was received by the school.
Garrett set forth six extremely stringent conditions for acceptance of her gift:
# First and foremost, she insisted that a "Women's Fund Memorial Building" be built in memory of the women who contributed to the higher education.
# Second, she required that 'women "enjoy all the advantages on the same terms as men" as well as "all prizes, dignities, or honors" that were afforded male students.'
# Third, She added the date October 28, 1890, when the trustees of Johns Hopkins agreed to accept female students, to the school calendar.
# Fourth, she insisted that the medical school be exclusively a graduate school as an integral part of the
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
.
According to her conditions, the medical school should only provide a four-year course, "leading to the Doctor of Medicine".
# Fifth, she established rigorous academic standards, insisting that the students have a background not only in the sciences but also in foreign languages, i.e. French and German.
# Finally, she required that students should pass examinations based on the medical courses and studies in order to receive their degrees.
Garrett set the admission standards according to the highly praised European standards of medical education.
Gilman was very concerned about the more rigorous academic standards. In the late nineteenth century, most of the medical schools in the United States were "small profit-making enterprises" owned by the faculties.
The medical schools sold medical degrees to whoever paid the tuition fee. No preliminary education was required for admission.
When
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
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 ...
raised the academic standards earlier, they faced a revenue drop as fewer students were qualified for admission. The precarious financial situation of Hopkins worried Gilman; he could not afford a new financial dilemma.
He tried to convince Garrett to lower her standards but failed. Through negotiations, Garret finally agreed to modify two paragraphs of her terms, emphasizing that her terms of gift "would not interfere with the operation of the university".
She also added that the university could modify the admission requirement, but the standard should remain the same. On February 20, 1893, she approved the statement and terms and signed the Requirements of Admission.
By forcing the university to accept females on the same basis as males and increasing the admission requirements, Garrett made Johns Hopkins School of Medicine the first co-educational, graduate-level medical school in the United States.
Suffragist
Garrett was heavily involved in the Women's Suffrage Movement in her adulthood. She hosted the National American Woman Suffrage Association's 1906 convention in her Mount Vernon home.
Attendees included Baltimore college women and notable suffragists, like Susan B. Anthony.
She also served as the financial chair of the National College Equal Suffrage League from 1908 to 1914. Garrett continued to donate heavily to the suffrage movement, giving $10,000~$20,000 annually, and actively participated in Women's Suffrage events, such as the 1912 Baltimore suffrage parade.
Women in the United States were lawfully given the right to vote five years after Garrett's death.
Death
Garrett died at Bryn Mawr College of leukemia on April 3, 1915, at age 61. She was buried in Baltimore's
Green Mount Cemetery
Green Mount Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established on March 15, 1838, and dedicated on July 13, 1839, it is noted for the large number of historical figures interred in its grounds as well as many ...
, next to her father. She left most of her funds and properties including the Mount Vernon mansion to
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life
...
in her will.
Legacy
In October 1893, after accepting Garrett's terms and conditions of her gift, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine admitted three women students for the first time. By June 21, 2000, 1547 women had graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Famous women graduates include
Florence Rena Sabin,
Dorothy Reed Mendenhall
Dorothy Mabel Reed Mendenhall (September 22, 1874–July 31, 1964) was a prominent pediatric physician specializing in cellular pathology. In 1901, she discovered that Hodgkin's disease was not a form of tuberculosis, by noticing the presenc ...
, and
Helen B. Taussig
Helen Brooke Taussig (May 24, 1898 – May 20, 1986) was an American cardiologist, working in Baltimore and Boston, who founded the field of pediatric cardiology. She is credited with developing the concept for a procedure that would extend the l ...
.
The Bryn Mawr School for Girls was established by Garrett and her friends.
Notable alumnae of Bryn Mawr School include
Julia Randall
Julia Randall (June 15, 1923–May 22, 2005) was an American poet, professor, and environmental activist; recipient of many honors for her poetry, she published seven books of poetry culminating in ''The Path to Fairview: New and Selected Poems'' ...
,
Mildred Natwick
Mildred Natwick (June 19, 1905 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.
Early life
Natwick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mildre ...
, and
Léonie Gilmour
Léonie Gilmour (June17, 1873December31, 1933) was an American educator, editor and journalist. She was the lover and editor of the writer Yone Noguchi and the mother of sculptor Isamu Noguchi and dancer Ailes Gilmour. She is the subject of th ...
.
See also
*
John Work Garrett
John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884), was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most ...
*
Martha Carey Thomas
*
Bryn Mawr School
Bryn Mawr School, founded in 1885 as the first college-preparatory school for girls in the United States, is an independent, nonsectarian all-girls school for grades PK-12, with a coed preschool. Bryn Mawr School is located in the Roland Park co ...
*
Bryn Mawr College Deanery
*
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 ...
References
External links
Marry Garrett's Introduction from JHMI medical archive
* [http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?start=25&fq=top_repository_facet%3A%22Bryn%20Mawr%20College%22&id=PACSCL_BMC_USPBmBMC197001& Finding Aid to the Mary Garrett Papers, Bryn Mawr College Library]
* Terms of Miss Garrett's Gift
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19th-century American philanthropists