Alice Freeman Palmer: The Evolution of a New Woman

Alice Freeman Palmer (1855-1902) was one of the most influential figures in expanding academic horizons for women in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But her importance extends beyond her role in higher education. As a woman who chose both marriage and a professional career, she confronted obstacles that challenged the new path she and other women were forging, earning herself the title "New Woman."

In this first biography of Palmer, Ruth Bordin draws from a variety of rich and hitherto untapped sources, thoroughly illuminating not only Palmer's extraordinary life, but also a fundamental period of transition in the history of educated, middle-class women during the turn of the century.

Palmer blazed trails traditionally unavailable to women. She graduated from the University of Michigan, the first major coeducational university, and became president of Wellesley College before the age of thirty. Following that tenure, Palmer temporarily held volunteer positions, influencing women's education as a trustee of Wellesley College, an adviser to Radcliffe, Barnard, and Pembroke, and a popular lecturer on women and higher education.

She formally returned to academia in the early 1890s with her appointment as the first dean of the newly founded University of Chicago, and continued her struggle to ensure women's acceptance in education as students, faculty, and staff.

Bordin's biography of Palmer not only provides a compelling story of this unique woman's life, but vividly illustrates early attempts to solve problems that have occupied women down to the present day.

Ruth Bordin is Research Affiliate at the Bentley Library, University of Michigan.