{{Short description|Female seminary in Hartford, Connecticut}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox university |name = Hartford Female Seminary |image_name=Hartford female seminary.jpg |caption=Hartford Female Seminary, from an 1896 diploma |motto = |established = {{start date and age|1823|5|20}}<ref>{{cite web |title=May 20: Catharine Beecher Opens Hartford Female Seminary |url=https://todayincthistory.com/2019/05/20/may-20-hartford-female-seminary-opens/ |website=Today in Connecticut History |accessdate=9 July 2020 |date=20 May 2019}}</ref> |type = Female seminary |president = Catharine Beecher |city = Hartford, Connecticut |state = Connecticut |country = US |campus = |undergrad = |postgrad = |faculty = |mascot = |website = }}
'''Hartford Female Seminary''' was a female seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1823, by Catharine Beecher, it became one of the first major educational institutions for women in the United States. By 1826 it had enrolled nearly 100 students. It implemented then-radical programs such as physical education courses for women.<ref>[http://150.mansfield.edu/beecher.htm The Beecher House] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120707031917/http://150.mansfield.edu/beecher.htm |date=2012-07-07 }} Mansfield University, 2007.</ref> Beecher sought the aid of Mary Lyon in the development of the seminary.<ref>[http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2001/beecher/catherine.htm Catherine Beecher] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031125234259/http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/DIGITAL/2001/beecher/catherine.htm |date=2003-11-25 }} City University of New York</ref><ref>Carini, P.[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/library/arch/col/msrg/mancol/ms0509s.htm#002 Catharine E. Beecher material , 1822-1878] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710115258/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/library/arch/col/msrg/mancol/ms0509s.htm#002 |date=July 10, 2007 }} Mt. Holyoke College, 1998.</ref> The Hartford Female Seminary closed towards the later half of the 19th century.
The school was first hosted in a third-floor room in a building at Main and Kinsley Streets in Hartford, then in the basement of the North Church. In 1827 the school moved into a new neoclassical building at 100 Pratt Street.<ref name=Hedrick>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tl8m84E2iFkC |title=Harriet Beecher Stowe: a life |author=Hedrick, Joan D.|authorlink= Joan D. Hedrick |year=1995 |page=50|isbn=978-0-19-802310-4 }}</ref>
Harriet Beecher Stowe taught at the school beginning in November 1827.<ref name=Hedrick />
==Notable people== ;Alumni *Rose Terry Cooke *Fanny Fern<ref>{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Joyce W.|title=Fanny Fern: An Independent Woman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUIxjRGdc4QC&pg=PA26|accessdate=21 January 2012|date=January 1994|publisher=Rutgers UP|isbn=978-0-8135-1764-3|pages=26ff}}</ref> *Annie Trumbull Slosson *Virginia Thrall Smith *Harriet Beecher Stowe *Mary E. Van Lennep *Sarah Woodruff Walker
;Teachers *Kate Foote Coe
==See also== *Female seminaries *Women in education in the United States
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last1=Hedrick |first1=Joan D |title=Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |chapter= 4. The Hartford Female Seminary: 1824–1827|pages=31–43 |isbn=978-0-19-985428-8 |oclc=1132018622 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25761/chapter-abstract/193323681 | doi= 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195096392.003.0004 |language=English}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.familytreeconnection.com/resources/ftc1113.html 1867 College Catalogue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020171031/http://www.familytreeconnection.com/resources/ftc1113.html |date=October 20, 2006 }}
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Category:Defunct private universities and colleges in Connecticut Category:Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Category:Educational institutions established in 1823 Category:Education in Hartford, Connecticut Category:Female seminaries in the United States Category:19th-century disestablishments in Connecticut Category:History of women in Connecticut
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