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In the years following the American
Revolution,
opportunities for schooling and education began to increase,
resulting in
a rise in literacy rates. Education was very important to the new
republic
because most believed that an educated person made the best citizen.
Schools
for girls began to appear, teaching reading, writing, and
needlework.
This 1811 trade card announces the opening of a new school for
young ladies.
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| Becoming a school teacher
appealed
to many women in rural areas, and to single women who did not want
to work
in a mill, and who probably would not continue working after
marriage. This
trade card from 1836 specifically advertises the start of a new
school year
at a school for girls. |
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As education and schooling for girls
became more
widespread, schools began to open with college level classes for
women.
The Oread Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, claimed to offer a
very
happy and fulfilling educational environment for women. As shown in
the
March 19, 1853, issue of Gleason's Pictorial, the Oread
Institute
was said to give women privileges normally reserved for men.
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The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, which
opened
for the education of African Americans in 1868, was founded by the
American
Missionary Association. Women were admitted into the Industrial
Department,
where they learned to make garments by using various types of
sewing machines,
and were taught economical housekeeping. All students had to
complete
a certain number of hours a week of manual labor. According to the
school
catalog, this was necessary for "purposes of discipline and
instruction."
This image is of the Girl's Industrial Room at the school.
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 Teaching,
as an occupation, employed only a very small percentage of the
female work
force, but it was a significant opportunity nonetheless. However,
some women,
such as those who taught at Sabbath Schools, were unpaid. This
image, entitled
"Picture of the first Infant Sabbath School," is from a
trade
card for the sabbath school. The school was established in the First
Baptist
Church in Boston in 1829, and one of its teachers was a woman. |
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