When Boston University was chartered in 1869, its first president, William Fairfield Warren, was instrumental in making it the first university in the country fully open to women. Women's education had long been an important cause for Warren, who also helped create Wellesley College in 1870. At the time BU had no scholarships or grants to give its female students, so Warren, who was also concerned with women's preparations for and adjustment to university education, turned to Boston's high society for assistance. In 1876 he and his wife (who, in the fashion of the times, was always referred to as Mrs. William F. Warren) transformed Governor William Claflin's Beacon Hill home into the first meeting place of what would become the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women.

	William Fairfield Warren, BU's first president, was also the first president of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women.

Mrs. William Claflin, daughter-in-law of BU founder Lee Claflin, and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wilbur F. Claflin, were among the wives of BU trustees and professors who gathered for the monthly "parlor meetings" to discuss how to help "the few young women who were mature enough and bold enough to go to college," an early member, Mary Lane Hinckley Dearing (CAS 1890, Hon.'50), recalled in 1953.

For the first year, the society depended on its male president, William Warren, and other University professors to gain ground and influence in the city and universities. Society members argued that in all of Greek literature there were no authors, "with the exception of Aristophanes, whose pages might not be read by the most modest of our school-girls without harm." Their first success came when members lobbied Boston officials to establish Girls' Latin School, which offered a college-preparatory program, including ancient Greek, paralleling that of the all-boys Public Latin School. That was in 1877, the same year Helen Magill White completed her dissertation on Greek drama at BU, making her the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D.

Many of BU's women were struggling financially as they adjusted to city and college life. In 1878, two semesters' tuition was $100, but expenses such as room and board, books, and supplies drove up the cost of a year at BU to $435. With few donations and only seventy-five members paying the annual $2 dues, aid was limited to loans for CAS students who had completed their freshman year.

In addition to monetary aid, the society took steps to "cultivate the beautiful side of life, which in many cases was drab, and making the lovely amenities of life possible." Led by Mrs. William Claflin, it furnished a comfortable "young ladies' reception room" with carpets and plush chairs in CAS, then located at 12 Somerset Street. A small lending library was also established for women students unable to afford expensive textbooks, and an advisory committee assisted those new to Boston in finding rooms in boarding houses.

A bust of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, watches over the College of Arts and Sciences women's reception room at 12 Somerset Street, furnished by the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women.

Throughout its 132 years, several BU alumni and faculty have served on the society's board, including Lucy Jenkins Franklin, BU's first dean of women, a position the society helped create. Her successor, Elsbeth Melville (CAS'25), BU's last dean of women, further encouraged female students to work for their tuition, as she had done as an undergraduate classics major, and to prepare for careers, however untraditional that still was in 1945. Conversely, Melville also made sure each women's dormitory had a full tea service and that her students knew their etiquette.

Over the years the society expanded its scholarships and other aid to all Massachusetts universities, although its ties to BU remained strong. As the transition into university education became easier and more accepted for women, the nature of the giving changed. The society donates an annual $500 to Mugar Memorial Library, which houses its archives and papers in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center. And this summer, it gave its most recent gift to the University: $4,000 in scholarship funds. The only stipulation was that the woman who receives the scholarship has completed her freshman year-the same requirements outlined in the 1878 bylaws.

"We chose to give to BU because that's where we started," says society president Amy Norman (GSM'81), "and we'll probably continue with BU because of our history with them."

— Lauren Ladoceour (COM'05)