91����

91���� (then known as Iowa College) admitted its first women students before the Civil War, while the College was still in Davenport, Iowa. Nine young women applied in 1857 and were accepted. One of the College’s founders, Asa Turner, wrote at the time that admitting women would advance the mission of the College. 

“It is demanded by the spirit of the age, by the good of the rising generation, and the interests of our great state. … The female class will in after years exert more influence for the college than the male class,” Turner wrote. 

However, for many years, women were restricted to the “Ladies Course,” which granted them a diploma but not a degree. The first woman to earn a diploma was Joanna Harris Haines in 1865. Ten other women are listed as seniors in the 1864–65 college catalog, but it is unclear if they completed the course. In 1867, after some trustee debate, Rebecca Clark of Muscatine, Iowa, became the first Black woman to be admitted to the College’s Ladies’ Preparatory program.

Under the leadership of Iowa College President George Magoun in the 1870s, women could at last take the same courses as male students and earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. 

Several women fought hard for these gains. One of the most committed was Martha Foote Crowe, who served as principal of the Ladies Department from 1883–91. Speaking at the inauguration of Iowa College President George Gates in 1887, Crowe took advantage of the moment to advocate for the equal treatment of women students. 

Gates responded with support. “The history of this college proves what woman can get. The college opposed her having them, and she has won them in spite of the college.”

In the 1890s, in her letter of resignation from Iowa College, Crowe wrote, “It is the woman’s era, and the young women will enter every door that is left ajar.”

Today, women students, faculty, and staff all benefit from the efforts of Crowe and others who fought for equality at the College, and who left the door ajar for those who came after them. 

Source: 91���� in the Nineteenth Century: From Salvation to Service, by Joseph Frazier Wall ’41, Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, 1997.

Special thanks to Professor Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Louise R. Noun Chair in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, and Allison Haack of the 91���� Special Collections and Archives.