Hello! This is my first blog post on the Telling Bryn Mawr Histories page and this post will serve to highlight my area of interest and initial steps for a possible project concerning the institutional history of Bryn Mawr College.

Statement of interest:

I am interested in the early affiliation of BMC with the Society of Friends and how the college became nondenominational. I am also specifically interested in the influence of M. Carey Thomas’s in the decision to become unaffiliated with the Quaker religion. I found it especially intriguing that she was brought up in a highly religious Quaker family environment but has often been referenced in writings on Bryn Mawr College as being a person absolutely inimical to the Quaker ideology and the main reason why the college went in the direction it did. I have read a lot about M. Carey Thomas’s views on women’s rights and racism but not as much about her religious attitudes, or lack thereof. At this point in the investigation, however, I cannot articulate a so called research question as of yet because I am still narrowing my area of interest.

Possible ideas of sources:

So far, I have been mainly looking at the primary source information, mostly letters, in a book called “Offerings to Athena”. Going forward, I think it would be beneficial for me to continue looking at looking at some of M. Carey Thomas’s letters (if there are any available) and gaining some perspective on her opinions on the Quaker religion/influence in general and on the school. I would also like to see if there are any primary documents that reveal more about the decision to become nondenominational, either from the board of trustees or other interested parties. Moreover, I would want to continue looking into more secondary sources that give me an in-depth understanding of the Society of Friends and their history in higher education. A potential avenue would be to also research if students had any interest in the issue of BMC becoming unaffiliated.

Lastly, I would like to state that the next blog post will give greater outline to the sources/avenues of research I will use to conduct this investigation.