Art, Industry, and Women's Education in Philadelphia

(Hardback)

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Separate education for American women in the arts began in the mid-19th century as an innovative vehicle for middle-class women to move into a new and genteel profession. The 20th century evolution of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, lone survivor as an autonomous school of many similar institutions founded at the same time, presents an unusually well-documented case study of meeting the changing needs of women students. The first American institutions devoted to women's professional art education, design schools appeared in industrial northeastern cities in the 1850s, modeled on Philadelphia's pioneering School of Design for Women, which opened in 1848. Sponsored by business leaders and philanthropists, design schools gave women unprecedented access to craft skills, and eventually helped professionalize the work of women as art teachers and practicing artists. Separate education in the arts constituted an innovative vehicle for expanding Victorian-era middle-class gender prescriptions into new professional opportunities. Through the 20th century, the Philadelphia School of Design and its successor, Moore College of Art, survived as the nation's only autonomous women's art college, offering new educational options for women.

Reviews

"In this fine book, Nina de Angeli Walls reclaims the important story of a school devoted to training women in the arts since 1848. Through the history of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, she reasserts women's place in the cultural history of art education and in the wider context of American art history. Her careful analysis expands our understanding of women's careers, the professionalization of art education, the ecology of Philadelphia's educational institutions, and the biographies of significant 19th century women educational leaders."-Linda Eisenmann Associate Professor of Education Editor, Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States University of Massachusetts Boston
In her informative, well-written, and thoroughly documented treatise Walls reveals how this exceptional institution maintains to the present day its unique mission of separately educating women in the fine and design arts. Moore is currently the only fully accredited women's college in the United States exclusively dedicated to preparing its students for careers in visual arts-Book Reviews
"In her informative, well-written, and thoroughly documented treatise Walls reveals how this exceptional institution maintains to the present day its unique mission of separately educating women in the fine and design arts. Moore is currently the only fully accredited women's college in the United States exclusively dedicated to preparing its students for careers in visual arts"-Book Reviews

Author Bio

NINA DE ANGELI WALLS is an independent scholar who lives near Philadelphia./eShe earned her doctorate in United States history from the University of Delaware, specializing in women's social and cultural experience. She has taught at the University of Delaware and Widener University. Currently she travels as a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.