Music-Making and Music Learning for Females in Poughkeepsie,New York at Vassar Female College: 1865–1888

Abstract

At the time of its founding in 1865, Vassar Female College established one of the first and most comprehensive collegiate music programs in the United States. Vassar administrators appointed the first professor of music in the country and, by 1868, permitted a music course to count toward a Bachelor of Arts degree. The rapid development of Vassar’s music program led the institution to offer a college music degree in 1887. Focusing on 1865–1888, this study examines the status and challenges of music learning at Vassar, music-making traditions of the institution, key figures in Vassar’s music instruction, and socio-political factors that may have influenced the music program. The founder’s vision, support and decision-making of college Trustees, inaugural faculty, students, and curriculum, together with the artistic climate in Poughkeepsie, coalesced to lay groundwork for academic music study, a music building, a music major, “one of the most distinguished college music libraries in the country,” and pursuit of music as an avocation. Vassar’s early commitment to music study within a college curriculum was undoubtedly a precedent for other colleges in the United States and an important step for American female opportunity.