Advancement of Female Education: Or, a Series of Addresses, In Favor of Establishing at Athens, in Greece, A Female Seminary, Especially Designed to Instruct Female Teachers. Published by the Ladies of the “Troy Society,” for the Benefit of the Proposed Institution. Troy: Printed by Norman Tuttle, 1833. 8vo (8.5” x 5”), wrappers removed, 48 pp. [with] Willard, Emma. Report of Mrs. Emma Willard, Corresponding Secretary of the Troy Society for the Advancement of Female Education in Greece. Read by the Rev. S.B. Padlock, in Christ Church, Norwich, on the 20th of August, 1834. Norwich: Printed by J. Dunham. 1834. 8vo, wrappers removed, 79–109 pp. [with] Letter, Addressed as a Circular to the Members of the Willard Association, for the Mutual Improvement of Female Teachers; Formed at the Troy Female Seminary, July, 1837. By Emma Willard, Principal of the T.F.S., and President of the Association. Troy, N.Y.: Published by Elias Gates. Tuttle, Belcher & Burton, Printers and Binders, 1838. 8vo, wrappers removed, 32 pp. [with] “Review of New Books.” [In] The Gentleman’s Magazine and American Monthly Review. February, 1839. 8vo (8.5” x 5”), wrappers removed, 73–136 pp. [with] [Phelps, John.] The Reviewer of Mrs. Emma Willard Reviewed. Philadelphia: C. Sherman & Co. Printers, 19 St. James Street, 1839. 8vo (8.5” x 5”), wrappers removed, 29 pp. [with] The Gentleman’s Magazine. Vol. II. March, 1838. No. 3. 145–216 pp.

8vo (9.25” x 5.25”), half calf with marbled paper over boards. With early pencil ownership inscriptions reading “A.H.L. Phelps,” with additional pencil annotations by a subsequent owner.

A fascinating sammelband comprising three works by the pathbreaking women’s educator Emma Willard, two relating to Willard’s establishment of a Female Seminary in Greece, and one addressed to her former female students-turned-teachers, as well as a critical review of the latter, and lastly a defense of this work in-question, by Willard’s brother-in-law John Phelps. Ownership inscriptions indicate this sammelband was owned by Willard’s sister Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793–1884) and possibly John Phelps (1777–1849).

Further manuscript annotations indicate that the defense of Willard’s work included here, entitled The Reviewer of Mrs. Emma Willard Reviewed and simply attributed to “Vindicator,” is by John Phelps. Just two copies of this work are recorded, at AAS and Princeton, the cataloging in neither case identifying John Phelps as the author. Benefiting greatly from her sister Emma’s mentorship, Almira Phelps along with her husband John accomplished much in raising the educational standards for young women.

Following Greece’s newly won independence from Turkey in 1832, Emma Willard and her sister Almira became heavily involved in the establishment and support of a female seminary in Greece. Believing Americans could assist in the transmission of Christian and democratic ideas and institutions, Willard saw a Greek female seminary as serving as a model for the newly-autonomous country. The first work included here, Advancement of Female Education… (1833), promotes the Greek seminary; addresses the status of female education in Greece; and contains minutes from the meeting during which the Troy Society for the Advancement of Education in Greece (TSAEG) was formed. The second work, Report of Mrs. Emma Willard… (1834), includes the text of letters concerning TSAEG; a poem by Lydia H. Sigourney (1791–1865); records of funds raised for the Greek seminary, and so forth. As Angelo Repousis details in The Trojan Women, Almira was especially involved in the cause of assisting the “daughters of Greece.” Serving as corresponding secretary of TSAEG, Almira wrote to other women to recruit them to the cause. In addition to the Troy Society, other Ladies’ Greek committees sprang up in New York City, Baltimore and elsewhere. “By 1833,” Repousis details, “the number of pupils that came under the daily supervision of the missionaries [of the female seminary in Greece] exceeded 300. Of that number, 250 were female. Enrollment was not limited to children from Greece proper; admission was open to the Greek population in Constantinople, Moldavia, and Asia Minor.” Almira Willard would also be instrumental in the creation of a female academy in Bogota, Columbia. Mark Hall notes that she “reached out across denomination and geographical boundaries to cultivate national support among women for the cause [of women’s education].”

While Advancement of Female Education… is fairly widely held, WorldCat records only four copies of Report of Mrs. Emma Willard… at New York Historical Society, Yale University, University of Missouri, and Brown University.

The third pamphlet (Letter, Addressed as a Circular to the Members of the Willard Association… (1838)) addresses the young women teachers trained under Emma Willard, who are described as “scattered throughout the extent of the Union, from Maine to Georgia, from Boston to Natchitoches beyond the Mississippi.” Willard notes that her circular is especially written for her former students who are still teaching to pay off their financial debts to the school, as per their contract. Willard here spells out the “requisites of a good teacher”—moral ability and faithfulness to God. Noting that the “ability to teach must be physical, intellectual and moral,” Willard here provides an overview of her philosophy of education to guide her students-turned- teachers. She closes the circular in part: “Who can blame me, if my heart swells as in maternal pride, when I think of the fidelity with which I have the satisfaction to learn you serve your employers, and I hope your God … The Troy Seminary, from which as a parent stock, you are the offsets, has continued to increase in numbers.” Listed in the Officers of the Association section are Helen, Stella, Eunice, Ann and Elizabeth Phelps—some of them Almira’s daughters and step-daughters.

WorldCat records sixteen holdings.

The five-page review of the Letter, Addressed as a Circular to the Members of the Willard Association… contained within the Gentleman’s Magazine (1839), contains numerous ad hominem attacks on Willard, in addition to a critique of her text:

We believe her to be a respectable instructer, who has, with some evil, done much good … Her mind, though vigorous enough by nature, wants discipline; her knowledge is extremely limited; her taste is neither pure nor discriminating … and her philosophy—Heaven save the mark—much as she prides herself in it, is neither more nor less than pure drivelling.

What’s more, her circular is described, without evidence, as a “cunningly devised scheme to aid Mrs. Willard in the collection of her outstanding debts. The fair president stands forth as the keen and calculating creditor, rather than the highminded and disinterestedly benevolent educationist.” As if to prove this attack on Willard is not born of an opposition to female education, the reviewer concludes, “We claim to be the friends of education, and we know something of the female schools of this country. We could name several … we regard as superior to the Troy Female Seminary. They may have less of notoriety; but let it be remembered that the earth is often more fertilized by the gently distilling shower than by the noisy tempest.”

The final pamphlet, The Reviewer of Mrs. Emma Willard Reviewed, is John Phelps’s twenty-nine page defense of Willard’s Letter, Addressed as a Circular to the Members of the Willard Association. In an “Advertisement” he states that he “knows nothing of the author of the Review he traverses.” Nevertheless, he “presumes him to be a schoolmaster.” He opens the review thus: “The age of chivalry is not gone. Knight-errantry still exists, with a trifling change, indeed, in the objects of its gallantry. Preux Chevaliers, instead of boldly and honourably breaking their lances in defence of female worth, are now sharpening their quills for skulking, anonymous attacks.” Phelps argues that Willard’s Reviewer—dubbed “our legal critic”—produces no proof for his “naked assertions” and that his critical powers are very weak. What’s more, he takes to task the Reviewer’s crudeness.

In defense of the Troy Seminary, he notes that it has “sent forth its thousands of well-educated females, few of whom have ever failed in virtue, in modesty, in learning, and in talents.” Bringing the text to a close, Phelps affirms the necessity of young women being taught by women rather than men. “Of many things essential to [young women’s] education and well being, it is impossible that men can ever be permitted to give instruction … Silly simpering, flirting, and coquetry always has, and always will characterize the female who has been ‘thoroughly taught’ by a man. And a ‘killing desire to please.’” Insisting he is no eulogist of Emma Willard, Phelps remarks that Willard’s

eulogy is heard in the school founded and sustained by her munificence in Athens, and the official reports of the Greek government on education. … It is heard in many of the latest and most popular treatises on education [and] in the breathings of gratitude and love … by thousands of her pupils … [in] this Union, in Canada, Central America, and the West India Islands … [these] imperishable materials … withstand the rude violence of the Huns, and the ravages of the Goths.

The volume concludes with an issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine (March, 1838) bearing no obvious relation to the foregoing five items. Nevertheless, it is possible that Almira or John Phelps authored one of the pieces contained therein, either anonymously or under a pseudonym.

Background on Almira H.L. Phelps

Born in Berlin, Connecticut, Almira H.L. Phelps was the youngest of her seventeen siblings. After her first husband died in 1823, she moved to Troy to teach for eight years at Troy Female Seminary, which Emma had established in 1821. Here she began writing her first books. With the encouragement of botanist Amos Eaton (1776–1842), Almira authored numerous textbooks on botany, chemistry, geology, and natural philosophy—introducing these subjects into general education across America. Her popular work Familiar Letters on Botany (1829) would serve to launch her career as a science textbook writer. After marrying John Phelps in 1831—a Vermont Judge and widowed father of one of her students—together the couple traveled around the country, taking positions as school teachers and administrators. Little else is known about John Phelps. 1841 saw Almira become principal and John Phelps business manager of the Patapsco Female Institute in Maryland. During her fifteen years there—during which John died—Almira developed a highly rigorous institution with an innovative curriculum for young women. Central to her pedagogy was a rejection of the idealization of the meek, dependent woman. In addition to teaching music and art as was common at this time, she also taught academic subjects traditionally reserved for young men such as natural history, mathematics, and the sciences. In turn, the academic strengths of her female students enabled them to support themselves as teachers or governesses. Also integrated into the curriculum were practical and moral lessons intended to prepare her students for their future lives in the domestic sphere. Phelps retired in 1856, settling in Baltimore. In 1859 she became the second woman to be elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, following Maria Mitchell.

An important association sammelband relating to the national and international educational projects of Emma Willard, Almira Phelps, and the Troy Female Seminary—all of which served to usher in a new era of women’s education.

REFERENCES: Hall, Mark David. “Emma Willard on the Political Position of Women.” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies Vol. 6, No. 2, 2000, pp. 11–26; Repousis, Angelo. “‘The Trojan Women’: Emma Hart Willard and the Troy Society for the Advancement of Female Education in Greece.” Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2004, pp. 445–476; Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps at britannica.com

CONDITION: Covers detached, spine partially perished, foxing more or less throughout.