Timely interest in the enclosed pamphlet written by Emma Willard,
pioneer in the education of women at Middlebury, Vermont, over 100
years ago, is given by the fact that Mrs. Russell Sage, who was a
great admirer of the work of Mrs. Willard, has just left to Middlebury
College the sum of $100,000.
_The Middlebury Register_ in its issue of November 22, 1918,
contains the following interesting statement by Dr. Ezra Brainerd,
president-emeritus of the College, indicating how Mrs. Sage became
interested in Middlebury:
“About thirty years ago I received an invitation to give a talk on
the life and work of Emma Willard during the twelve years she lived
in Middlebury when from 20 to 32 years of age. This talk was to be
given before the Emma Willard Association in New York City, at the
home on Fifth Avenue of Mrs. Russell Sage, who was the President of
the Association. I met there an interesting company who held in high
esteem the mature matron under whose guidance they had graduated from
the famous Ladies Seminary in Troy. It was not difficult to interest
them in an account of Emma Willard’s early life and of her confessed
indebtedness to Middlebury College for her advanced views regarding
the higher education of women. I succeeded in securing $2000 for an
Emma Willard scholarship in Middlebury College. The following year
came an invitation to address them again, and to publish a pamphlet
containing the substance of my talks. This was done at the expense of
a New York lawyer, a former pupil of mine, whose mother in Vermont
was a graduate of the Troy Seminary. The pamphlet passed through two
editions of 500 copies each, most of which were placed in the hands
of Mrs. Sage for distribution to the graduates of the Troy Seminary.
“This pamphlet was later republished by the United States Bureau of
Education, Circular of Information No. 4, 1900; whole number 265. On
page 130, under the headline of the article, the reader is informed
that it was ‘prepared originally for the Emma Willard Society of New
York by Ezra Brainerd, LL. D., President of Middlebury College.’
“Thus it would appear probable that the 100,000 dollar bequest is the
fair fruitage of the humble seed sown in faith so many years ago.”