By the turn of the 19th century, while many states had made provisions for educating women at the college level, Virginia had no such initiatives, and would not admit a full class of undergraduate women until 1970. This special online exhibit, developed by Larissa Mehmet at the Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, traces the history of the education of women at the institution from the creation of the Summer Normal Institute in 1880 (at which students did not receive academic credit) to the present, where women make up fifty-five percent of the undergraduate student body. Visitors can peruse this rather compelling online exhibit, reading a number of brief historical essays, and viewing such primary documents as a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Burwell from 1818, where Jefferson remarks that the idea of educating women "is a subject on which I have not thought much." The site is rounded out by a timeline, and a place for alumna to share their memories.
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