Collection on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Woman's Laboratory

Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman awarded a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the cooperation of the Woman's Education Association of Boston which purchased microscopes and other apparatus, worked to establish a laboratory for women to study chemical analysis, mineralogy, and chemistry in space provided by MIT. According to the October 1876 announcement, "The courses are intended for such as may be able to devote their whole time to the work, as well as those who, by reason of other engagements, can spend only a few hours a week in the laboratories." Fees for an eight-month term were $200 for attendance six days per week, $80 for two days per week, and $45 for one day per week. The Woman's Laboratory formally opened in November 1876 with Professor John M. Ordway in charge, assisted by Ellen Richards. The laboratory began with 23 students, many of whom were public school teachers. During its seven years of operation the laboratory served more than 100 women students. The Woman's Laboratory closed in 1883 after the MIT Corporation voted "that in view of the facilities afforded by the new chemical laboratories, and in pursuance of the wishes of the benefactors of the Woman's Laboratory, the present so-called Woman's Laboratory will be discontinued and students will be admitted to the Kidder Laboratories without distinction of sex." Ellen Richards received thanks from the Corporation for her service in November 1883. Later the next year, in April 1884, she was formally appointed assistant under Professor Nichols to give instruction in a course of sanitary chemistry. Her salary of $600 per annum was raised in May 1884 to $1,000 per annum, for a year's trial of the course, a course she continued to teach at the Institute for many years.