Women at GW: The "Original 13"

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The “Original 13” is the name given to the first women to attend the university. They included:

Nina D. Bradley, B.S. 1892
Margaret H. Brewer (not listed in alumni directories)
Edna Anne Clark, B.S. 1893, M.S. 1896
Lucy Edith Cogley, B.S. 1893
Louise P. Cook (not listed in alumni directories)
Eva Virginia Heth, B.S. 1891, A.B. 1892, A.M. 1893
Sarah Elizabeth Mason, B.S. 1893
Emma B. Moses (not listed in alumni directories)
Mary Charlotte Priest, A.B. 1893
Florence S. Shipman, A.B. 1892
Nilla B. Shute (not listed in alumni directories)
Frances Estelle Throckmorton, A.B. 1893. A.M. 1894
Mabel Nelson Thurston, A.B. 1891, A.M. 1893

These women were the impetus for the creation of one of the longest running organizations at GW – the Columbian Women. In 1894, a fire at Ford’s Theater took the life of the father of Mary Chapin, one of the original thirteen women to attend Columbian University (it became The George Washington University in 1904). So that she could continue her education, the women students, under the guidance of Professor Charles Munroe, formed a group called “Columbian Women,” and raised money for Mary to finish her studies. Membership was open to women students, alumnae, and wives of faculty, trustees, and officers of the University.

The major aims of the organization are the advancement of women at the University and the promotion of the interests of their alma mater. The major portion of Columbian Women’s activities is the support of its Scholarship Fund for women students. The first fund was established in 1897 and since then hundreds of young women have been helped through this Fund. Three first ladies of the United States have been interested in the scholarship program - Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, and Mrs. Harry Truman. Mrs. Truman entertained Columbian Women members at a White House tea while her husband was in office. Over the years, the organization has also given generous gifts to the University itself, including the hospital, Women’s Athletics, and the University Library.

Many distinguished women have been members, among them novelists Dorothy Betts Marvin (wife of former GW President Cloyd Heck Marvin), Mary Roberts Rinehart and Margaret Truman, Judge Sarah T. Hughes, who administered the oath of office to President Lyndon Johnson after President John F. Kennedy’s death, aviatrix Jackie Cochran, and former Director of the U.S. Mint, Eva Adams.

The following is an excerpt from the 1891 year book, The Columbiad:

On the twenty-second of September, 1889, the names of women were signed for the first time on the register of Columbian College.

A year before, one girl had tried the current of the College course and had pronounced it safe. The next year six other girls followed in her footsteps. When the roll was called for the last time before the holidays, there were thirteen girls who answered “Present”

First, Miss Bradley, our mathematical girl and prize talker, endowed with power to bring very dignified men down to the level of ordinary mortals;

Miss Brewer, the Independent, who, born on the prairies of the West, takes her fanciful sobriquet from the devotion of the only Cricket of the Fort. Though only a “Dot,” she is still great enough to influence the lives of the many, great enough even to form the subject of an hour’s lecture in Psychology;

Miss Clark, our quiet girl, the ready champion of all that is good and true; Miss Cogley, the “Baby” of the “Thirteen,” who takes all the petting she can get, quite as a matter of course;

Miss Cook, the first president of the “Thirteen,” our athletic girl, devoted to all kinds of sports;

Miss Heth, noted for her scholarly attainments, her sense of humor, and unfailing good temper;

Miss Mason, our petite girl, who, set forth in official language, has “the power of exciting laughter in others, while suppressing it in herself”;

Miss Moses, our Shakespeare student, our elocutionist, who, by her look or gesture, assumes any part at will;

Miss Priest, an untiring worker on all College plans, an unfailing source of new ideas, the successful wooer of the fickle muse;

Miss Shipman, our Greek prodigy, the ever ready helper of those whose footsteps falter in the paths of knowledge, where she walks so serenely;

Miss Shute, our merry girl; the girl with a laugh is she, a sweet, merry laugh that rings out always and everywhere; a laugh that fills her luminous eyes, that comes from a heart glowing with youth and gladness;

Miss Throckmorton, our star, whose steady light shines so calmly over our stormy paths, the friend of all, the soother of ruffled spirits;

Miss Thurston, lastly she who was first, she who made it possible for the “Thirteen” to be; our first girl graduate, of whom we are so proud:—

These, “The Original Thirteen,” who worked their first collegiate year in fear and trembling, and the next year with added courage. These the girls who for two years have fought their battles and won their victories under the orange and blue, and who in the coming years will fight and conquer under the same bright colors, with the same watchword

“Orange for hearts that are brave hearts, Blue for hearts that are true.”

Document Information

Images: 1
Photographic Credit: GW University Historical Photographs Collection
Author or Source: GW Magazine, Fall 1994; RG0027/Columbian Women; 1891 yearbook, The Columbiad
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 11, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist

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