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History & Tradition

Explore History and Tradition

Smith College began more than 140 years ago in the mind and conscience of a New England woman. The money used to buy the first land (which was on what had been the ancestral homelands of the Nonotuck peoples), construct the first buildings and begin the endowment was the bequest of Sophia Smith. When she inherited a large fortune at age 65, Sophia Smith decided, after much deliberation and advice, that leaving her inheritance to found a women’s college was the best way “to furnish for my own sex means and facilities for education equal to those which are afforded now in our colleges to young men.”

College Events

From Opening Convocation to Commencement, the Smith community celebrates a number of special events.

College Events

Sophia Smith

Sophia Smith envisioned a college for women that would be a “perennial blessing” to the world.

Sophia Smith

Smith History

Since opening its doors in 1875, Smith has been educating women of promise for lives of distinction.

Smith History

Smith College opened in the fall of 1875 with 14 students and six faculty. Then as today, the college educates women of promise for lives of distinction.

LEARN ABOUT SMITH’S HISTORY