Mary Frances Farnham was an important member of the Pacific University faculty, who taught English Literature and served as the Dean of Women in the early twentieth century. Born in Maine in 1847, she graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1868. After serving as a teacher in various schools and universities in the United States and South Africa, she returned to study history at Radcliffe College in 1895-96. One year later, she became the principal of the Ladies Department at Tualatin Academy, which was the college prepatory department of Pacific University. She held that position until the closing of the prepatory school in 1915, when she was given a new position as dean of women at Pacific University. In the meantime, she was awarded a doctorate in English literature at Mount Holyoke in 1912. She was a distinguished and beloved lecturer and faculty member. Mary Frances Farnham retired in 1924.
Mary Frances Farnham Collection, Pacific University Archives, Forest Grove, Oregon.
Pacific University owns the copyright to some, but not all, of the materials housed in its archives. Copyright for materials authored or otherwise produced as official business of Pacific University is retained by Pacific University and requires its permission for publication. Copyright status for other collection materials varies. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Collection is open for research.
No accuals are expected.
This collection contains correspondence of Mary Frances Farnham, papers and letters relating to her death in 1942, and personal receipts. Some of the letters are from the State of Oregon, University of Nebraska, and The Congregational Home Missionary Society; others are from friends such as Elda Walker, Thomas Walker and to John Dobbs and Margaret Hinman. The letters were accumulated at different intervals in Mary Farnham's career as Tualatin Academy as principal of the Ladies Department. The contents of the folder titled "About her," pertains to her death and subsequent letters from loved ones and colleagues after the event.