Sarah Porter

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Sarah Porter (August 16, 1813 – February 18, 1900) was the American educator who founded Miss Porter's School, a private college preparatory school for girls.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Biography

She was born in Farmington, Connecticut, to Rev. Noah Porter (1781 – 1866) and his wife, Mehetable "Meigs" Porter (1786 – 1874).<ref name="BDA"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Her older brother, Noah Porter, was President of Yale College from 1871 to 1886.<ref name="BDA">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She was educated at Farmington Academy and at the Young Ladies Institute<ref>Palmer, Charles Ray. "An Almost Forgotten New Haven Institution". Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, vol. 8 (1914), p. 20-35. Retrieved July 7, 2017.</ref> in New Haven, and, uncharacteristically for women of the time, studied privately with Yale College professors. She taught in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, and returned to Connecticut in 1843 to found a female counterpart to Simeon Hart's Academy for Boys. Initially, she had only 25 students, but because of the school's expansive curriculum, including the sciences as well as the humanities, the daughters of the affluent soon made it their school of choice, and the school quickly expanded. She encouraged students to pursue academic excellence and exercise.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was an opponent of women's suffrage but promoted other legal reforms for women, including reforms in divorce and property laws.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Prominent students of the Porter School include Alice Hamilton, Edith Hamilton, architect Theodate Pope Riddle, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Graciela Arango. She died in 1900