Wright, Eliza Mary, 1875-1930.

Educator Eliza (Lila) Mary Wright founded and ran Miss Wright's School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, from 1903 until her death in 1930. The daughter of Florence Guier Scott and George Lathrop Wright, Lila Wright attended Miss Aiken's School in Stamford, Connecticut. Following her father's bankruptcy in 1894, Wright began teaching at the Misses Shipley's School in Bryn Mawr, where over the years she assumed increasing responsibility. In 1903 she began her own boarding and day school for girls in grades 7 through 12. By 1905 the school had expanded into a new building designed by Wright and sited on nine acres across the street from Bryn Mawr College. Her mother and brother joined her in this endeavor until her death from cancer in 1930, and continued to run it until 1936. The school was later sold to Bryn Mawr College. Miss Wright's School emphasized self-government and the honor system and included a course on mind training (development of memory and attention) that Wright had studied with Miss Aiken. The staff of the school included the father of Charles Alfred Anderson, later chief flying instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen, who bought a plane and secured flying instructions with funding from Miss Wright.