Garrett, Mary Elizabeth, 1854-1915

Mary Elizabeth Garrett (1854-1915), a wealthy philanthropist, championed women’s education by founding the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland, helping to finance Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and ensuring that women were admitted into the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was an active suffragist and financially helped that cause until her death in 1915.

Mary Elizabeth Garrett was born on March 5, 1854 in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of John Work and Rachel Anne Harrison Garrett. John Work Garrett was an active philanthropist, an advisor to President Lincoln during the Civil War, and the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Two of Mary’s three brothers, Robert and Thomas Harrison, became involved with the family business and Mary, even as a child was often present at [her father’s] business interviews,” ( Bryn Mawr Alumnae Quarterly, page 126) . Despite her privileged upbringing, her working as her father’s assistant, and her “clarity of vision, effective strategy, perseverance and, not least, seizing opportunities at the right time,” (Sanders), Mary Garrett’s lack of an education and her gender resulted in fewer opportunities. These restrictions, however, did not stop Garrett from working towards other women gaining access to opportunities. After her father’s death in 1884, Garrett used her inheritance to fund her ambitions.

...