Radcliffe College

Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and held the popular reputation of having an intellectual, literary, and independent-minded female student body. Radcliffe conferred Radcliffe College diplomas on undergraduates and graduate students for approximately the first 70 years of its history. Beginning in 1963, it awarded joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas to undergraduates. In 1977 Radcliffe signed a formal "non-merger merger" agreement with Harvard and completed full integration with Harvard in 1999. Within Harvard University, Radcliffe's former administrative campus, Radcliffe Yard, is home to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Former Radcliffe housing at the Radcliffe Quadrangle, which includes Pforzheimer House, Cabot House, and Currier House, has been incorporated into the Harvard College house system. Under the terms of the 1999 consolidation, the Radcliffe Yard and the Radcliffe Quadrangle retain the "Radcliffe" designation in perpetuity. Early history The "Harvard Annex," a private program for the instruction of women by Harvard faculty, was founded in 1879 after prolonged efforts by women to gain access to Harvard College. Arthur Gilman, a Cambridge resident, banker, philanthropist and writer, was the founder of what became The Annex/Radcliffe. At a time when higher education for women was a sharply controversial topic, Gilman hoped to establish a higher educational opportunity for his daughter that exceeded what was generally available in female seminaries and the new women's colleges such as Vassar and Wellesley. These schools were in their early years and had substantial numbers of faculty who were not university trained.