Stephens College: A Long and Rich History of Service to Women

Stephens College in Columbia, MO was founded as Columbia Female Academy in 1833. It became Baptist Female College in 1857, then, Stephens Female College in 1870, and finally, Stephens College in 1917. The college web site offers an historical timeline with additional key dates.

You can also view an interesting YouTube video, "Stephens College 175th," that was initially created to coincide with the institution's anniversary in 2008.  The video soundtrack features Peggy Lee's "I'm A Women" and energetically celebrates women's education at Stephens. 

A series of blog posts were created several years ago, "Stephens: A Look Back," and are still a valuable resource for learning more about the college.  The posts explore changes at Stephens from year to year using the Stephensophia yearbooks that can be accessed via the Missouri Digital Heritagecollection.

A detailed look at Stephens' history can be found in the 1970 book Stephens: A Story of Educational Innovation written by John C. Crighton and published by American Press, Columbia, MO.

There are a number of posts featuring Stephens College on the Small College Garden blog that may be of interest in learning more about more recent institutional activity:

• Sunday, July 31, 2016  Interview with President Dianne Lynch of Stephens College
• Sunday, February 19, 2017  Stephens College Offers Saturday Afternoon Science Programs
• Sunday, June 18, 2017  Stephens College Offers Innovative Summer Camping Experiences
• Monday, June 19, 2017  Esports added at Stephens College