WS Legacy

William Smith College, founded in 1908, is technically a women’s college located in upstate New York in the beautiful city of Geneva (only a quick twenty minute drive from the historic Seneca Falls). William Smith created the college to allow women the opportunity to gain an education and use those tools when navigating through the world. While William Smith is a college for women, it is part of a coordinate system (one of the last in the country!) with Hobart College (for men). Thus, the official title is Hobart and William Smith Colleges. While William Smith and Hobart may share all facilities, faculty, and curriculum, WS boasts an impressive feminist history to which Hobart College cannot lay claim. For the purposes of this site, we will maintain focus on William Smith. The documents below offer a glimpse of William Smith College’s feminist roots.