e that the school was to benefit, the Women. It wasn’t until 56 years after the Philadelphia School’s first charter, in 1909, that an amendment was granted making the Board consist of certain members “who may either by men or women,” (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 34-37). In 1860, a man named James Dundas (a very wealthy man who lived in a mansion quite close to the School) began sending flowers to the school daily from his extensive hothouses, to be used by the pupils in drawing and painting from nature (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 60). During this same time, the School was extremely prosperous and began to return the favor by donating some of its own flowers, fruits, antiques, figures, casts from life, and sketches/diagrams to other women’s art schools, such as those in Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre, and Millersville (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 63).The Philadelphia School of Design for Women had an enormous impact on the growth of education of women artists during its time. Many of the women who attended the Philadelphia School graduated and were immediately hired by industrial firms (e.g., Warner, Howell & Brother, the Pennypack Print Works) as designers or were hired by the School as teachers for the new pupils (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 63). And during 1877, a series of gold medals were awarded to the School’s pupils who submitted original designs with “refined artistic taste.” (Eventually, the President of the School decided to award prizes regularly, so as to push women to study even harder) (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 67-68). In the year 1932, this school merged with the Moore Institute of Art, Science, and Industry and remains, to this day, one of the only art schools that grants bachelor’s degrees in art.Yet another art school that changed the education of women artists is the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine ...
