Agnes Irwin (educator)

Born in Washington, D.C., on December 30, 1841, Agnes Irwin was a daughter of United States Congressman William Wallace Irwin (1803–1856) and Sophia Arabella (Bache) Irwin (1815–1904), a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was a daughter of Richard Bache, Jr. of the Republic of Texas Navy and Second Texas Legislature (1847), and Sophia Burrell Dallas, daughter of Arabella Maria Smith and Alexander J. Dallas, an American statesman who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison.

Agnes Irwin was also a great-granddaughter of Sarah Franklin Bache and Richard Bache, and the great-great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin,^[5] as well as a grandniece of George Mifflin Dallas, the 11th Vice President of the United States, serving under James K. Polk.

During her formative years, Agnes Irwin was raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, where her father was serving as Minister Resident to Denmark. Following the completion of his service to the United States in that role, she returned with her family to Washington, D.C., where she subsequently became a witness to the impact that the American Civil War had on the nation's capital during its first year (1861). After relocating to what she and her parents hoped would be a safer area for her in New York in 1862, she arrived around the same time as the New York City draft riots were beginning.^[6]

In 1869, Irwin took over the administration of West Penn Square Seminary for Young Ladies (1869–1894) in Philadelphia and transformed it into an institution of disciplined teaching. The school was ultimately renamed in her honor. Believing in the importance of higher education for women, she was among the first to prepare students for the examinations given by Harvard College, to credential women for teaching, and by Bryn Mawr College, to qualify for entrance. The success of The Agnes Irwin School^[7] won Irwin the support of Harvard’s president, Charles William Eliot, and led to her selection as first dean of Radcliffe College in 1894, a position she held until September 1, 1909.^[8]

During her tenure as dean at Radcliffe College, the number of graduates increased from fewer than one hundred to more than one thousand. In addition, multiple major buildings were added, including Agassiz House, Barnard, Bertram, Grace Hopkinson Eliot and Whitman Halls, Greenleaf House, four dormitories, a gymnasium, and the library.^[9] Irwin also personally paid for two exam proctors to assist with Helen Keller's education—one to monitor Keller and the other to watch Keller's proctor.^[10]

In 1900, Irwin was appointed by Governor Roger Wolcott to the Board of Managers for Massachusetts at the Paris Exposition.^[11][12] She was then appointed by Governor John L. Bates to the Massachusetts State Commission for the Adult Blind in 1903, a post she held until 1905.^[13][14]

From 1911-1914, Irwin served as the first president of the Headmistresses’ Association of Private Schools.

Irwin was the recipient of 3 Honorary Degrees:^[15][16]

• 1895 – Degree Unknown – Western University of Pennsylvania (Now University of Pittsburgh)
• 1898 – LittD. – University of Pennsylvania
• 1906 – Hood 8 Degree bestowed by Andrew Carnegie – University of St. Andrews

Irwin fell ill with pneumonia in Philadelphia in 1914, and died at her home there at 2027 De Lancey Place on December 5, 1914. She was interred at Philadelphia's Saint James the Less Episcopal Churchyard.^[17][18]