Did you know?
Posted on January 6, 2012
Wheaton's first recorded Commencement speaker was the Reverend Eli Thurston in 1851. It was not until 1894 that a woman, Mary A. Livermore, first addressed the graduates. Livermore, then of Melrose, Mass., was an active abolitionist, women’s advocate, lecturer, newspaper reporter and editor who became “the Victorian equivalent of a pundit, frequently offering comments on issues that pertained to women, from tight corsets to the Lizzie Borden case” (marylivermore.com).
Livermore estimated that she delivered her most popular lecture, “What Shall We Do With Our Daughters?”, more than 800 times. Perhaps that was the speech she presented at Wheaton?
