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Sanford, Maria (1836–1920)

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Professor Maria Louise Sanford, 1918.

Professor Maria Louise Sanford in Minneapolis, 1918.

One of the first female professors in the United States, Maria Sanford was an English professor at the University of Minnesota for nearly thirty years. Her exceptional teaching, notable public lectures, and active community leadership led many to call her "the best-loved woman in Minnesota."

Born in Saybrook, Connecticut in 1836, Maria Louise Sanford said that her love of learning started early. When she was fifteen, she asked her parents to let her use her dowry to go to the New Britain Normal School. She graduated with honors in 1855 and began teaching in a small school in Connecticut.

Over the next ten years, Sanford moved to larger schools and earned a reputation as a remarkable teacher. In 1867, she left Connecticut to teach at a school in Pennsylvania. There she campaigned for county superintendent of schools but lost by a narrow margin to her male opponent. In 1869, she was hired to replace Anna Hallowell to teach history at Swarthmore College. Sanford became one of the first female professors in the nation.

In 1880, Dr. William Watts Folwell, the president of the University of Minnesota, met Maria Sanford while looking for a female French professor. Sanford lacked an advanced degree and couldn't speak any French, but Folwell thought that she was a remarkable teacher. Folwell hired her to teach English instead. He later claimed that bringing Sanford to the University was one of his proudest accomplishments.

Sanford began teaching rhetoric and oratory at the University of Minnesota in 1880. She was an energetic lecturer, and her classes were known for their impressive workload and devoted students. She held special "sunrise courses" for her best students, and she gave surprise exams and unexpected poetry recitations. She was deeply involved in the lives of her students, offering advice and support when she could. Sanford also opened her home near the University to students, taking in student boarders and offering to host student social events.

Sanford's career as a public lecturer thrived while she was in Minnesota. She spoke to civic groups, teachers colleges, farmer's organizations, and others throughout the state and across the nation. She gave lectures four or five nights per week on poetry, art, social issues, and politics. Sanford depended on her income from public lecturing, especially after an investment in the 1880s left her 30,000 dollars in debt. Some at the university frowned on Sanford's career on the lecture circuit. It was clear, however, that Sanford's public lectures had generated goodwill toward the university throughout the state.

In 1909, at the age of seventy-two, Sanford retired. She had seen the student body grow from 300 when she arrived at the university to 4,800 students when she retired. That year's graduating class adopted her as a member, and she was asked to speak at commencement that spring. Her commencement speech urged students to appreciate the value of their education and serve their state well.

Although she had retired, many joked that Sanford didn't notice. She continued her public speaking career and made cross-country trips to deliver speeches all over the nation. Sanford also campaigned for environmental preservation, healthcare, temperance, and education. She was a director of Northwestern Hospital and founded the Minneapolis Improvement League. In her seventies she began to support women's suffrage. In 1920, she was chosen to speak at the state celebration of the passage of the nineteenth amendment.

In her eighties, Sanford traveled the country giving patriotic lectures during World War I. She died on April 21, 1920, in Washington, D.C., while on a speaking tour. The university held a memorial convocation in her honor, and news of her death made the front page of the Minneapolis Tribune.

Sanford was honored across the state of Minnesota. In 1910, the university named the first dormitory for female students Sanford Hall, and several schools in the state were named for her. In 1958, Sanford was chosen to be one of two Minnesotans represented in Statuary Hall. A statue of Sanford was donated by the state and stands in Washington, D.C., today.

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© Minnesota Historical Society
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Clifford, Geraldine Jonçich, "'Best loved'...and Besieged: Maria Louise Sanford, 1836." In Lone Voyagers: Academic Women in Coeducational Universities, 1870–1937, edited by Geraldine Jonçich Clifford, 49–83. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1989.

Schofield, Geraldine Bryan and Susan Margot Smith, "Maria Louise Sanford: Minnesota's Heroine." In Women of Minnesota: Selected Biographical Essays, edited by Barbara Stuhler and Gretchen Kreuter, 77–93. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1998.

Whitney, Helen. Maria Sanford. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1922.

Related Audio

MN90: The Problem with Professor Sanford | Details

Related Images

Professor Maria Louise Sanford, 1918.
Professor Maria Louise Sanford, 1918.
Maria Louise Sanford
Maria Louise Sanford
Portrait of Maria Louise Sanford from a program from a convocation in honor of her eightieth birthday
Portrait of Maria Louise Sanford from a program from a convocation in honor of her eightieth birthday
Statue of Maria Sanford by Evelyn Raymond, to be placed in the U.S. Captiol, Washington D.C.
Statue of Maria Sanford by Evelyn Raymond, to be placed in the U.S. Captiol, Washington D.C.
Sanford Hall, University of Minnesota.
Sanford Hall, University of Minnesota.
Heart-shaped valentine, labeled "To Miss Sanford"
Heart-shaped valentine, labeled "To Miss Sanford"

Turning Point

In 1880, Maria Sanford accepts Dr. William Watts Folwell's offer to join the faculty at the University of Minnesota and begins a thirty-year career as a professor in the English department.

Chronology

1836

Maria Louise Sanford is born on December 19 in Saybrook, Connecticut.

1855

Sanford graduates, with honors, from New Britain Normal School and begins teaching school in Connecticut.

1867

Sanford leaves Connecticut to teach in Parkersville, Pennsylvania.

1869

Sanford is hired to teach history at Swarthmore College and is made a professor the next year.

1880

William Watts Folwell, first president of the University of Minnesota, meets Sanford in Chautauqua, New York and hires her to teach rhetoric and oratory in the English department at the University.

1909

Sanford retires and gives the University commencement address, the first woman to deliver a commencement address at a major University.

1920

Sanford dies in Washington D.C. at age eighty-three, April 21.

1958

In honor of the state centennial, a statue of Maria Sanford is donated by the state of Minnesota to reside in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C.