Mary A. Brigham

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title: "Mary A. Brigham" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mount-holyoke-college-faculty", "presidents-and-principals-of-mount-holyoke-college", "1829-births", "1889-deaths", "women-heads-of-universities-and-colleges", "people-from-westborough,-massachusetts", "mount-holyoke-college-alumni", "railway-accident-deaths-in-the-united-states"] description: "American academic" topic_path: "society/education" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_A._Brigham" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American academic ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Mary Ann Brigham
image	Mary Ann Brigham (page 498 crop).jpg
title	President Elect of Mount Holyoke College
term_start	1889
term_end	1889
predecessor	Elizabeth Blanchard
successor	Louisa F. Cowles
birth_date
birth_place	Westborough, Massachusetts
death_date
death_place	New Haven, Connecticut
alma_mater	Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
profession	Professor
spouse	never married
website	Mt. Holyoke College Archives
::

| name = Mary Ann Brigham | image = Mary Ann Brigham (page 498 crop).jpg | caption = | title = President Elect of Mount Holyoke College | term_start = 1889 | term_end = 1889 | predecessor = Elizabeth Blanchard | successor = Louisa F. Cowles | birth_date = | birth_place = Westborough, Massachusetts | death_date = | death_place = New Haven, Connecticut | alma_mater = Mount Holyoke Female Seminary | profession = Professor | spouse = never married | website = Mt. Holyoke College Archives ** Mary Ann Brigham ** (6 December 1829 – 29 June 1889) was an American educator who, after teaching for a few years, was elected President of Mount Holyoke College in 1889, but died in a railway accident before she could take up her appointment."

Biography

Mary Ann Brigham was born 6 December 1829 in Westborough, Massachusetts to Dexter Brigham and Mary Ann (Gould) Brigham. She was a descendant of Thomas Brigham and Edmund Rice, early immigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was educated at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, as part of the 1849 class.

Brigham began her academic career in 1855, teaching at Mount Holyoke. In 1858 she was named assistant principal at Ingham University, remaining in that post until 1863. She served for several years as president of the Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Club in New York City, and shortly after the 1888 charter of Mount Holyoke College, she was elected as 7th President of her alma mater. On 29 June 1889, as she was traveling from New York to South Hadley, Massachusetts to assume her post, the train crashed at New Haven, Connecticut. She died in the wreck. In 1897 a dormitory was erected by the New York Alumnae Club on the Mt. Holyoke campus. It was named The Mary Brigham Hall.

References

References

1. "Mary A Brigham Records". Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.
2. pp. 210 & 353 In: Brigham, W. I. Tyler. The History of the Brigham family, a record of several thousand descendants of Thomas Brigham the emigrant, 1603-1653. New York: Grafton Press, 1907
3. Edmund Rice (1638) Association (2013). Descendants of Edmund Rice CD-ROM [http://www.edmund-rice.org/books.htm ERA website]
4. "Emma « Brooklyn schools collection, 1828 – 1975".
5. "Mourned by Alumnae:Mount Holyoke Graduates Pay Tributes to Miss Brigham's Memory". New York Times, 17 November 1889.

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