Review: Mary Lyon on the Web

Mary Lyon on the Web

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/marylyon

Designed and constructed by the Mount Holyoke College Office of Communications.

Reviewed November 17-22, 2009

The founder of Mount Holyoke College and a pioneer in women's education, Mary Lyon left school at age 13. Aimed at students of the same age, the site opens with questions for consideration, sets Lyon in context, and invites students to picture themselves in the story. Pages focused on specific themes follow: Childhood, Student, Founding, Opening Day, Seminary, Daily Life, Science, and Legacy. The pages are clear, interesting, and consistent. Each has a pictorial header, quote from Lyon, historical narrative, and a picture. Sidebars appear on two pages, listing facts placing Lyon's story into the larger context by sharing information about life in 19^th Century United States. One discusses childhood, the other historical highlights. Additional pages include a “cool facts” list, suggestions for school projects, and links for further research on Lyons and on women in the 19^th Century.

The content is written to appeal to the adolescent student and be appropriate for use in a classroom. For example, no mention is made of religion or of Lyon's death in 1849. Lyon is presented at all times within the lens of education – either a learner or a teacher. While keeping the target audience well in mind, the narrative considers issues of gender and to some extend class. No mention, however, is made in the narrative about race. A single sidebar bullet mentions slavery and the abolition movement. The reader leaves the Web site with a sense of daily life for girls and women in 19^th Century America and the understanding that the story of Mary Lyons and the young women who attended her seminary was the exception for the day, not the norm. A slight slant towards appealing specifically to and focusing on young women can be explained, if not excused, by the ownership of the site by Mount Holyoke College, and the assumption that while a teaching tool, it is in at least some small part a recruitment tool also.

The use of pictures is striking, especially those of personal objects. They create a tangible link with Lyons while also depicting a facet of life for a women of her time – a pin cushion, drawings she made, the green velvet bag in which she collected donations for the opening of the school – making the experience seem three dimensional. The site does not make creative use of other Web based technologies. This may be a result of being created in 1997. However, this lack is tempered by the crispness of the design and the creative interplay of narrative, list, and picture.

This site provides a biographical snapshot of a woman whose accomplishments directly affected women's history in the United States, appropriately written for its target audience of middle school students. Whether as a source for a student paper or as part of a classroom presentation, the site provides solid history.

Lyndsey Brown

Temple University

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania