List of Miss Porter's School alumnae
The following is a list of notable Ancients (alumnae) from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut.
1850s
- Eliza Talcott – attended in the 1850s; founder of Kobe College[1]
1870s
- Grace Hoadley Dodge (1873) – established Columbia University Teachers’ College[2][3]
- Nellie Grant (1873) – daughter of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and First Lady Julia Grant[4]
- Mary Knight Wood (1875) – pianist, music educator and composer[5]
- Julia Lathrop (1876) – first woman to head a government agency in the United States
1880s
- Helen Gilman Noyes Brown (1881) – philanthropist
- Edith Hamilton (1886) – Greek mythology scholar; sister of Alice Hamilton[6]
- Alice Hamilton (1888) – first female faculty member of the Harvard Medical School; founder of the field of industrial medicine[6]
- Theodate Pope Riddle (1888) – architect and philanthropist; architect and founder of Avon Old Farms School; architect of Westover School[7]
1890s
- Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1890) – a leader of the women's suffrage movement, a leading Progressive reformer, and great-granddaughter of Henry Clay[8]
- Ruth Hanna McCormick (1897) – member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois and the first woman to run for the U.S. Senate
- Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark (née Nonie May Stewart) – American-born wife of Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, the son of King George I of Greece
1910s
- Edith Roelker Curtis (1912) – author, historian, and diarist
- Dorothy Keeley Aldis (1914) – children's author and poet
- Emily Hale (1916) – speech and drama teacher, and muse of T.S. Eliot[9]
1920s
1930s
- Barbara Hutton (1930) – socialite, dubbed "Poor Little Rich Girl"[10]
- Gloria Vanderbilt – artist, writer, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite[10]
- Edith Bouvier Beale (1935) – socialite; cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; subject of the documentary film Grey Gardens[10]
- Anne Cox Chambers (1938) – U.S. Ambassador to Belgium during the Carter administration[11]
- Gene Tierney (1938) – Academy Award-nominated actress[10][12]
- Brenda Frazier (1939) – socialite[10]
1940s
- Polly Allen Mellen (1942) – editor of Vogue magazine
- Dina Merrill (née Nedenia Hutton) (1943) – actress and American socialite
- Letitia Baldrige Hollensteiner (1943) – author and social secretary to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy[12][13]
- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1947) – former First Lady of the United States[12][14]
- Patience Cleveland (1948) – actress and published author
- Lilly Pulitzer (née Lillian Lee McKim) (1949) – fashion designer and American socialite[12]
1950s
- Lee Radziwill (née Bouvier) (1950) – public relations executive for Giorgio Armani, author, and younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis[12]
- Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam (1951) – founding president of the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal[15][16][17]
- Laura Rockefeller Chasin (1954) – socialite
- Elise Ravenel Wood du Pont (1954) – former First Lady of Delaware and 1984 Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives[18]
- Barbara Babcock (1955) – Emmy Award-winning actress for Hill Street Blues
- Pema Chödrön (formerly Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) (1955) – Buddhist nun and author; resident director of Gampo Abbey[19]
- Agnes Gund (1956) – president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and 1997 recipient of the National Medal of Arts[20][21]
1960s
- Mimi Alford (1961) – former White House intern who wrote a book about her affair with John F. Kennedy[22][23]
- Sheila Ford Hamp (1969) – owner of the Detroit Lions[24]
1970s
- Elizabeth May (1972) – the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada and leader of the Green Party of Canada
- Dorothy Bush Koch (1977) – philanthropist and member of the Bush political family
- Sarah Ludlow Blake (1978) – writer[25]
1980s
- Susannah Grant (1980) – director and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for Erin Brockovich[26]
- Gregg Renfrew (1986) – entrepreneur and founder of Beautycounter
- Mary Anne Amirthi Mohanraj (1989) – writer and editor
1990s
- Chrishaunda Lee (1994) – niece of Oprah Winfrey and hostess of PBS programming[27]
2000s
- Mamie Gummer (2001) – actress; daughter of actress Meryl Streep[28]
- Hayley Petit (2007) – victim of the Cheshire murders[29]
Fictional alumnae
- In the 2003 drama Mona Lisa Smile, Joan Brandwyn's student file reveals that she attended Miss Porter's School, though the film incorrectly locates it in Pennsylvania.
- In the 2000 drama The Skulls, Chloe is stated to have attended Miss Porter's School.
- In the series Gossip Girl, a guest character by the name of Shelby Wright goes to Miss Porter's.
- In the series Mad Men, Sally Draper attended Miss Porter's.[30]
References
- ^ Ishii, Noriko Kawamura (March 2004). American Women Missionaries at Kobe College, 1873-1909. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-93620-4.
- ^ Roger L. Geiger (January 1, 2000). History of Higher Education Annual 2000. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-2521-4. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
- ^ John F. Ohles (1978). Biographical Dictionary of American Educators. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 386–387. ISBN 978-0-313-04012-2.
- ^ Waxman, Olivia B. (July 4, 2012). "Nellie Grant | Happy Birthday to America—and her First Daughters". Time. Time. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ The Musician. 5. Vol. 22. Hatch Music Company. 1917. p. 396. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
- ^ a b Gorman, Kathleen (July 11, 1995). "Miss Porter's Graduate to Appear on Stamp". Hartford Courant. Hartford. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ^ Roy Brown, Jane (June 14, 2006). "Hill-Stead was Home to a Trailblazing Female Architect". The Boston Globe. pp. D.7. – via ProQuest 405033971
- ^ "Madeline McDowell Breckinridge Papers, 1867, 1888–1923. – Kentucky Digital Library". Eris.uky.edu. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ Identifier: CA-MS-00344. "Emily Hale Papers". Smith College. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e Peretz, Evgenia (June 9, 2009). "The Code of Miss Porter's". Vanity Fair. No. July. ISSN 0733-8899. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ Heckert, Amanda. "Anne Cox Chambers: A conversation with the famously private billionaire". Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Glasberg, Eve (March 3, 2006). "A 'Village of Pretty Houses,' Where Women's Lives Were Reshaped". The New York Times.
- ^ Davis, Nancy; Barbara Donahue (1992). Miss Porter's School: A History. ISBN 0-9632985-1-8.
- ^ "Boarding School Graduates – The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS)". Boardingschools.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ "2012 Presidential Citizens Medal Recipients | The White House". whitehouse.gov. April 1, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2013 – via National Archives.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Miss Porter's School Annual Report 2009-2010, page 9" (PDF). Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ Bartlett, Kay (July 1, 1984), "Delaware's first lady becomes a candidate", The Milwaukee Journal, p. 3
- ^ "Pema Chödrön". Gampo Abbey. Archived from the original on March 24, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 12/22/10 | The White House". whitehouse.gov. December 22, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2013 – via National Archives.
- ^ Prato, Judy (October 18, 2003). "Miss Porter's School Honors Agnes Gund – Hartford Courant". Articles.courant.com. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (February 9, 2012). "Sure, Mr. President, If You Really Want Me To". The New York Times. p. C4. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ Smith, Emily Esfahani (February 9, 2012). "What's the Most Shocking Part of Mimi Alford's Story?". Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ Birkett, Dave (June 23, 2020). "Sheila Ford Hamp replaces mother, Martha Firestone Ford, as Lions owner, chairman". Detroit Free Press.
- ^ "Teacher Is Wed To Sarah Blake". The New York Times. August 5, 1984.
- ^ "Miss Porter's School ~ alumnae". Porters.org. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ Kelley, Kitty (2010). Oprah: a biography (Large Print ed.). New York: Random House Large Print. p. 587.
- ^ Lee Perez, Chrishaunda (September 2022). "Out & About: The Reeducation of Miss Porter's School". Town & Country. pp. 68–69.
Over the years Miss Porter's has welcomed the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Gloria Vanderbilt, as well as academics like Emily Hale and Mary Anne Mohanraj, the actor Mamie Gummer, and the influential Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön.
– via ProQuest 2726051417 - ^ Bloom, Lary (March 9, 2008). "As School Mourns Its Own, Virtues Come to Light". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 9, 2026. – via ProQuest 2222594544
- ^ Leeds, Sarane (June 24, 2013). "'Mad Men' Finale Recap: The Long Goodbye". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2023.