page_title: Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women
section_title: Elizabeth Leighton Lee
hierarchical_section_title: Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women / Foundation of the school / Elizabeth Leighton Lee
caption_attribution_description: English: "The snapshot of Miss Lee, shown above, was taken in the garden of the School of Horticulture for Women, of which she is the head." The original article goes on to discuss the importance of the school's agricultural training for World War I.
context_page_description: The Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women was one of the first horticultural schools to be established by and for women in the United States, opening on February 10, 1911. As the second institution to provide women with a practical education in horticulture and landscape architecture, it made possible their entry into a professional field. Although some men were employed in faculty positions, the school's leadership was intentionally female. As of 1919, the board of trustees consisted of twenty-five prominent women citizens. All but the last director of the school were women.
  The school played a "unique role" in women's history and garden history. Members of the school were instrumental in the establishment of the Garden Club of America, the Woman's National Agricultural and Horticultural Association, the Woman's Land Army of America, and the publication of the Farmer's Digest. It served as a national and international model for other institutions, such as the Keisien School in Japan.
  In 1958, the school merged with Temple University Ambler and became co-educational.
context_section_description: Elizabeth Leighton Lee became director of the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women in 1915, and led the school during World War I (See more below). Lee is considered the first woman practitioner of landscape architecture in the Philadelphia area, and is credited with beginning the landscape design program at the school.  In 1925, the school also hired Markley Stevenson as a faculty member.  Stevenson had studied landscape architecture at Harvard. By 1934, under the direction of faculty member James Bush-Brown, the school offered a 2-year "Preparatory course for Professional Study in Landscape Architecture". The program's design component included nine hours per week of freehand drawing, drafting, and the history of gardens in the first year, and nine hours per week of freehand drawing, landscape construction, and planning design in the second year.  Graduating students were eligible for advanced admission to the  Cambridge School of Domestic and Landscape Architecture (later Smith College).
caption: Elizabeth Leighton Lee in the garden of the School, 1917
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