October 23, 1853
Beyond Vassar
Elmira Collegiate Seminary, originally chartered in 1852 as Auburn Female University, received a new charter from the State of New York after its founding committee failed to find the promised funding in Auburn, NY, and accepted an offer of $5,000 from an Elmira resident, Simeon Benjamin. The donation required that the new institution be under the control of the Presbyterian Synod of Geneva.