Harcum College

Harcum College from its inception has sought to enrich its graduates by broadening their intellectual and cultural horizons with practical, experiential education and exposure to the liberal arts. The origin of Harcum can be traced back to February 1913 when Edith Hatcher, a talented concert pianist and daughter of prominent Virginia clergyman and educator Dr. William E. Hatcher, married Octavius Marvin Harcum, another Virginian. Mrs. Harcum studied music, performed piano concerts in Europe and the U.S., and was head of the music department at The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, PA. She decided after the birth of her first child that “the concert career did not offer a chance for family stability” so the couple chose a venture that would combine her “talents as an educator and artist and his business vision and ability.” The Harcum Post Graduate School opened on October 1, 1915 in Melville Hall in Bryn Mawr which was home to the Harcum family as well as the School’s academic building. The first class had three students and five pianos. Mrs. Harcum’s stated goal was to “start a school where the individual talent of each girl would be treated as an integral part of her education.” To help her plan the curriculum, she had as consultants her sister Orie Hatcher, a faculty member at Bryn Mawr College, a faculty member from Harvard University, and the President of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Though her own expertise was in the fine arts, Edith was also committed to providing a strong academic program. Since 2007, under the leadership of Dr. Jon Jay DeTemple Harcum’s Charles Trout Library underwent a $1.2 million refurbishment, the historic Little Theatre was completely renovated, new programs were added, and Harcum expanded its academic offerings throughout the region with many Partnership Sites in Philadelphia, Reading, and Chester, Pennsylvania as overall enrollment increased to nearly 1,700, the highest in its history. In 2014 the NJCAA Division I Bears men’s basketball team went to the NJCAA National Semifinals, the first final four appearance in the history of the program. Harcum will continue to help students find appropriate directions for their academic and personal development leading to specialized careers, while, as Mrs. Harcum noted “respecting each student as an individual with personal needs, interests, aptitudes, and aspirations.”