Welcome

Council & Commission

Calendar

History
  Francis Eppes VII
  1851 - 1905
  1905 - 1947
  1947 - 1959
  1959 - 1980
  1980 - 1990
  Present

Partners

Resources

Commemorative Items

150 Home

FSU Home

Albert Alexander Murphree

Albert Alexander Murphree, president of the Florida Female College from 1905 to 1909, had no intention of running his school in a manner typical of women's schools. He created an "institution of higher learning whose students happened to be females."

During these first years, over 225 women were enrolled each year. The school closely supervised classes as well as all other aspects of the students' daily lives. Mrs. W.H. Reynolds, First Lady Principal, for whom Reynolds Hall is named, did her best to make the young ladies feel at home. She tended to their medical needs, gave them lessons in etiquette, and held meetings each week to discuss students' concerns.

The college grew so rapidly that overcrowding became a major concern. College Hall, one of three original buildings on campus, provided most of the classroom space: thirteen lecture rooms, four science labs, and four study rooms. The other two buildings, East Hall and West Hall, served primarily as dormitories, when a fire destroyed West Hall n 1906, Bryan Hall was built to house students.

East Hall c1903 (south side is visible)

Between 1905 and 1908, intercollegiate athletics were important at FFC. An increasingly conservative administration soon declared, however, that only males who were faculty or family members should be permitted to attend student basketball games should be faculty or family members. This ruling meant few teams from more liberal schools were willing to play against FFC. The resulting loss of competition caused the creation of two campus teams, Stars and Crescents. The intra-college rivalry quickly became a campus tradition.

In 1909, the Legislature changed the name of Florida Female College to Florida State College for Women (FSCW). Agnes Granberry, an art student and member of the Class of 1912, created the original design for the school motto and seal: three torches side by side with the words Vires, Artes, Mores imprinted on a ribbon entwined through them. Vires: strength; Artes: skill; Mores: customs. The triple purpose of the college was to prepare its students physically, mentally, and morally to produce Femina Perfecta, the completed woman. .

Source:

• Sellers, Robin, Ph.D. Femina Perfecta: The Genesis of Florida State University, Tallahassee: The Florida State University Foundation, 1995.