"C" is for Converse College

"C" is for Converse College. Converse College was founded in 1889 by a group of Spartanburg leaders to provide for the education of young middle-class women. The college opened its doors in 1890. Unlike many southern women’s colleges, Converse offered students a course of study roughly equivalent to that offered by male colleges. In 1910 the college established a School of Music. In 1912 Converse was accepted into the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern States. The school’s highly respected conservatory-style musical education drew students from all over the United States. Among its distinguished alumnae are novelists Julia Peterkin and Elizabeth Boatwright Coker, composer Lily Strickland, and historian Carol Bleser. Converse College has educated thousands of South Carolina and southeastern women who became leaders in their communities, their professions, and the arts.