Elizabeth Powell Bond photographs of England, 1898 summer

Elizabeth Powell Bond (1841-1926) was the first Dean of Women at Swarthmore College, a position she held from 1890 to 1906. A birthright Quaker and lifelong member of the Society of Friends, she played an important role in the development of coeducation at the College.

Elizabeth Macy Powell was born on January 25, 1841, in Dutchess County, New York, the daughter of Townsend and Catherine Macy Powell. When she was four years old, the family moved to Macy homestead in Ghent, New York. She attended the State Normal School in Albany and became an instructor in calisthenics at Vassar College. While working in Florence, Massachusetts, she met her future husband, Henry Herrick Bond. Henry H. Bond. a lawyer in from Northampton, Mass., was not a Quaker. They had two sons, Edwin Powell Bond, born in 1874, and Herrick Tyler Bond, born in 1878 and died in infancy. Henry Herrick Bond died Oct. 22, 1881.

In 1886, Swarthmore College appointed Elizabeth Powell Bond Matron of the College. In 1890, she was named Dean. After her retirement in 1906, she was named Dean Emeritus. A member of Swarthmore Monthly Meeting, Dean Bond died at the Jeanes Home in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, on March 29, 1926.

Much loved and respected by the College community, Dean Bond was an avid gardener, and when the old tennis courts were removed, a rose garden was established in her honor. A College guest room was also named in her honor. She was the author of two books and in her retirement, continued her interests in peace, women's rights, and racial justice. She lectured frequently and contributed poetry and prose to periodical publications.