In her March lecture, historian Dr. Jesse Vander Heide explored the hidden social worlds of young women in 19th-century American boarding schools, revealing how these institutions were both sites of control and unexpected spaces of resistance.

Focusing on female academies and seminaries between 1780 and 1870, Vander Heide explained that these schools aimed to prepare young women for roles as pious, domestic wives and mothers. Educators enforced strict rules governing students’ schedules, movements, reading habits, and even friendships. By structuring schools as surrogate “families,” teachers closely monitored students’ behavior, hoping to prevent relationships that might challenge ideals of femininity or heterosexual marriage.

Yet students did not simply accept these constraints. Drawing on archival accounts in letters and diaries, Vander Heide discussed how young women actively resisted institutional control by forming deep, emotionally and sometimes romantically intimate relationships with one another. Within these heavily regulated environments, students cultivated what she describes as a “queer student culture,” often referring to one another as lovers, fiancées, or even husbands and wives.

These relationships were not isolated incidents but part of a broader cultural pattern across female schools. Students exchanged secret letters, shared beds, and developed exclusive partnerships—sometimes even imagining futures together beyond school. In doing so, they challenged the expectation that their identities should center solely on domestic roles and heterosexual marriage.

Importantly, Vander Heide situates these dynamics within broader systems of power. Female education in this period was largely reserved for white, middle- and upper-class women, reinforcing racial and class hierarchies even as it expanded educational opportunities.

Ultimately, her lecture highlighted a striking paradox: institutions designed to reinforce traditional gender roles also created the conditions for young women to imagine alternative identities and relationships. Through their friendships and intimacies, students not only resisted authority but also helped lay the groundwork for new forms of independence and community in American society.

Dr. Jessie Vander Heide also spoke to Dr. Chris Frey’s Queer History class as a part of her time on BGSU’s campus. Her lecture was presented in March, 2026 with support from the School of Inclusive Teacher Education and the Department of History.