The Scholarship Fund's History
Founded in 1906 by the Erie Branch of the American Association of University Women
In the Beginning
Shortly after the College Women's Club (later to become the American Association of University Women) of Erie was started in 1902, the members established a scholarship fund to help young women achieve higher levels of education. Since 1906, the Erie Branch of AAUW has assisted Erie County women with their academic goals.
During the next century, scholarships of various types were awarded to young women in our community. These awards have taken different forms depending on the needs of the times. In the beginning, members provided transportation and chaperonage to high school girls who wanted to visit prospective colleges. Later, funds for tuition were provided based on academic excellence and community service. Awards were also established to help women returning to academic life complete their degrees.
The fund was started in 1906 with a $5.00 donation from Dr. Adella B. Woods, a founding member of the organization. Since that time, AAUW members have regularly contributed to and raised monies for the Adella B. Woods Scholarship Fund.
About Adella B. Woods
Adella B. Woods was born in 1852 to parents of German heritage. Her family lived in the East Springfield area, where her early education was gained in a one-room schoolhouse. When she was 15, they moved to a farm in East Millcreek, where she heard about the first free public high school in Erie.
At this time in America's history, the generally held belief was that women only needed enough knowledge to run the household and keep the accounts. As Dr. Woods stated in a talk, "They thought if a woman could read, write and figure up how much seven dozen eggs cost at 13 cents a dozen and how much nine pounds of butter at 17 cents a pound came to, she had all the schooling she would ever need."
But the teenage Adella was determined that she wanted more than that, and the new Erie High School offered her just the opportunity she was looking for to further her education. Despite her parents' indifference, she gained admittance to the new school on the block bounded by East Seventh and Eighth and French and Holland Streets. There were four classes in one large room. Courses included chemistry, rhetoric, natural philosophy, algebra, geometry, and physical geography. Final examinations were administered in public to help convince doubting taxpayers that their money was being well spent. Adella and her classmate had to answer the test questions in front of a public assemblage: She described the scene this way:
Contrasted with today's practices, this must have been a very daunting experience.
In those days, of course, you couldn't commute daily between Millcreek and Erie so Adella lived in a rented room on State Street. She went home on the weekends to help with the chores and to re-stock her food supply which was always cold since there were no cooking privileges where she lived. She graduated with the first class of Erie Public High School in 1869 and became a teacher in the school the following term. But Adella had even greater aspirations and, by this time, had persuaded her parents that she had the ability to complete further schooling.
She then went on to study at the Michigan University School of Medicine at Ann Arbor. Later she transferred to the Women's Medical College at the University of Pennsylvania and received her degree in 1876, followed by an internship at the University of Pennsylvania Women's Hospital. She returned to practice medicine in Erie at 715 French Street, where her office was located for many years. She was not only a busy physician but an active member of the community working for the pasteurization of milk, a pure water supply, regular medical examinations in schools, and childhood immunization.
She was a lifetime member of the Erie County Medical Society, the College Women's Club, and the Women's Club of Erie. She was married to Dr. Anthony A. Woods and they had two daughters, Bertha and Ethel. Her avocation was traveling to places like Egypt, the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, and Jamaica.
Adella B. Woods was a leader in the women's liberation movement long before the term was coined. She entered a profession generally reserved for men. She used her administrative ability to found and lead the College Women's Club, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2002. She must have believed in the title of her graduation essay, "A Smooth Sea Never Makes a Skillful Mariner," since most of her life was spent in uncharted waters.
Throughout her life, she was a strong advocate and a living example of the value of education. AAUW Erie Branch (formerly the College Women's Club) is proud to continue to present scholarships to young women from the fund that she founded.
If you would like to help continue this tradition by contributing to the Adella B. Woods Fund, please click here to donate online or send your donation to:
AAUW Erie Branch
PO Box 9264, Erie, PA 16505
Please make checks payable to:
"AAUW Erie Branch Inc" and designated for Adella B Woods
AAUW Erie Branch is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization
