Dr. Helen Magill White (November 28, 1853 – October 28, 1944) was an American academic and instructor. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in the United States. Early life and education Helen Magill was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Edward Hicks Magill and Sarah Warner Beans. She was the eldest of six children in a Quaker family. Magill was brought up to believe that she deserved the same education as a man and all five Magill daughters were educated to become college teachers. In 1859, the family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Magill enrolled as the only female student in the Boston Public Latin School. Her father taught French and Latin there for three years, and he was promoted to submaster. In 1869, Magill's father joined the faculty of the new Swarthmore College which was founded by Quakers in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Magill enrolled as an undergraduate. In 1871 her father was selected as the college's second president, serving for 17 years. The younger Magill graduated as a member of the Class of 1873, Swarthmore's first graduating class (five women and one man). Magill attended graduate school at Boston University, earning her Ph.D. in Greek in 1877. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in the United States. Magill traveled to England, studying at the University of Cambridge and placing third in her 1881 tripos (honors examinations) at Newnham College. Magill's dissertation, The Greek Drama, was long considered lost, but in 2018 it was found in her papers in the Rare Book and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. Career After serving as the principal for a year at a private school in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Magill was selected on the recommendation of Edward Everett Hale to organize Howard Collegiate Institute in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1883. Howard was a non-sectarian school for about forty women and Magill had the authority to choose teachers and conduct college courses. Magill's father contributed funds for a laboratory and gymnasium and two of Magill's sisters taught courses. Although the school expanded rapidly (and therefore needed a new building to accommodate students), Magill resigned in 1887 due to family reasons and due to a dispute with the trustees over her campaign for the provision of better sewerage. Magill taught for a short amount of time at Evelyn College for Women, a women's annex to Princeton University. Suffering from an