Dr. McQuesten Dear Sir,

We were agreeably surprised last evening at receiving your kind and generous gift. We divided them equally among the Presbyterians as we thought that would meet your approbation. Please accept our warmest thanks. We are,
Yours Respectfully, Becca M. Tassie [and] Jennie Mitchell
[written at bottom]: Dr. McQuesten, City

¹ Dr. Calvin McQuesten was vice-president of the college (1861-72) and president (1872-85). Wesleyan Female College was located at 102-114 King Street East (pre-1890, 57 King St. E) and operated from 1861-90. The Wesleyan Female College was later changed to the Wesleyan Ladies' College. The presence of the college was of great educational and historic significance. At this point in history, girls were rarely given any form of formal education. Many had to fight to simply learn to read and write. Even the education of wealthy female children was substandard, consisting of a curriculum of Singing, Dancing, Graces of polite society, and basic Art and Literature. The creation of a ladies' college in Hamilton, whose primary function served for the education of young women, was groundbreaking. The academic curriculum consisted of traditional subject matter (Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, History, Geography, Science, and English) as well as other interesting fields of study (Modern Languages, Classics, Anatomy, Physiology, Geology, Natural Theology, Logic, Moral Philosophy, Drawing, Painting, Music, Zoology, Botany, and Wax Fruit and Flower Arrangement). The school also had a renowned literary society, a conservatory of music, a cooking school, and a newspaper that went by the name "the Portfolio." During the career of the College, over two thousand women were educated and there were over two hundred graduates. Of the graduates of the class of 1888, some of them obtained honours in the first Bachelor of Arts Degree, ever won by women in the province. (http://collections.ic.gc.ca/hamilton_tour/wlc.htm)