Explore the College’s history by scrolling left or right to move through the timeline. Most events contain links to more information.  Select the “plus” sign to zoom in and see more events per year, or choose the “minus” sign to zoom out and see fewer.

For "An Onward Spirit": A Brief History, we relied most heavily on the staff and resources of the Friends Historical Library, Richard Walton's Swarthmore College: An Informal History (1986), and past issues of The Halcyon, The Phoenix, and the Swarthmore College Bulletin. 

The name comes from the first College planning meeting held in 1860 by founder Martha Tyson and her husband, Nathan, for a large group of Baltimore Friends. According to their daughter Isabella, the meeting produced “an onward spirit” that was carried to the Baltimore Yearly Meeting a few weeks later. Friends at that meeting shared their enthusiasm for a school for the higher education of Quaker children and decided to bring the message to similar meetings in Philadelphia and New York.