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Academies flourished in the early 19th century. While some were single-sex institutions, many admitted both girls and boys. To prepare young women to fulfill their primary role as wives and mothers in the new republic was the main goal of female education in this period. John Gardiner, an Episcopal minister, expressed this view when he declared that women were "the first and most important guardians and instructors of the rising generation." In addition to grammar, arithmetic and history, academies offered instruction in female "accomplishments" such as drawing, cartography, embroidery, painting and music. Cartography, or map making, required artistic skill as well as knowledge of geography. Harriet Goodhue (1799-1874) was about fifteen years old when she drew this world map for her course in cartography at Deerfield Academy. A map like this was frequently a final requirement that signaled a student's successful completion of the course.

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