By: Alexandria Ruschman, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2021, International Studies and Central Eurasian Studies, IU Bloomington
Edited by: Ellie Kaverman and Bre Anne Briskey, Bicentennial Graduate Assistants
In 1870, only eight state universities accepted women, including Indiana University. At the time, many women who wanted a higher education faced stigma and criticism. Popular pseudoscience of the day pushed the idea that too much brain activity would put a women’s health at risk, and that women were intellectually and physically inferior.
Regardless of such obstacles, Tamar Althouse was determined to achieve a higher education for herself in the field of law. She became the first woman to graduate from the Indiana University School of Law in 1892.[1] Althouse went on to lead a pioneering life in Indiana law and redefined what a woman was capable of in the early 20th century.
Early Life and Education
Tamar Althouse was born in New Harmony, IN in 1872 and began her law degree at Indiana University at the age of 17. After three years of studies, Althouse graduated with her Bachelor of Laws in 1892 at the age of 20. [2] Her fellow classmates included 16 male students.
As a student, Althouse noted the importance of her and all other women students’ presence at the university during this time. In an article she penned for the Indiana Student, she wrote, “But to whatever source woman’s recognition in the past may be attributed, in the future higher education will form the ‘open sesame’ for our women to all honors, all distinctions, all happiness, all opportunities that are in any way desirable in after life.”[3]
After graduation, Althouse moved to Evansville, IN. Meanwhile, the question of whether women could practice law in the state was being debated in Indiana courts.
A year after Althouse’s graduation, an Indiana district court judge ruled that women were not allowed to practice law in accordance with the 1851 Indiana Constitution, which stated, “Anyone of good moral character who was eligible to vote could be a lawyer.”[4] Of course, women were unable to vote until 1920.
In a victory for Althouse and all Hoosier women who aspired to careers in law, the Indiana Supreme Court overruled this decision in their famous In re Leach ruling.
The court decided that the state could not control a woman’s vocational choice, arguing that, “There is no reason for an exception [of women] of the legal profession. If nature has endowed woman with wisdom, if our colleges have given her education, if her energy and diligence have led her to a knowledge of the law, and if her ambition directs her to adopt the profession, shall it be said that forgotten fiction must bar the door against her?”[5]
Career
At just 21, Althouse was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1893; her career had officially begun.[6]
Althouse began a position in the law office of J.E. Williamson in Evansville, becoming the first female lawyer in Vanderburg County.[7] While she worked as a lawyer for many years in Evansville, she also held several other jobs. In 1903, Althouse was hired as a court reporter in Vanderburg, which she served as for 12 years.
In 1911, Althouse was hired as a staffer for Al Venaman, the Indiana State Speaker of the House. Later, in 1924, Althouse accepted a position with the Indiana Public Service Commission. In each of Althouse’s professional undertakings, it is likely that her work was quite solitary.
A Need for Community: Althouse’s Work in Women’s Organizations
Althouse helped establish the first Women’s Rotary Club in the United States. Founded in Evansville in 1914, this club aimed to “inspire a greater spirit of co-operation and inculcate broader and more vigorous business views among those women who are engaged in independent business or professions.”[8] The club brought professional women together for the first time.
The Rotary Club began with thirteen members, but quickly grew to over fifty in just two years. Althouse served as president of the organization twice. The members quickly realized the impact of creating space for professional women to connect. Althouse then helped establish women’s rotary clubs around the country. In 1924, through her work with the rotary club, Althouse became involved with the Indiana Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, and rose to position of Vice President in the organization.[9]
Legacy
In the mid-1920s, Althouse’s husband fell ill, which led her to step back from her positions in the professional community.
Althouse continued to be involved in professional engagements and organizations until her passing in 1936, at the age of 64.[10]
Tamar Althouse chose an ambitious path for a woman of her time, and when faced with the realization of the solitude that many professional women endured, she chose to create a space for women to come together.
Althouse was a pioneer for women who looked to break through barriers in higher education. As the first woman graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, Althouse attained her education, using it at a time in which rigid expectations were placed on women, and she provided a different path for like-minded Hoosier women to follow.
Bibliography
- Pauwels, Colleen K., “Tamar Althouse Scholz, First Woman Law Graduate” (1992). Articles by Maurer Faculty. Paper 959.
- “Sarah Parke Morrison.” Indiana University Archives Exhibits. http://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/items/show/552
- “Justice Praises Law Schools’ Leadership” The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, Indiana), 4 Dec 1992, Page 64
- Althouse, Tamar. “A Question,” Indiana Student, November 1892, pg. 11-12.
- In re Leach, 134 Ind. 665 (1893)
- “Academy of Law Alumni Fellows Profile,” Indiana Law Annotated. Vol. 17 No. 12. November 15, 1999
- Fariss & Buckley, Indiana University Maurer School of Law: The First 175 Years, page 20. November 1, 2019.
Notes
[1] “Justice Praises Law Schools’ Leadership”
[2] Pauwels, Colleen K.
[3] Althouse, Tamar.
[4] “Justice Praises Law Schools’ Leadership”
[5] In re Leach, 134 Ind. 665 (1893)
[6] Pauwels, Colleen K.
[7] Fariss & Buckley
[8] Pauwels, Colleen K.
[9] Pauwels, Colleen K.
[10] Fariss & Buckley