The first head of the institution was Rev. Dr. Theron Baldwin, a native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale University. After five years of service, from 1838 to 1843, he was succeeded by Philena Fobes. She was succeeded in 1867 by Harriet Newell Haskell, a member of a distinguished New England family, and one of the remarkable women of her generation. Catherine Burrowes, of the faculty, succeeded Haskell for the next two years as acting principal, declining permanent appointment. Martina C. Erickson, having been elected permanent principal, assumed her new duties in September, 1910. She was formerly dean of the ladies' department of the Indiana State Normal School.
