Shipley School

History

Hannah Shipley, Elizabeth Shipley, and Katharine Shipley, all sisters, founded The Shipley School in 1894 as a preparatory school for Bryn Mawr College, a women's college located directly across the street. The Shipley sisters were strong-willed, highly educated Quaker women who created the school to pass on their values to similarly minded young women. The school opened in the fall of 1894 with six students and nine faculty members.

By the 1940s, Shipley had expanded the student body to 341 students. At this time, about half of all Upper School students were boarders hailing from all over the country and from Europe, Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Shipley discontinued its boarding department and began to admit male students. The last boarders graduated in 1983, and by 1984 the school was fully coeducational with equal numbers of girls and boys.

Campus

The Shipley School has three divisions: Lower School (pre-kindergarten through grade 5), Middle School (grades 6 through 8), and Upper School (grades 9 through 12).

Notable alumni

• Robb Armstrong, author of Jump Start comic strip
• Gavin Becker, American singer, songwriter and actor
• David Corenswet, American actor, screenwriter, and producer
• Alice Elliot Dark, American writer
• Lydia Denworth, award-winning science writer and contributing editor for Scientific American
• Helen Fisher, anthropologist
• Tad Friend, journalist
• Jessica Knoll, author
• Victoria Legrand, of the dream pop duo Beach House
• Dave Lieberman, chef and physician
• Marshmello, American electronic music producer/DJ
• Madeline Miller, author
• Pamela Miller, American politician, first woman mayor of Lexington, Kentucky
• Vinton Liddell Pickens, American county planner and artist
• Roxana Robinson, American novelist and biographer
• Happy Rockefeller, Second Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977
• Nancy Schwartzman, documentary filmmaker and author
• Nancy Talbot, American businesswoman
• Sarah Megan Thomas, American actor, writer, and film maker
• Dana Veraldi, artist
• Alicia Roth Weigel, intersex activist and writer
• Beatrice Wood, artist and studio potter

Heads of School

Source:

• Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katharine Shipley, 1894–1916
• Alice Howland and Eleanor Brownell, 1916–1941
• Mildred and J. Russell Lynes, 1941–1944
• Margaret Bailey Speer, 1944–1965
• Isota Tucker Epes ’36, 1965–1972
• Nancy E. Lauber, 1972–1979
• Frederic L. Chase III, 1979–1985
• Gary R. Gruber, 1985–1992
• Steve Piltch, 1992–2019
• Michael G. Turner, 2019–2024
• Steve Lisk, 2024-2025 (interim)
• Ian L. Craig, 2025-present

References

References

1. "Stats at a Glance". The Shipley School.
2. (2019). "Form 990". Internal Revenue Service.
3. "Tuition 2025-2026". The Shipley School.
4. "Shipley's History". The Shipley School.
5. (May 21, 2019). "Shipley School honors alumni, continues 125th Anniversary Celebration with special programming this spring". Main Line Media News.
6. Stein, Linda. (3 December 2013). "Young Villanova singer to perform at World Cafe Live".
7. Gray, Ellen. (2020-05-29). "Philly’s David Corenswet is making it in Netflix’s ‘Hollywood’".
8. (2022-09-08). "July Book Releases from Shipley Alumnae Authors".
9. "Episode 02 - The Science of Friendship with Lydia Denworth '84".
10. "Stories by Lydia Denworth".
11. (2023-03-06). "2023 Distinguished Alumni Award Presented to Helen Fisher ’63, PhD".
12. (28 March 2016). "Shipley alumna Jessica Knoll says gang rape in her best-selling novel was real". Philadelphia Inquirer.
13. "School".
14. "Beach House - Victoria Legrand - LSQ Podcast on Spotify".
15. (May 4, 2018). "Young Alumni Award - Presented to David Lieberman '98 May 4, 2018".
16. Wisehart, Morgan. "The Death of the High School Band".
17. (2011-05-12). "Alumni Spotlight on Madeline (Emmy) Miller ’96: Rewriting Homer's Iliad".
18. "Instagram".
19. (1915-05-15). "Death Comes to Vinton Liddell". The Charlotte News.
20. (2024-01-05). "Roxana Barry Robinson ’64: High Praise for Latest Novel".
21. (2023-01-05). "Nancy Schwartzman ’93: 2023 Sundance Film Festival Selection".
22. (2020-11-02). "Sarah Megan Thomas ’97: Filming—and Playing—Strong, Ambitious Women".
23. (2023-03-06). "2023 Young Alumni Award Presented to Alicia Roth Weigel ’08".
24. "Shipley's History Shipley School".