"I should doubt whether a solitary female, mingling as she must do promiscuously with so large a number of the other sex, would find her situation either agreeable or advantageous," wrote Sparks to Pellet.
Yet women students continued to attempt access to Harvard's elite education by arranging private tutorials with Harvard faculty.
In 1879, the first 27 women were enrolled into the "Harvard Annex." In 1894, Radcliffe was acknowledged as a degree-giving college, and the school shared Harvard's faculty.
According to the Radcliffe Institute, Radcliffe leaders in the 19th century hoped that Harvard would eventually absorb Radcliffe into the University and open its doors to all.
Almost a century later, in 1943, Harvard classes became co-ed, and Harvard commencement finally included Radcliffe women in 1970. By 1975, quotas against the number of women allowed in Harvard were abolished.
Today, Radcliffe is expected to be "the center of the study of women, gender and society at Harvard...in five years," according to acting dean of the Institute Mary Maples Dunn.
The Radcliffe Institute includes non-degree educational programs along with four major research branches: the Bunting Fellowship Program, the Murray Research Center, the Public Policy Center and the Schlesinger Library.