Partner Eleanor Brownell

Queer Places:
Bryn Mawr College, 101 N Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, United States
Vassar College (Seven Sisters), 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, United States
The Shipley School, 814 Yarrow St, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, United States
Brownell House, 801 Yarrow St, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, United States
Howland House, 1029 Wyndon Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, USA
185 Brownell Howland Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Alice Gulielma Merrill Howland (1883-1968) was an influential educator, activist, and pioneer in women's leadership who co-guided The Shipley School for over two decades alongside her lifelong partner, Eleanor Brownell. Howland and +Brownell attended Bryn Mawr College and would later become co-principals of the Shipley School before retiring to Santa Fe. Together they would raise two adopted daughters.
Alice Howland was born in Wilmington, New Castle, DE, the daughter of Mary Catherine Shipley (1854–1931) and Charles Samuel Howland (1851–1914). She had one brother, Murray Shipley Howland (born 1874). She attended Bryn Mawr College in 1901–1902, but did not graduate. She also attended Vassar College
In 1916 Alice Howland and Eleanor Brownell purchase The Shipley School and become co-heads. Alice was the niece of Shipley founders Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katherine Shipley. She and Eleanor purchased the school in 1916 and lived together at Gladwyn Farm, on the campus grounds, for many years. The couple worked as co-head mistresses of Shipley until 1932, when they retired, sold the school, and headed to Santa Fe full-time. “The Hownells,” as they were known, guided Shipley through wars, epidemics, and economic depression, building a national reputation for the School. They hired strong and highly regarded teachers, a large number of whom stayed for many years. In 1932, they oversaw Shipley’s incorporation as a non-profit with a Board of Directors.
In 1940 the addition to the main campus was the Clarke house and carriage house at the corner of Morris Avenue and Yarrow Street, purchased in 1940. In 1943, it was renamed Brownell House for Eleanor Brownell on her retirement after 30 years’ directing the school along with Alice Howland. A preschool was housed in the sunroom and there was an apartment upstairs for then Principals, Mildred and Russell Lynes and their children. Later, boarders lived in dormitory rooms on the top two floors. The original drawing room of the house served as a music room. In 1972, as part of an effort to make Shipley more attractive to boarders, the ground floor of Brownell was redesigned as a student center. A ping pong table replaced the piano in the music room. Newly coeducational, the school allowed visiting boys stay for a night in the upper floors. Ultimately, efforts to sustain the boarding department failed and in 1983, Brownell was once again rearranged to house the school’s development offices.


Miss Alice Howland and Miss Eleanor Brownell, Laura Gilpin (1891-1979), Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of the artist

In 1942 disagreements on who was responsible for repairs had begun to make the Lower School tenancy in Arnecliffe difficult. Shipley needed an alternative space for its younger students. They rented the McVitty House at the corner of Wyndon Avenue at Roberts Road in 1942. A year later, the school bought the building and renamed it for retired Principal Alice Howland, who had a particular interest in younger students. Announcing the purchase, then head, Russell Lynes, remarked on the ample grounds, sunny rooms, and porches on three sides, a facility well suited for children. Howland House accommodated Kindergarten through grade seven, some 80 to 90 students. Over the years, as the Lower Campus was expanded and new buildings built, Howland House has been used for various configurations of grades and, at times, apartments on the upper floors. Currently, it houses music classrooms and the after school program.
On her retirement from the Shipley School, she moved to Santa Fe to live with her co principal, Alice Howland, a niece of the Shipley sisters who founded the school.
In 1930, Alice Howland and Eleanor Brownell, known colloquially as the “Hownells”, commissioned local architect John Gaw Meem to design their second home in Santa Fe, NM. In 1937, architect Meem designed another house for the couple in Tesuque, NM on the outskirts of Santa Fe. The Alice Howland and Eleanor Brownell Residence is located at 185 Brownell Howland Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501. The area in Tesuque was named after them. They lived in this home with their two adopted daughters, Sylvia Anne and Mary Sheffield Shipley. Unable to marry at that time, Alice and Eleanor gave their daughters the name Shipley, as a surname. In Santa Fe, the two women had many friends in the local art colony and were active in community affairs, including activism for Native American rights and the development of the Santa Fe Opera.

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