Edith Granger first appears in the October 1888 Smith College Annual Circular which was actually her second year at Smith. She is listed as residing at 84 Elm St. and as a "Special Student (44). A "Special Student" was generally a non-matriculated student taking courses not-for-credit and not a full course load. According to the 1888 Circular, these students "are admitted to special courses of study in connection with the regular classes of the College. Candidates for such courses must either meet the same requirements for admission as the classical students or offer for one (and only one) of the three branches, Latin, Greek and Mathematics, the French or the German required for the Literary Course" (5). Many entered as "Special" because they did not have adequate preparation to enter a degree program, but sometimes poorer students were "Specials" because their parents could not afford to send them for longer periods of time (from "Seelye's President's Report, 1882-1883" as cited in Gordon, 1975).

According to Edith's mother, Martha (as described in her autobiographical manuscript, Chapter 23) Edith was late in submitting her application and this may have resulted in her "Special" status. This would also explain why she is not listed in the 1887 Circular. "In the fall of 1887, she began attending Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts. She took a through train to Boston, where Sister met her and went with her to college to be entered, and to get addresses of good boarding places, as her application for entrance had been too late to get 'on the campus.' Sister found a satisfactory boarding place of a family on Elm Street, with whom she lived the first year, and her sophomore year was on West Street (though the 1888 Circular lists her as living at 84 Elm St.). The two following years she was on the campus, in the Washburn House. Since then the number of houses has increased wonderfully."

The price of tuition for all students in 1887 (31) and 1888 (29) was $100 a year.

• The 1887 Circular, October 1887, No. 14 is viewable via the Internet Archive.

• The 1888 Circular, October 1888, No. 15 is viewable via the Internet Archive.

• Gordon, Sarah H. "Smith College Students: The First Ten Classes, 1879-1888." History of Education Quarterly 15, no. 2 (1975): 147-167. Accessed February 12, 2021. doi:10.2307/367978.