American educational institution, established in 1821 by Emma Hart Willard (Willard, Emma) in Troy, New York, the first in the country founded to provide young women with an education comparable to that of college-educated young men. At the time of the seminary's founding, women were barred from colleges. Although academies for girls existed, their curricula were limited to such “female arts” as conversational French and embroidery.

Willard, who had opened a school of her own in Middlebury, Vermont (1814), presented the outline for her proposed seminary to the New York legislature in her “Plan for Improving Female Education.” This document described a course of study that would provide girls with a broad-based and rigorous education. Her idea was favourably received in some quarters, and the city of Troy raised $4,000 in taxes to begin construction of the school envisioned by Willard.

The seminary's first class consisted of 90 girls from across the United States who enrolled in mathematics, science, history, foreign language, and literature courses. Willard herself not only served as an instructor but even wrote some of the school's textbooks. Troy Female Seminary soon gained a reputation as an outstanding institution. It proved to those who were skeptical that women were just as capable as men of comprehending difficult subjects.

After the Civil War, owing to changes in economic conditions and in public sentiment about education for women, the seminary became a day school. In memory of its founder, the seminary changed its name to the Emma Willard School. Since 1910, when it moved to a new location in Troy, the school has erected additional buildings. Beginning in 1916, Russell Sage College operated briefly under the Emma Willard School charter, remaining in the old Willard buildings after it received its own charter in 1927. The Emma Willard School continued as a secondary school in its mission of providing high-quality education to young women.