What was the average curriculum taught at finishing/charm schools that upper class women would have attended roughly 1900-1940?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1h5u7n4/what_was_the_average_curriculum_taught_at/

created by Larkswing13 on 03/12/2024 at 18:25 UTC

82 upvotes, 2 top-level comments (showing 2)

I’ve been researching a background for an upper class character set in the 1920s and I am having an extremely difficult time finding specific information about what a finishing school would have looked like during that time, or even really at all. So far I’ve found a blog from a woman who attended one in the 1970s which doesn’t go into much detail and an article from a reporter who visited one in modern times, but nothing older and nothing very specific. Wikipedia just gives a vague “they studied etiquette” type answer.

At this point I’m honestly just curious as to why it’s so hard to find anything!

Do we have any evidence of actual curriculums that would have been taught or any good sources about finishing schools from that era and what life was like there? Thank you in advance!

Comments

Comment by AutoModerator at 03/12/2024 at 18:25 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Welcome to /r/AskHistorians. **Please Read Our Rules[1] before you comment in this community**. Understand that rule breaking comments get removed[2].

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/rules

2: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/h8aefx/rules_roundtable_xviii_removed_curation_and_why/

Please consider **Clicking Here for RemindMeBot[3]** as it takes time for an answer to be written. Additionally, for weekly content summaries, **Click Here to Subscribe to our Weekly Roundup[4]**.

3: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1h5u7n4/what_was_the_average_curriculum_taught_at/%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202%20days

4: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=AHMessengerBot&subject=Subscribe&message=%21subscribe

We thank you for your interest in this *question*, and your patience in waiting for an in-depth and comprehensive answer to show up. In addition to RemindMeBot, consider using our Browser Extension[5], or getting the Weekly Roundup[6]. In the meantime our Bluesky[7], and Sunday Digest[8] feature excellent content that has already been written!

5: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/d6dzi7/tired_of_clicking_to_find_only_removed_comments/

6: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=subredditsummarybot&subject=askhistorians+weekly&message=x

7: https://bsky.app/profile/askhistorians.bsky.social

8: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/search?q=title%3A%22Sunday+Digest%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all

9: /message/compose/?to=/r/AskHistorians

Comment by [deleted] at 03/12/2024 at 20:56 UTC*

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[removed]