Embedded in our mission are four values — authenticity, respect, honor, and growth — that have guided Miss Hall’s School since our founding.

Twenty years before the 19th Amendment granted her the right to vote, a Latin teacher in Central Massachusetts named Mira Hinsdale Hall envisioned something radical: a world in which girls received the high-quality education they deserved.

So, in 1898, she did something bold: she founded a school. As one might expect, it wasn’t easy — according to Miss Hall’s niece, Mira “began her venture with little capital beyond her youth, her determination to have the best school she could build, and the strong idealism which directed her.” But her intelligence, strength of will, and good humor won out: the school grew strong.

Mira’s convictions were tested early on, when the school burned to the ground on a cold February morning in 1923 — a contemporary news article stated “there was nothing left but chimneys and bathtubs.” It would have been easy to walk away, but Mira doubled down and invested her life’s savings into rebuilding. School resumed the following year.

One other tenet of Miss Hall’s has defined us over the 120-plus years of our history: a commitment to learning from those who are different from us. A 1932 article in the Berkshire Eagle newspaper celebrated this unusual aspect of Miss Hall’s School: “[Miss Hall] felt that a school which chose its pupils from… different parts of the nation and world would give them a broader concept of life. And she has not deviated from the path which she laid out in 1898. That her idea was a right one is attested to by the fact that today her pupils come from all over the world.” They still do.

Today, Miss Hall’s School still embraces Mira Hall’s vision and empowers girls to use their voices, be their authentic selves, and become bold, creative contributors to the common good.