by Sasha Wechsler ’26
Most of us had the opportunity to visit the SEM exhibit at the Buffalo History Museum for our SEMinar day this fall. This exhibit marks the 175th anniversary of Buffalo Seminary, making it the sixth oldest all-girls school in the United States. Formed in 1851 as the Buffalo Female Academy by a group of fathers who wanted a robust education for their daughters, SEM has grown and evolved upon its core traditions for nearly two centuries.
Walking through the exhibit, it was impossible not to be fascinated by the carefully selected collection of artifacts and panels filled with photographs and timelines of SEM’s rich history. Our beloved portrait of Ms. Angell, which typically resides above the fireplace in our library, and the vintage field hockey uniform are just a few of the exhibit’s most salient archival pieces. These artifacts help to illustrate just how much SEM has changed, but also how much our values and spirit have remained.
This year-long exhibit went underway in March of 2023, and was brought to life by the Archives Committee of the Buffalo Seminary Alumni Board, led by co-chairs Erin Harris and Lisa Abeyounis, who originally took on the task of finding a meaningful way to showcase SEM’s reunion. The fourteen-member committee was divided into groups of two, with each group responsible for one 25-year period of SEM’s history. Erin Harris, the SEM alumna who came up with the idea for the exhibit, then undertook the extensive task of piecing together and designing the fourteen panels that are now displayed throughout the exhibit. “I really was able to envision the whole thing in my head before I got started,” she said. “I really wanted to evoke the feeling of each 25 year period.” She wanted each era to feel distinct yet still flow together as part of a cohesive narrative. One of the guiding elements of her design process that allowed her to achieve this was tailoring the backgrounds of each panel to have “fabric textures and … patterns that were relevant to that block of time.” She hopes that, above all, visitors leave with a deeper appreciation for the power of women’s education in our society, and how SEM has persevered, carrying their guiding principles across generations.
As current members of the SEM community, one of the most important things that I think we can take away from this exhibit is that we are part of an ongoing story. Every member of our school today has the opportunity to contribute to the legacy that future generations will look back on. In another few decades, when SEM celebrates its bicentennial, the photos, uniforms, and yearbooks of today will be the artifacts that tell the stories of our generation.