Speer, Margaret Bailey
Item
Title
Speer, Margaret Bailey
Description
Margaret Bailey Speer was born on November 20, 1900 in Englewood, the second child of Robert Elliott Speer and Emma Doll Bailey. Her father was a prominent figure in the Presbyterian missionary movement (he served as Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions), while her mother was deeply involved in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), especially during World War I.
She attended Dwight-Englewood School, graduating in 1917, then went on to Bryn Mawr College, where she earned a B.A. in 1922. At Bryn Mawr she was president of the Christian Association and was active in the YWCA. Later she also obtained a master’s degree at Columbia University. After college, Margaret Speer taught for a time at Sweet Briar College. She also worked as secretary to British suffragist Maude Royden while Royden toured the United States. In 1925 she went to China under the Presbyterian mission and began teaching English at the Women’s College of Yenching University in Beijing. She later rose to become dean of that college, serving in that role from 1934 until 1941. Her time in China was cut short by increasing tensions and the impacts of World War II; she was eventually interned by the Japanese during the war and repatriated to the U.S. in 1943. Back in the United States, she became headmistress of The Shipley School (a girls’ boarding school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) in 1944 and held that position until her retirement in 1965. Under her leadership, Shipley began to admit African-American and Jewish students. After retiring, Speer remained very active civically. She held leadership roles in regional and national organizations of school principals and headmistresses (such as the Headmistresses Association of the East, and the National Association of Principals for Girls), and engaged in human relations work, including serving as founder and first president of the Lower Merion Township Human Relations Council.
She was also involved in church life (e.g. at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church) and in local educational and service programs. On the personal side, Margaret Bailey Speer lived and worked for many years with Augusta Bertha Wagner (also an educator and missionary). Their partnership lasted through their work in China and in the U.S. Speer died in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, on September 21, 1997, at the age of 96.
Her papers—letters, speeches, diaries, photographs—are preserved in the Speer Family Papers at Bryn Mawr and related archives, and her China letters have been published in Like Good Steel: The China Letters of Margaret Bailey Speer, North China, 1925-1943.
She attended Dwight-Englewood School, graduating in 1917, then went on to Bryn Mawr College, where she earned a B.A. in 1922. At Bryn Mawr she was president of the Christian Association and was active in the YWCA. Later she also obtained a master’s degree at Columbia University. After college, Margaret Speer taught for a time at Sweet Briar College. She also worked as secretary to British suffragist Maude Royden while Royden toured the United States. In 1925 she went to China under the Presbyterian mission and began teaching English at the Women’s College of Yenching University in Beijing. She later rose to become dean of that college, serving in that role from 1934 until 1941. Her time in China was cut short by increasing tensions and the impacts of World War II; she was eventually interned by the Japanese during the war and repatriated to the U.S. in 1943. Back in the United States, she became headmistress of The Shipley School (a girls’ boarding school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) in 1944 and held that position until her retirement in 1965. Under her leadership, Shipley began to admit African-American and Jewish students. After retiring, Speer remained very active civically. She held leadership roles in regional and national organizations of school principals and headmistresses (such as the Headmistresses Association of the East, and the National Association of Principals for Girls), and engaged in human relations work, including serving as founder and first president of the Lower Merion Township Human Relations Council.
She was also involved in church life (e.g. at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church) and in local educational and service programs. On the personal side, Margaret Bailey Speer lived and worked for many years with Augusta Bertha Wagner (also an educator and missionary). Their partnership lasted through their work in China and in the U.S. Speer died in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, on September 21, 1997, at the age of 96.
Her papers—letters, speeches, diaries, photographs—are preserved in the Speer Family Papers at Bryn Mawr and related archives, and her China letters have been published in Like Good Steel: The China Letters of Margaret Bailey Speer, North China, 1925-1943.
Creator
Bryn Mawr College Yearbook
Source
Special Collections Bryn Mawr Library
Date
1922
Rights
Public Domain
Citation
Bryn Mawr College Yearbook, “Speer, Margaret Bailey,” Englewood Makes History, accessed October 2, 2026, https://archive.englewoodmakeshistory.org/items/show/845.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.