This fall, the first annual Agnes G. Gilman 1897 Scholarship will be awarded to a Wesleyan student. The story behind this scholarship includes a love story and the life of a woman who went to Wesleyan at a time when few women did.

Money from the $830,000 donation will be awarded annually starting this year to one or more students who are majoring in modern or ancient languages and who demonstrate financial need. If the endowed fund cannot be used for this purpose, then there are provisions for the trustees of the University to use the money for student financial aid.

Mrs. Gilman was a member of the class of 1897, but left after the academic year of 1896. Mrs. Gilman met her future husband, Albert Franklin Gilman, during their one common year at Wesleyan. After one year at Wesleyan, Mr. Gilman transferred to Amherst, where he completed his degree.

“It seems that Mrs. Gilman and her husband would have never met if it wasn’t for a single year at Wesleyan together,” said David Pesci, director of media relations.

Since many colleges at the time did not admit women, and few women attended college, it was rare for a husband and wife to meet while at college. Mrs. Gilman was part of the somewhat short-lived “Wesleyan Experiment” from 1872 to 1912, during which a limited amount of women were admitted to the University. Women were not allowed again at Wesleyan until 1970.

Mr. and Mrs. Gilman were married soon after leaving Wesleyan in 1896. As she did not complete a degree at Wesleyan, Mrs. Gilman earned her bachelor of arts while teaching at Maryville College in Tennessee from 1901 to 1905. Mr. Gilman taught in Maine and New Hampshire before teaching physics and chemistry at various colleges including Maryville, Ripon College, Huron College and Amherst.

The Gilman Scholarship has been delayed for various legal reasons involving complications with Mrs. Gilman’s will. According to Christina Posniak, associate director of planned giving with University Relations, the money was given to Mrs. Gilman’s daughter rather than to Wesleyan, as Mrs. Gilman specified in her will. Wesleyan only received the funds after Mrs. Gilman’s daughter passed away.

A scholarship of identical size has been given to Amherst College, where Mr. Gilman was both a student and a professor for several years.

There is limited information available about Mrs. Gilman, since Wesleyan’s older records are not complete. Therefore, it is not known for certain why she wished to give these funds to students specifically studying ancient or modern languages.

“I assume that that was her area of interest,” Posniak said.