Swarthmore College was founded by the more rural Hicksite division of the Society of Friends to compete with the Orthodox Haverford College (
DE36). Because Swarthmore, unlike Haverford, was coeducational, Orthodox Friends were then prompted to found Bryn Mawr College (
MO9) in nearby Montgomery County to provide their women with educational opportunities since they could not attend Haverford. Swarthmore has been a center of creative teaching in the twentieth century, helping to fund Rose Valley (
DE26) as a social experiment, and in turn attracting a remarkable array of students, including novelist James Michener and philanthropist Eugene Lang, whose gifts have insured Swarthmore's future success.