Marlborough School (Los Angeles)

Mary S. Caswell, a young teacher from Maine, founded Marlborough in 1889 as "St. Margaret's School for Girls".{{cite web |title=School History |url=https://www.marlborough.org/about/history |website=Marlborough.org |access-date=14 March 2024}}

One year later, in 1890, the school moved from Pasadena to the city of Los Angeles. On October 1, 1890, the school opened at the corner of 23rd and Scarff Streets in the West Adams district. {{cite news |title=Marlborough School |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-marlborough/143322980/ |access-date=14 March 2024 |publisher=Los Angeles Evening Express |date=September 17, 1890}} Occupying the empty Marlborough Hotel, the school adopted the name of its new location and was renamed the "Marlborough School for Girls".

File:Marlborough School in West Adams District 1910.jpg

In 1916, Mrs. Caswell purchased land in the newly opened La Brea tract at a cost of $70,000. After 26 years in the West Adams district, the Marlborough School moved to Hancock Park and opened at its current site on the corner of Third Street and Rossmore Avenue.

Caswell led the school until 1924, when Ada Blake (recruited from Louisville Collegiate School) assumed its leadership. Blake expanded the curriculum substantially and the School gained a reputation for providing young women with an uncommonly rigorous education.

By the 1960s, the School was supported by a foundation and an active board of trustees, who hired William Pereira and Associates to design new buildings. The Los Angeles business community actively supported the school in the latter half of the 20th century, with local titans including Robert H. Ahmanson and Charlie Munger donating generously.

In 2014, a sexual misconduct investigation resulted in the imprisonment of a former teacher.{{Cite web|url=https://abc7.com/los-angeles-police-department-private-school-teacher-marlborough-student-affairs/1044143/|title = Former Marlborough School teacher gets jail time in sexual abuse case|date = October 22, 2015}}

In 2015, Dr. Priscilla Sands was named head of school. Sands came to Marlborough after a career at the Agnes Irwin School and the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, both independent schools in the Philadelphia area. In 2022, Jennifer Ciccarelli became the head of school after serving in the same role at the Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio.{{Cite web|url=https://larchmontchronicle.com/marlborough-school-is-in-capable-hands/ |title=Marlborough School is in capable hands |work=Larchmont Chronicle |first1=Suzan |last1=Filipek | date=2022-12-29}}

The student-to-teacher ratio at Marlborough School is approximately 8:1, lower than the national high school average of 11:1 and the public school average of 16:1.[http://www.privateschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/2829 Marlborough School - Los Angeles, California/CA - Private School Profile] This ratio enables Marlborough to offer over 156 courses. Over 80% of faculty members have more than ten years of teaching experience and almost 90% have advanced degrees. In recent years, the most popular postgraduate destinations for Marlborough women include a mix of elite private and "public ivy" institutions.

Marlborough ranked sixth in the nation among high schools with the highest standardized test scores according to Business Insider in 2014.{{Cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/high-schools-with-highest-sat-scores-2014-1#ixzz2r9FXHbrz|title = The 25 US High Schools with the Highest Standardized Test Scores|website = Business Insider}}

Recent guest speakers at Marlborough include Queen Rania of Jordan,{{cite news|title=Queen Rania of Jordan|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/queen-rania-of-jordan/|access-date=4 April 2017|publisher=CBS News}} former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, historian Edward L. Ayers, Nobel Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, and producer/actor Mindy Kaling.

• Anne Archer {{ndash}} film and television actresshttps://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/sid_10863_1965_0049?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=prf229&_phstart=successSource&pId=30027201 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}{{cite web | url=https://www.classmates.com/siteui/yearbooks/4182768202?page=48 | title=Classmates - Find your school, yearbooks and alumni online }}
• Carolin Babcock {{ndash}} tennis player{{cite magazine|title=Private Lives|magazine=LIFE|date=November 1, 1937|volume=3|issue=18|page=114}}{{cite web|title=Carolin Stark Is Dead; Tennis Star in 1930's|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/31/obituaries/carolin-stark-is-dead-tennis-star-in-1930-s.html|work=New York Times|date=March 31, 1987}}
• Katherine Bashford {{ndash}} landscape architectKeylon, Steven. [http://www.cglhs.org/archives/Eden-16.4-Fa-2013.pdf "The California Landscapes of Katherine Bashford"]. Eden: Journal of the California Garden and Landscape History Society, vol. 16, no. 4 (Fall 2013).[http://tclf.org/pioneer/katherine-bashford "Katherine Emilie Bashford"]. The Cultural Landscape Foundation website. Accessed Oct. 22, 2015.
• Camilla Belle {{ndash}} film and television actress{{cite news|last1=O'Connor|first1=Pauline|title=Starlet Behaving ... Nicely?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/fashion/sundaystyles/starlet-behaving-nicely.html|access-date=1 May 2018|work=New York Times|date=12 February 2006}}
• Betsy Bloomingdale {{ndash}} philanthropist and fashion icon{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/07/betsy-bloomingdale-obituary|title=Remembering Betsy Bloomingdale, Who Reigned Over Los Angeles Society and Influenced a First Lady|last=Colacello|first=Bob|website=Vanity Fair|date=July 20, 2016|access-date=July 21, 2016}}
• Cornelia Butler {{ndash}} museum curator (currently Chief Curator at the Hammer Museum){{cite journal|date=May 5, 2006|title=A well-drawn career|journal=The Ultra Violet|publisher=Marlborough School|volume=36|issue=6|url=http://www.marlboroughschool.org/ftpimages/32/misc/misc_31231.pdf|access-date=May 1, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121203103305/https://www.marlboroughschool.org/ftpimages/32/misc/misc_31231.pdf|archive-date=December 3, 2012|url-status=dead}}
• Joan Riddell Cook {{ndash}} newspaper journalist and editor, trade union leader, and a founding director of JAWS (Journalism and Women Symposium){{cite web |url=http://www.jaws.org/ |title=Home |website=jaws.org}}{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Nan|title=The Girls in the Balcony: Women, Men, and the New York Times|year=1992|publisher=Random House |isbn=9780394584522|url=https://archive.org/details/girlsinbalconywo00robe|url-access=registration}}
• Jacqueline Emerson {{ndash}} actress and singer{{cite news|last1=Yamato|first1=Jen|date=14 August 2012|title=Hunger Games Hits DVD/Blu: Jacqueline Emerson Talks Foxface, Her Future, And Devo 2.0|work=Daily Truffle|url=http://thedailytruffle.com/blog/2012/03/hunger-games-premiere-los-angeles/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501160847/http://thedailytruffle.com/blog/2012/03/hunger-games-premiere-los-angeles/|archive-date=1 May 2018}}
• Sabaah Folayan {{ndash}} award-winning documentary filmmaker{{Cite web|url=https://www.marlborough.org/all-news/p/~post/alumnae-profile-sabaah-folayan-09-directs-documentary-film-whose-streets-20170301|title=Alumnae Profile: Sabaah Folayan '09 Directs Documentary Film, "Whose Streets?"|date=February 13, 2017|website=Marlborough School|access-date=July 12, 2017}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Olivia Jade Giannulli and Bella Giannulli (transferred after 9th and 10th grade)
• Suzanne Goin {{ndash}} chef and restaurateur
• Kate Grace {{ndash}} Olympic finalist in the women's 800m[https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=3900#1757 2006 CIF State Cross Country Championships] Athletic.net. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
• Dolly Green {{ndash}} philanthropist and thoroughbred ownerMyrna Oliver, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-05-mn-570-story.html Philanthropist 'Dolly' Green; Heiress Owned Thoroughbreds], The Los Angeles Times, September 05, 1990Marc Wanamaker, Early Beverly Hills, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2005, pp. 17-18 [https://books.google.com/books?id=gwMyg0wEdDEC&pg=PA17]
• Leila Holterhoff {{ndash}} singer, linguist, psychoanalyst{{cite news|title=Society News The Chatterer|work=Los Angeles Herald|issue=205|date=24 April 1910|quote=THE CHATTER LOS ANGELES society as well as the musical world has more than usual Interest in the wonderful success, of Miss Leila Holterhoff, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Holterhoff of West Adams street}}
• Marian Osgood Hooker {{ndash}} physician and photographer{{cite web|title=Environmental Design Archives: Hooker|url=https://archives.ced.berkeley.edu/collections/hooker-marian-osgood|website=University of California Berkeley|access-date=1 May 2018}}
• Caroline Howard Hume {{ndash}} art collector and philanthropistMeredith May, [http://www.americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=11403 Caroline Howard Hume, S.F. philanthropist, dies], San Francisco Gate, October 30, 2008
• Lois January {{ndash}} film actress{{cite news|last1=Mutti-Mewse|first1=Austin|title=Lois January|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/sep/04/guardianobituaries.usa|access-date=20 January 2017|work=The Guardian|date=September 3, 2006}}
• Marion Jorgensen {{ndash}} philanthropist and civic leader{{cite book|last1=Colacello|first1=Bob|title=Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House--1911 to 1980|date=2004|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|page=62}}
• Zoe Kazan {{ndash}} actress and playwright{{cite news|last1=Pyun|first1=Jeanie|title=Insider's Guide to L.A. Private Schools|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/hollywood-insiders-guide-la-private-schools-1029445|access-date=1 May 2018|work=The Hollywood Reporter|issue=17 August 2017}}
• Jessica Levinson {{ndash}} law professor and political commentator{{cite news|last1=Levinson|first1=Jessica|title= Marlborough|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-12-me-12274-story.html|access-date=24 September 2020|work=San Diego Union-Tribune|date=12 August 1998}}
• Diane Disney Miller {{ndash}} author, philanthropist, and vintner, daughter of Walt Disney{{cite news|last1=Haithman|first1=Diane|title=The Reluctant Savior|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2003/oct/19/magazine/tm-disney42/3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925052733/http://articles.latimes.com/2003/oct/19/magazine/tm-disney42/3|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2016|access-date=17 April 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=19 October 2003}}
• Peggy Moffitt {{ndash}} model and actress (famous for associations with Rudi Gernreich){{cite news|last1=Diamond|first1=SJ|title=Theirs Was a Model Pairing : Peggy Moffitt drew from dance, acting and mime to show the clothes of Rudi Gernreich, the designer of the '60s. Their careers were inextricable. Now, she's back in his creations-- of course.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-16-vw-23720-story.html|access-date=1 May 2018|work=Los Angeles Times|date=16 April 1993}}
• Catherine Mulholland {{ndash}} historian and author{{cite news | last=Woo | first=Elaine | title=Catherine Mulholland dies at 88; historian wrote key biography of famed grandfather | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=July 7, 2011 | url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-catherine-mulholland-20110707-story.html | access-date=March 11, 2025}}
• The daughters of President Richard Nixon (Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower) briefly attended in the early 1960s
• Abi Olajuwon {{ndash}} WNBA player and college basketball coach{{cite news|last1=Monahan|first1=Terry|title=Daughter of hoops legend plays with memory of late RB student|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-daughter-of-hoops-legend-plays-with-memory-of-2006mar29-story.html|access-date=1 May 2018|work=San Diego Union-Tribune|date=29 March 2006}}
• Melissa Rivers {{ndash}} actress, television host and producer (attended but transferred for tenth grade){{cite book|last1=Rivers|first1=Melissa|title=The Book of Joan: Tales of Mirth, Mischief, and Manipulation|date=2016|page=90}}
• Sasha Spielberg {{ndash}} actress and musician, daughter of Steven Spielberg{{cite news|last1=Oswaks|first1=Molly|title=Why a Spielberg and a Goldwyn Passed Over Their Dads' Hollywood for Snapchat|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/fashion/why-a-spielberg-and-a-goldwyn-passed-over-their-dads-hollywood-for-snapchat.html|access-date=1 May 2018|work=New York Times|date=18 March 2015}}
• Alex Witt {{ndash}} MSNBC news anchor{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
• Stephanie Zimbalist {{ndash}} actress (did not graduate)
• Leigh Bardugo {{ndash}} young adult and fantasy author{{Cite web|title=Magic, mystery and Yale in Bardugo's new book, TV series : Larchmont Chronicle|url=https://larchmontchronicle.com/magic-mystery-and-yale-in-bardugos-new-book-tv-series/|access-date=2021-09-21|language=en}}

• Josh Deu {{ndash}} musician and songwriter, co-founding member of indie rock band Arcade Fire{{cite web |url= http://www.theultraviolet.com/wordpress/2010/11/deu-discusses-past-with-arcade-fire/ |title=Deu discusses past with Arcade Fire |author=Madeline |work=The Ultra Violet |date=13 November 2010|access-date=6 November 2013}}
• Gertrude Gogin {{ndash}} former YWCA national secretary for girls' programs, joined the Marlborough faculty in 1938{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19376367/last_grads_will_note_10th_year_since/|title=Last Grads Will Note 10th Year Since School Closed|last=Spalding|first=Deborah|date=May 16, 1948|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=September 13, 2019|page=55|via=Newspapers.com}}
• George Toley {{ndash}} tennis coach (later at University of Southern California){{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-toley3mar03,1,1064869.story |title='Super-coach' led USC tennis team |date=March 3, 2008 |work=Los Angeles Times}}

Marlborough has been mentioned in the shows Ray Donovan and Red Band Society.{{cite news|title=Marlborough in Entertainment|url=http://www.theultraviolet.com/wordpress/2015/02/marlborough-in-entertainment/|work=The Ultraviolet}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.marlborough.org}}
• [http://www.theultraviolet.com/ Official Marlborough School newspaper]

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