Hanover became a co-educational institution in 1879 when the Board of Trustees voted to fully accept female students into the college.
[1] Following the death of longtime donor and major supporter of women's education Henry C. Long from Indianapolis — and especially after a subsequent donation of $750,000 from his estate — it was decided to open a coordinate institution.
It was originally intended to last only ten years, but Hanover renewed the agreement in 1957 and extended the life of Long College.
By the early 1960s, faced with the widespread coeducation movement of the decade, the board of trustees relented and allowed its female graduates to receive diplomas from Hanover instead of Long.
Shields used the coordinate college system of Long and Hanover as inspiration in several of her works, especially The Stone Diaries.