Madison Female Institute was founded in 1857 to educate girls in the Madison County area. This collection contains some of their publications, course catalogs, financial records, and other legal documents which document the operations and educational priorities of the school.

The Madison Female Institute Collection is an artificial collection comprised of single items from various sources. Many of the materials came from the Dorris Museum collection and these are marked with the number 1728. Other items have unknown provenance. Although the records are incomplete they do create an overview of the institution and its history. See also photograph collection, other processed collections and vertical files for more information.

These materials should be used with other collections containing the Madison Female Institute subject heading for more complete records of the school.