On June 29, 1887. the Dickinson College Board of Trustees recognized the first female graduate, Zatae Longsdorff. Zatae Longsdorff received an A.B. in 1887.
During the second session of the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees in 1876, General James Fowler Rusling moved for the appointment of a committee of three to "consider the advisability of admitting ladies to the studies of the college or of making some provision for conferring degrees upon bodies." Rusling suggested that Colonel Wright, a member of the Board, lead the committee as Chairman. The motion was carried and the president appointed Colonel John Armstrong Wright, Charles Joseph Baker Esq., Reverend John Wilson to the committee.
The student handbook of 1898, published by the Young Men's Christian Association, contains the first mention of women, specifically of the Young Women's Christian Assocation. Included in the welcoming address, the Young Women's Christian Association is aknowledged as a contributing organization to the student handbook. Pages 16-17 of the student handbook provide a brief overview of the organization as well as its mission.
Published in the 1890 Microcosm, “Co-Education†describes the introduction of coeducation at Dickinson College.  The author of the piece asserts that coeducation at Dickinson was a direct result of the Methodist influence at the school and women’s participation within that church. Thus, female students were accepted to the college on the same terms and with the same privileges of their male counterparts. Moreover, the author of the piece adds that the women at Dickinson contributed  to the beauty of the campus.