Bennett began as a school for women and evolved into a junior college at a time when higher education for women was often structured around very different expectations from education for men. The college closed in 1978, leaving behind a group of increasingly deteriorated buildings, including its imposing main structure.

The architecture was what initially drew me to Bennett. But as with many of the ruins I've photographed, the more interesting story emerged afterward: what the institution said about the opportunities available to women and the roles American society expected them to occupy.