The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program was founded at Radcliffe College in 1961 as the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. In 1978, the Institute was renamed the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute to honor Radcliffe College President Mary Bunting, whose initiative it was to create a postgraduate study center for female scholars and artists. Concerned about the prevailing "climate of unexpectation" for women at that time, Bunting deliberately sought to reverse that negative attitude by establishing the essential gifts of an Institute fellowship: time, financial support, a room of one's own, membership in a vital community of women, and access to all Radcliffe and Harvard resources.