Elizabeth Deering Hanscom

Elizabeth Deering Hanscom (August 15, 1865 – February 2, 1960) was an American writer and college professor. In 1894, she was in the first group of seven women granted doctoral degrees at Yale University, and she taught English at Smith College from 1894 to 1932.

Elizabeth Deering Hanscom
A white woman with greying hair, wearing a dress with a pleated bodice and a lace bib detail
Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, from about 1915
BornAugust 15, 1865
Saco, Maine
DiedFebruary 2, 1960
Weymouth, Massachusetts
Occupation(s)Writer, college professor

Early life and education

Hanscom was born in Saco, Maine, the daughter of George A. Hanscom and Lizzie Deering Hanscom. Her father was a newspaper publisher.[1] She graduated from Boston University in 1887. She completed a master's degree in English in 1892, and doctoral studies in 1894, at Yale University.[2] She, Mary Augusta Scott, and Laura Johnson Wylie were the first cohort of women allowed to receive PhDs in English at Yale.[3] Her dissertation was titled "(The) Domestic, Political, and Social Life of England During the Fourteenth Century, With Especial Reference to the Vision of Piers Plowman."[4][5] At Yale she assisted Albert Stanburrough Cook in preparing A First Book in Old English: Grammar, Reader, Notes, and Vocabulary (1897).[6][7]

Career

Hanscom spent her academic career at Smith College, where she joined the faculty in 1894 and taught English until her retirement in 1932. She became a full professor in 1905,[2] and held the Mary Augusta Jordan Chair in English.[3] Journalist Nell Battle Lewis recalled Hanscom's course on Shakespeare as especially vivid and memorable.[8]

Hanscom also taught at the summer teachers' institute and chautauqua at Fryeburg.[9][10] She served on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Society for the Education of Women.[11]

Publications
  • "The Allegory of de Lorris' Romance of the Rose" (1893)[12]
  • "The Argument of the Vision of Piers Plowman" (1894)[13]
  • The Second Part of Henry the Fourth
  • "The Sonnet Forms of Wyatt and Surrey" (1901)[14]
  • "The Feeling for Nature in Old English Poetry" (1905)[15]
  • The Friendly Craft: A Collection of American Letters (1908)[16]
  • The Heart of the Puritan: Selections from Letters and Journals (1917)[17]
  • Sophia Smith and the Beginnings of Smith College (1925, with Helen French Greene)[18]

Personal life

Hanscom died in 1960, in Weymouth, Massachusetts, at the age of 94.[19][20] There is a collection of her papers and belongings in Yale University Library.[3] Yale offers an Elizabeth Deering Hanscom Fellowship in the Humanities.[21] In 2016, a Brenda Zlamany portrait of the first seven women to receive Yale doctorates, including Hanscom, was placed in the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale.[22][23]

References
  1. Moore's Historical, Biographical, and Miscellaneous Gatherings: In the Form of Disconnected Notes Relative to Printers, Printing, Publishing, and Editing of Books, Newspapers, Magazines and Other Literary Productions, Such as the Early Publications of New England, the United States, and the World, from the Discovery of the Art, Or from 1420 to 1886, with Many Brief Notices of Authors, Publishers, Editors, Printers, and Inventors. Republican Press association. 1886. pp. 441–442.
  2. "Art and Literature in Lowell". Americana. 13: 359. October 1919.
  3. Elizabeth Deering Hanscom papers. Yale University Library.
  4. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1893). (The) Domestic, Political, and Social Life of England During the Fourteenth Century: With Especial Reference to the "Vision of Piers Plowman.". Boston University.
  5. "Biographies of Yale's First Women Ph.D.'s". Women Faculty Forum, Yale University. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  6. Cook, Albert Stanburrough (1897). A First Book in Old English: Grammar, Reader, Notes, and Vocabulary. Ginn. pp. ix.
  7. "Some Women at Yale; Result of Five Year Experiment Satisfactory". Kansas City Journal. 1898-01-09. p. 16. Retrieved 2022-09-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Lewis, Nell Battle (1937-02-21). "Incidentallly: On Pedagogues". The News and Observer. p. 40. Retrieved 2022-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Summer School at Fryeburg". Evening Express. 1901-06-24. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-09-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Fryeburg Chautauqua Union". The Portland Daily Press. 1895-05-10. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "University Education; The Fifteenth Annual Meeting of its Friends at Boston University". Boston Post. 1891-01-19. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-09-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1893). "The Allegory of de Lorris' " Romance of the Rose."". Modern Language Notes. 8 (5): 151–153. doi:10.2307/2918597. ISSN 0149-6611. JSTOR 2918597.
  13. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1894). "The Argument of the Vision of Piers Plowman". PMLA. 9 (3): 403–450. doi:10.2307/456370. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 456370. S2CID 163580413.
  14. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1901). "The Sonnet Forms of Wyatt and Surrey". Modern Language Notes. 16 (5): 137–140. doi:10.2307/2917163. ISSN 0149-6611. JSTOR 2917163.
  15. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1905). "The Feeling for Nature in Old English Poetry". The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 5 (4): 439–463. ISSN 0363-6941. JSTOR 27699787.
  16. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1908). The Friendly Craft: A Collection of American Letters. Macmillan.
  17. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering (1917). The Heart of the Puritan: Selections from Letters and Journals. Macmillan.
  18. Hanscom, Elizabeth Deering; Greene, Helen French (1925). Sophia Smith and the Beginnings of Smith College. Smith College.
  19. "Elizabeth Hanscom, 94: Former English Professor at Smith College Is Dead". The New York Times. February 3, 1960. p. 33.
  20. "Elizabeth Hanscom, Smith College Prof. for 38 Years, Dies". Sun-Journal. 1960-02-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-09-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. Brown, Elspeth H. (2008). The Corporate Eye: Photography and the Rationalization of American Commercial Culture, 1884–1929. JHU Press. pp. viii. ISBN 978-0-8018-8970-7.
  22. Stein, Sarah (2016-04-06). "First female Ph.D.s memorialized". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  23. Castellanos-Monfil, Román (2016-04-06). "Portrait of Yale's first seven women Ph.D.s unveiled". YaleNews. Retrieved 2022-09-18.

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