Clara F. Stevens Explained

Clara Frances Stevens
Birth Date:	December 5, 1855
Birth Place:	Newburyport, Massachusetts
Death Date:	October 18, 1934
Death Place:	South Hadley, Massachusetts
Occupation:	College professor

Clara Frances Stevens (December 5, 1855 – October 18, 1934) was an American college professor, head of the English department at Mount Holyoke College.

Early life and education

Stevens was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the daughter of Cyrus Porter Stevens and Harriet Newell Bartlett Stevens.^[1] She graduated from Newburyport High School, and from Mount Holyoke College in 1881.^[2] In 1894, she completed a master's degree at the University of Michigan, where she studied under John Dewey and Fred Newton Scott.^[3]

Career

Stevens taught English at the Mount Holyoke from 1881 to 1921; she held the rank of professor from 1904 to 1921, and was professor emeritus after she retired. She created the school's rhetoric department and served as chair of the English department.^{[4] [5]}

She was chair of the International Institute League, supporting a women's college in Spain, run by Mount Holyoke alumna Alice Gordon Gulick.^{[6] [7]} Stevens was guest of honor at a dinner of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association of Southern California in 1909.^[8]

Personal life

Stevens lived with her younger sister Alice Porter Stevens, who was also on the faculty at Mount Holyoke. Another colleague, Flora Bridges, lived with the Stevens sisters until her death in 1912.^[9] Clara F. Stevens died at home in 1934, in South Hadley, Massachusetts.^{[10] [11]} Her papers are in the archives of Mount Holyoke College.^[12]

Notes and References

1. Book: Marquis, Albert Nelson. Who's who in New England: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 1915. A.N. Marquis. 1018. en.
2. Book: Mastrangelo, Lisa. Writing a Progressive Past: Women Teaching and Writing in the Progressive Era. 2012-01-23. Parlor Press LLC. 978-1-60235-260-5. 73. en.
3. Book: Buck, Gertrude. Toward a Feminist Rhetoric: The Writing of Gertrude Buck. 1996-01-01. University of Pittsburgh Press. 978-0-8229-9061-1. xiii, note 3. en.
4. Mastrangelo. Lisa S.. 1999. Learning from the Past: Rhetoric, Composition, and Debate at Mount Holyoke College. Rhetoric Review. 18. 1. 57–62. 10.1080/07350199909359255. 466089. 0735-0198.
5. Book: Lunsford, Andrea A.. Reclaiming rhetorica : women in the rhetorical tradition. 1995. 978-0-8229-7165-8. Pittsburgh. 213. 878132920.
6. Book: Gordon, Elizabeth Putnam. Alice Gordon Gulick: Her Life and Work in Spain. 1917. Fleming H. Revell Company. 978-0-7950-1976-0. 222-223, 240-244. en.
7. News: 1904-03-19. The International Institute League. 16. Boston Evening Transcript. 2021-06-23. Newspapers.com.
8. Atsatt. Louisa. May 6, 1909. Mt. Holyoke Alumnae. The Pacific. 59. 8.
9. July 1912. Necrology. Oberlin Alumni Magazine. 8. 379–380.
10. News: October 19, 1934. Miss Clara F. Stevens. 23. The New York Times. ProQuest.
11. News: 1934-10-20. Miss Clara S. Stevens. 15. The Boston Globe. 2021-06-23. Newspapers.com.
12. Mastrangelo, Lisa, and Barbara L'Eplattenier, "Stumbling in the Archives: A Tale of Two Novices" in Gesa E Kirsch, Liz Rohan, eds., Beyond the Archives: Research as a Lived Process (Southern Illinois University Press 2008): 163.