Dorothy Gladys Spicer Explained

Dorothy Gladys Spicer
Other Names:Gladys Spicer Fraser
Birth Date:November 3, 1893
Birth Place:Staten Island, New York
Death Date:January 25, 1975 (age 81)
Death Place:White Plains, New York
Occupation:Folklorist, writer

Dorothy Gladys Spicer (November 3, 1893 – January 25, 1975), also known as Gladys Spicer Fraser, was an American folklorist and writer.

Early life and education

Spicer was born in Staten Island, New York, the daughter of Jacob Lindley Spicer and Phoebe Bryan Washburn Spicer. Her father was a Quaker field secretary and police chaplin,[1] and her mother was a registered nurse.[2] She graduated from Vassar College in 1916.[3] [4] She earned a master's degree from Radcliffe College.[5]

Career

Spicer was on the staff of the national board of the YWCA.[6] [7] In 1943, she was named nationality communities secretary of the YWCA,[8] responsible for outreach to immigrant groups.[9] She organized classes about American cookery[10] and gave presentations to community groups about ethnic customs and celebrations, based on her research and travels in Europe.[11] She was art adviser to the Utica Festival of Arts and Crafts in 1938, and advised the New Jersey State Museum on an exhibit of Latin American arts and crafts.

She was a full-time writer after midlife, with broader travels to China, Ceylon, and the Middle East. "Once you become a sleuth in such matters, each hour is an adventure, each day a journey into the unknown," she explained to a reporter in 1960.[12]

Publications

In addition to her books on folk customs for adults, Spicer wrote cookbooks,[13] fiction, and a series of story collections for children, with the matching titles 13 Monsters, 13 Witches (1963), 13 Ghosts (1965), 13 Giants (1966), 13 Devils (1967),[14] 13 Goblins, 13 Rascals, and 13 Dragons (1974).[15] [16] She wrote classroom plays,[17] including The Song of the Coffee Bird (1932) for a curriculum package distributed by the Bureau of Coffee Information.[18] [19]

Personal life

Spicer married Malcolm Charles Fraser in 1925; they divorced in 1927.[37] She died in 1975, at the age of 81, in White Plains, New York.

Notes and References

  1. News: 1928-05-20 . Rev. J. L. Spicer, Police Chaplin, Dies at Home . 3 . The Brooklyn Citizen . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  2. News: 1942-12-01 . Veteran Nurse Dies . 11 . The Post-Star . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  3. Vassar College, Vassarion (1916 yearbook): 107.
  4. December 1, 1941 . 1916 (class notes) . Vassar Quarterly . 27 . 2 . 23 . Vassar Newspaper and Magazine Archive.
  5. News: 1943-06-20 . Learned about Folklore from People . 17 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  6. News: 1943-06-22 . Boro 'Y' Names Woman Writer to High Post . 3 . The Brooklyn Citizen . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: Cushman . Elizabeth . 1937-10-02 . 'Book of Festivals', Just Published, is Work of Dorothy Gladys Spicer . 8 . Mount Vernon Argus . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1944-01-09 . Festival Customs . 13 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Corby . Jane . 1929-01-23 . Helps Foreign-Born Women to Keep Up with their Americanized Husbands--Through Neighborliness . 28 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  10. News: Pettigrew . Margaret . 1943-09-22 . Learn Fine Points of Our Cookery . 8 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1932-03-13 . Two Y.W.C.A. Groups Plan Parties This Week . 60 . Times Union . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: Erbeck . Janett R. . 1960-11-07 . Two Books Just Published Bring City Author's Record to 14 . 11 . The Reporter Dispatch . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  13. News: McCarroll . Marion Clyde . 1949-02-07 . English Specialties for American Cooks . 12 . The Evening News . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  14. News: Colvin . Martha T. . 1973-06-11 . Folklore Fantasies Fascinate Children . 11 . Springfield News-Sun . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  15. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . 13 Dragons . 1974 . Coward, McCann & Geoghegan . 978-0-698-20254-2 . en.
  16. News: 1975-01-29 . Galdys Fraser . 11 . The Reporter Dispatch . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  17. Book: Bzowski, Frances Diodato . American Women Playwrights, 1900-1930: A Checklist . 1992 . Greenwood Press . 978-0-313-24238-0 . 344 . en.
  18. February 1934 . Publications . Nevada Educational Bulletin . 16 . 4 . 11.
  19. Book: Library of Congress Copyright Office . Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series ]. 1933 . 336 . en.
  20. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Folk festivals and the foreign community . 1923 . The Woman's Press . New York, N.Y..
  21. Redfield . Margaret Park . May 1925 . Folk Festivals and the Foreign Community. Dorothy Gladys Spicer . American Journal of Sociology . en . 30 . 6 . 745–746 . 10.1086/213798 . 0002-9602.
  22. Spicer, Dorothy Gladys. "Health Practices and Beliefs of the Immigrant Mother as Seen by a Social Worker." Hygeia 4 (1926): 319-21.
  23. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Holiday parties . 1939 . The Woman's Press . New York.
  24. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Parties for young Americans . 1940 . The Woman's Press . New York.
  25. Book: Spicer . Dorothy Gladys . Latin American costumes . Gloeckner . André. . Bartas . Jolanda . 1941 . The Hyperion Press . New York.
  26. News: Gives . John Selby . 1941-12-24 . Literary Guide . 8 . The Daily Ardmoreite . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.
  27. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Windows Open to the World: A Handbook of World Fellowship Projects . 1946 . Woman's Press . en.
  28. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . From an English oven; cakes, buns and breads of county tradition . 1948 . Women's Press . New York.
  29. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Folk party fun . 1954 . Association Press . New York.
  30. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Yearbook of English festivals. . 1954 . H. W. Wilson Co. . New York.
  31. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Festivals of Western Europe. . 1958 . H.W. Wilson Co. . New York.
  32. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . 46 days of Christmas; a cycle of Old World songs, legends and customs. . 1960 . Coward-McCann . New York.
  33. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . The book of festivals . 1937 . The Woman's Press . New York, N.Y..
  34. Book: Spicer . Dorothy Gladys . The owl's nest; folktales from Friesland. . Wadowski-Bak . Alice . 1968 . Coward-McCann . New York.
  35. Book: Spicer, Dorothy Gladys . Long Ago in Serbia . 1968 . Westminster Press . en.
  36. Book: Spicer, Dorothy . The crystal ball . 1975 . Ballantine Books . 0-345-26696-X . New York . 8470539.
  37. News: 1927-01-20 . Decrees Granted . 8 . Reno Gazette-Journal . 2023-03-18 . Newspapers.com.

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