Estella Weeks Explained

Estella Weeks
Birth Name:	Estella Terry Weeks
Birth Date:	September 6, 1886
Birth Place:	Brooklyn, New York
Death Date:	October 17, 1969
Death Place:	Staunton, Virginia
Occupation:	Researcher, statistician, educator

Estella Terry Weeks (September 6, 1886 – October 17, 1969) was an American educator, statistician, and researcher, who studied reconstruction efforts after World War I, and the Shakers religious sect, among other subjects.

Early life and education

Weeks was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of William H. Weeks and Lydia Elizabeth Kelsey Weeks. Her father was a salesman for Brooks Brothers for over fifty years.^[1] She graduated from Long Island City High School in Queens,^[2] and studied social science at Teachers College, Columbia University.^[3]

Career

Weeks taught school in New York City as a young woman.^[4] She directed a summer school in Bernardsville, New Jersey in 1915. In 1918, she was working in Washington, D.C. as assistant director of a division at the Committee on Public Information.^[5] Weeks was head of the research and statistics department at Hoggson Brothers, an architectural firm in New York City. She traveled to France after World War I with the American Committee for Devastated France. During World War II, she worked as a research assistant at the headquarters of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Washington, D.C.^[6]

Weeks moved to the Berkshires with her mother for health reasons, and there became acquainted with the United Believers or "Shakers", an American religious sect. For over forty years, she studied Shaker lore, especially their music,^[7] dances, and liturgical practices.^[8] She presented a paper on this work at the National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C. in 1941,^{[9] [10]} received a grant from the American Philosophical Society in 1942 to support her research,^[11] and spoke to the Hymn Society of America about her findings in 1946.^[12] She died before she finished her intended book on the subject.^[13]

Publications

• A study of Long Island City, New York (1913)^[14]
• An Industrial Notebook (1919, edited by Weeks for YWCA workers)^[15]
• Reconstruction Programs: A Comparative Study Of Their Content And Of The Viewpoints Of The Issuing Organizations (1920)^[16]
• "What Construction has Meant and What it Means Today" (1921)^[17]
• Basic Project Reports of Near East Foundation Projects (1932)^[18]
• "Shakerism: Shakerism in Indiana; Notes on Shaker Life, Customs, and Music" (1945, with Ernest W. Baughman)^[19]
• "A Sketch Showing Location of the First Settlers in Hood River, Oregon" (1948, map, with Nora Ann Rumbaugh)^[20]

Personal life and legacy

Weeks died in 1969, in Staunton, Virginia, at the age of 83. There is a folder of correspondence related to Weeks in the Manuscripts and Folklife Archives of Western Kentucky University.^[21]

Notes and References

1. News: 1928-08-27 . Obituary for William K. Weeks . 18 . The Herald Statesman . 2023-03-10 . Newspapers.com.
2. News: 1903-06-21 . High School Prize Winners . 13 . The New York Times . 2023-03-10 . Newspapers.com.
3. News: 1915-07-15 . Vacation School is Big Success; Enrollment is Now Over One Hundred--Good Training for Children . 1 . Bernardsville News . 2023-03-10 . Newspapers.com.
4. News: 1911-01-18 . Many Teachers Ill . 6 . Times Union . 2023-03-10 . Newspapers.com.
5. https://archive.org/details/sim_teachers-college-record_1918-05_19_3/page/318/mode/2up?q=Estella+ "Recent Alumni Appointments"
6. November 1944 . Personal . Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals . 28 . 125 . 92 . Internet Archive.
7. Book: Lassiter, William Lawrence . Shaker recipes for cooks and homemakers . 1978 . New York, Greenwich Book Publishers . Internet Archive . 978-0-517-26388-4 . 24–25.
8. News: French . Harriet . 1955-04-17 . Long Study of Shakers Made by Estella Weeks . D-5, D-21 . Evening Star . 2023-03-10 . Newspapers.com.
9. News: 1941-05-02 . 500 Entertainers Open Eighth Annual Folk Festival Here . 47 . Evening Star . 2023-03-10 . Newspapers.com.
10. News: May 4, 1941 . Folk Festival Hailed as Spur to Scholars . 10 . The Washington Post . December 13, 2023 . Internet Archive.
11. 1942 . Report of Committee on Research . American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1941 . 83 . Internet Archive.
12. McAll . Reginald L. . February 1, 1946 . The Hymn Society of America Inc. . The Diapason . 37 . 3 . 19 . Internet Archive.
13. Book: Stein, Stephen J. . The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers . 1992-01-01 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-05139-1 . 510, note 44 . en.
14. Book: Weeks, Estella T. . A study of Long Island City, New York . 1913 . Columbia University Libraries . English.
15. April 1920 . Book Reviews . Religious Education . 15 . 2 . 127 . Internet Archive.
16. Book: Weeks, Estella T. . Reconstruction Programs: A Comparative Study of Their Content and of the Viewpoints of the Issuing Organizations... . 1920 . Woman's Press . en.
17. Weeks, Estella T. "What Construction Has Meant and What it Means Today" National Brick Manufacturers Association Annual Convention Official Report (1921): 36-42.
18. Weeks, Estella T., Basic Project Reports of Near East Foundation Projects (Near East Foundation 1932), referenced in National Technical Information Service, DTIC AD0763423: Military Civic Action. Volume 1. Evaluation of Civilian Techniques in International Development Assistance (September 1972): 127, 212.
19. Weeks . Estella T. . Baughman . Ernest W. . 1945 . Shakerism: Shakerism in Indiana; Notes on Shaker Life, Customs, and Music . Hoosier Folklore Bulletin . 4 . 4 . 59–86 . 27655533 . 0441-2060.
20. Book: Office, Library of Congress Copyright . Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series . 1948 . 167 . en.
21. 2013-03-05 . Weeks, Estella T. (SC 670) . MSS Finding Aids, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, Western Kentucky University . Folklife Archives . Manuscripts &. .