Ethel H. Brewster Explained

Ethel H. Brewster
Birth Name:	Ethel Hampson Brewster
Birth Date:	July 3, 1886
Birth Place:	Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death Place:	Great Neck, New York, U.S.
Occupation:	Professor of Greek and Latin, Swarthmore College (1916–1947)

Ethel H. Brewster (July 3, 1886 – August 18, 1947) was an American college professor and philologist. She was Dean of Women (effective 1932) and taught Greek and Latin at Swarthmore College, where she was a member of the faculty from 1916 to 1947.

Early life and education

Ethel Hampson Brewster was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joseph Fergus Brewster and Jane (Hampson) Brewster. She graduated from Chester High School in 1903.^[1] She earned a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College in 1907, and a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1911.^[2] She held the Bennett Fellowship in Classics from 1912 to 1914, and completed doctoral studies at Penn in 1915, with a dissertation titled "Roman Craftsmen and Tradesmen of the Early Empire".^{[3] [4] [5]}

Career

Brewster taught Latin, French and English at Chester High School after she graduated from Swarthmore in 1907. She taught Latin at Vassar College from 1914 to 1916, and became associate professor of Greek and Latin at Swarthmore College in 1916. She taught at Swarthmore for over thirty years, and was department chair, Dean of Women^[6] and acting Dean of the college^[7] during her Swarthmore years.

In 1919, she addressed an audience at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, saying "It is as stupid to oust ancient history from the schools in favor of American and modern European history as it would be to knock out the first two stories of a skyscraper and expect the structure to stand."^[8]

Brewster was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Association of University Women.^[9]

Publications

Brewster's work was published in academic journals, including Classical Philology, The Classical Weekly, The Journal of Higher Education, and The Classical Journal.

• "On Suetonius, De grammaticis 5" (1915)^[10]
• "The Synthesis of the Romans" (1918)^[11]
• "The Functions of a Teacher" (1923)
• "Modern Antiquities" (1920)^[12]
• "Experiments with Translations" (1924)^[13]
• "Social Life as an Academic Problem" (1924)^[14]
• "A Weaver of Oxyrhynchus: Sketch of an Humble Life in Roman Egypt" (1927)^[15]
• "Reading for Honors" (1930)^[16]
• A Weaver's Life in Oxyrhynchus: His Status in the Community (1931)^[17]
• "In Roman Egypt" (1935)^[18]
• "Poster Politics in Ancient Rome and in Later Italy" (1944)^[19]
• "The Place of Latin in the Post-War Curriculum" (1946)^[20]

Personal life

Brewster died, unmarried, at her niece's home in 1947, at the age of 61, in Great Neck, New York.^[21] Her body was found in a closet, with a bottle of sleeping pills, after she had reportedly expressed concern over her declining health.^{[22] [23]}

Notes and References

1. News: June 17, 1903 . Forty-Seven Graduate from the High School . 1 . Delaware County Daily Times . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
2. Web site: Swarthmore College . 1926 . Halcyon . October 17, 2022 . Digital Collections, TriCollege Libraries . 33.
3. Web site: Lever . Katherine . Brewster, Ethel Hampson . October 17, 2022 . Database of Classical Scholars, Rutgers University . en-gb.
4. Book: Brewster, Ethel Hampson . Roman Craftsmen and Tradesmen of the Early Empire . 1917 . George Banta publishing Company . en.
5. Book: University of Pennsylvania Bulletin . 1915 . University of Pennsylvania. . 38–39 . en.
6. 1925 . Personal Qualifications as a Factor in the Limitation of Enrollment . Proceedings of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools . 39 . 15–21.
7. News: May 25, 1932 . Named Swarthmore Dean . 27 . The Times-Tribune . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
8. News: April 3, 1919 . 'Job' Does Not Educate; Dr. Ethel Hampson Brewster, of Swarthmore, Defends Classics . 15 . The Philadelphia Inquirer . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
9. News: February 14, 1929 . Educational Leaders Coming for Conference . 14 . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
10. On Suetonius de grammaticis 5 . 10.1086/359939 . 1915 . Brewster . Ethel Hampson . Classical Philology . 10 . 84–87 . 161573690 . free .
11. Book: American Philological Association . Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists . 1994 . Greenwood Publishing Group . 978-0-313-24560-2 . en.
12. Brewster . Ethel Hampson . 1920 . Modern Antiquities . The Classical Weekly . 13 . 16 . 121–126 . 10.2307/4387946 . 4387946 . 1940-641X.
13. Brewster . Ethel Hampson . 1924 . Experiments with Translations . The Classical Weekly . 18 . 6 . 42–44 . 10.2307/4388590 . 4388590 . 1940-641X.
14. Brewster . Ethel Hampson . 1924 . Social Life as an Academic Problem . Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Women Deans and Counselors . 11 . 67–73.
15. Brewster . Ethel H. . 1927 . A Weaver of Oxyrhynchus: Sketch of a Humble Life in Roman Egypt . Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association . 58 . 132–154 . 10.2307/282908 . 282908 . 0065-9711.
16. Brewster . Ethel Hampson . December 1, 1930 . Reading for Honors . The Journal of Higher Education . 1 . 9 . 507–514 . 10.1080/00221546.1930.11772229 . 0022-1546.
17. Brewster, Ethel Hampson. A Weaver's Life in Oxyrhynchus: His Status in the Community. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931.
18. Brewster . Ethel Hampson . 1935 . In Roman Egypt . The Classical Weekly . 29 . 4 . 25–29 . 10.2307/4339608 . 4339608 . 1940-641X.
19. Brewster . E. H. . 1944 . Poster Politics in Ancient Rome and in Later Italy . The Classical Journal . 39 . 8 . 466–483 . 3291901 . 0009-8353.
20. Brewster . Ethel H. . 1946 . The Place of Latin in the Post-War Curriculum . The Classical Weekly . 40 . 3 . 18–23 . 10.2307/4342257 . 4342257 . 1940-641X.
21. News: August 21, 1947 . Miss E. H. Brewster . 2 . Delaware County Daily Times . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
22. News: August 19, 1947 . Ethel Hampson Brewster, Educator, Found Dead . 8 . The Kingston Daily Freeman . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.
23. News: August 19, 1947 . Ethel H. Brewster is Found Dead . 1, 3 . The Philadelphia Inquirer . October 17, 2022 . Newspapers.com.