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293:, claiming that she needed a younger more "adaptable" colleague for her work. Leach also commented unfavourably on Macurdy's decision, previously encouraged by Leach herself, to study for her PhD while teaching at Vassar. Before Leach's proposal could be acted upon, she publicly reassigned Macurdy's class in freshman Greek to a new instructor, and she continued to write letters to Taylor criticising Macurdy. The trustees of the college rejected Leach's proposal, and unanimously reappointed Macurdy, instructing Leach to give her a reasonable share of the work in the department. Yet Taylor continued to receive letters from Leach, and a letter from graduate students telling him of incidents when Leach had vehemently criticised Macurdy and her work to the students in their classes, including criticising details of her thesis.
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attempting to follow the paths laid out by male scholars and suppress her own gender, established her own approach to academic work. The study of women was central to her scholarship, and
Macurdy was particularly interested in the importance of studying individual women with reference to their social circumstances, rather than allowing generalisation. She also recognised the need to use a wide range of material evidence in order to move past traditional scholarship, based primarily on the study of texts, and in her works therefore discussed coins, sculpture, vases, inscriptions and papyri.
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courses offered by the faculty, and continued to publish widely. She continued to be an effective teacher, lecturer, and international traveller, despite the fact that in 1919 she had begun to lose her hearing, a loss which then proceeded rapidly until she was almost entirely deaf by her mid-fifties. After the loss of her hearing, Macurdy took to using an ear-trumpet, a detail remembered fondly by her students in later anecdotes.
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269:, who supported and encouraged her work, particularly after they met in 1907. It is clear that she originally patterned her work on Murray's, but as her research progressed she began to work on etymology of names, mythic and religious origins, and ethnology, thus beginning to model herself more after the approach of
289:. In 1907, Macurdy discovered that Leach was attempting to have her dismissed from Vassar. In 1907, Leach began to seek a faculty member to replace Macurdy, and to restrict the courses which she would be allowed to teach. In January 1908, Leach formally proposed Macurdy's dismissal to the Vassar president,
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In the later part of her career, partly due to the reassurance of her status as an established scholar, Macurdy turned to the study of ancient women - a topic not previously explored by female classicists, and by few male scholars. In particular, she focused her work on ancient monarchies, and sought
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Leach's campaign continued for several years. She continued to remove courses from
Macurdy, and to persuade students against courses which Macurdy was teaching, then claiming that Macurdy should be dismissed as she did not have sufficient courses to teach, or sufficient students. Leach also continued
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In 1920, two years after Leach's death, Macurdy became chair of the department of Greek at Vassar, a post which she held until she retired in 1937. In her new position, she increased collaboration with the Latin faculty, mentored younger colleagues, increased enrolments, improved the strength of the
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and was longer than most dissertations in the subject at that time. While studying, she had continued teaching at Vassar, commuting to and from
Columbia, until the receipt of her PhD gained her a promotion, and she became an associate professor of Greek at Vassar. In 1908 she became the first woman
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took office as the new
President of Vassar in 1915, Leach immediately presented her case for the dismissal of Macurdy to him. However, MacCracken instead proposed the following year that Macurdy should be given a permanent post, and promoted to the rank of full professor, and the trustees agreed.
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Grace recognized the need to move beyond the confines of traditional text-based scholarship. It was clear that women's lives could not be reconstructed from historical and literary texts alone, ... Grace had to supplement texts with material evidence, especially coins and inscriptions, but also
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Over the course of her career, Macurdy published significantly, including five books, fifty-seven articles in major academic journals, sixteen reviews, and several poems and articles in more popular volumes. Macurdy is recognised for being one of the few early women classicists who, rather than
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was published in 1940, and examined the development of the 'humane virtues' in Greek thought. It is likely that her choice of topic was influenced by her horror at the events taking place in Europe in the late 1930s. Macurdy died in 1946.
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234:, where she gained highest second-year honors in 1887, and graduated in 1888. Macurdy would become the first graduate from Radcliffe to gain a doctorate, and become a college professor. At first she taught Greek and Latin at the
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Despite the lack of support, Leach continued her campaign until her death in 1918. Hundreds of the letters sent as part of the conflict are now in the Vassar
Archives, stored under the heading "The Leach-Macurdy Conflict".
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In contrast with Abby Leach, at whose hands she had suffered so much difficulty, Macurdy worked hard to promote the careers and scholarship of other younger female colleagues. She recognised the excellence of
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published four 'Tributes' to
Macurdy from other scholars, which recognised her fulsomely. Macurdy was described as a "true 'scholar' of a kind which is rare in America and by no means common in Europe" by
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her letter-writing, writing to alumnae asking them to criticize
Macurdy, and writing further derogatory letters to the president of Columbia and professors of Greek who had taught her there. When
346:. As well as Macurdy being the first woman to participate in such a series, her lecture on "Great Macedonian Women" was an unusual topic for a university-sponsored, public lecture at the time.
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Macurdy eventually rose to become chair of the department of Greek before embarking upon an illustrious international career. One of her major areas of research was royal women during the
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out the facts of royal women's roles, natures and characters, while attempting to cut through the prejudices and stereotypes about women which had made earlier treatments unsatisfactory.
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Macurdy's pioneering academic achievements did not have wholly positive results, as her increased success brought her into conflict with the scholar who had first hired her to Vassar,
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582:"Assessing and Continuing the Contributions of Grace Harriet Macurdy, Pioneering Feminist Scholar: Barbara McManus' "The Drunken Duchess of Vassar""
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471:. (1932) Johns Hopkins University Studies in Archaeology, no. 14. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. (Reprinted in 1985 by Ares Publishers).
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as work that showed her to be a "true pioneer" - " many of the features of the modern feminist approach to the study of women in antiquity."
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to teach in the academic program at
Columbia University, taking up undergraduate and graduate Greek courses in Columbia's summer session.
394:, and by J. A. K. Thompson as "the first American woman to meet the Greek scholars of Europe and America on something like equal terms."
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319:'s scholarship, and helped foster her career even after she had left Vassar. She interceded with President MacCracken on behalf of
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in 1903, becoming the first
American woman (and third woman) to have gained a PhD from Columbia. Her dissertation was titled
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891:
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Macurdy was awarded a fellowship from the Woman's
Education Association of Boston, which allowed her to study at the
183:(September 12, 1866 – October 23, 1946) was an American classicist, and the first American woman to gain a PhD from
764:"Grace H. Macurdy, Vassar Professor; Classical Scholar Who Taught Greek for 44 Years Before She Retired Is Dead".
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for her role in raising money for the British war relief during the Second World War. Her final book,
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226:, and was the daughter of Simon Angus Macurdy and Rebecca Thomson Macurdy. She went to high school in
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477:. (1937) Johns Hopkins University Studies in Archaeology, no. 22. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.
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McManus, Barbara (2009). "Grace Harriet Macurdy". In Hallett, Judith P.; Stray, Christopher (eds.).
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not 'overburden' herself with teaching, thus making it difficult for her to publish successfully.
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202:. Macurdy shaped the field of classics and the study of ancient history by pulling together both
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715:
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554:
Women Classical Scholars: Unsealing the Fountain from the Renaissance to Jacqueline de Romilly
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417:
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Hellenistic Queens: a Study of Woman-Power in Macedonia, Seleucid Syria, and Ptolemaic Egypt
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Macurdy's work had a substantial impact on the study of women and ancient history. Her book
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During her early career, Macurdy cultivated a relationship through letters with
238:, while continuing to teach graduate courses at Radcliffe, and in 1893 moved to
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640:
Ascher, Leona (1973). "Women in Classical Studies: Victorian and Modern".
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653:
463:
Troy and Paeonia, with Glimpses of Ancient Balkan History and Religion
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546:"Grace Harriet Macurdy (1866–1946) Redefining the Classical Scholar"
323:'s delayed promotion to full professor, and asked the president of
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Recipients of the King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom
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was described as "a work of first-rate importance", and her works
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Macurdy became the first woman to lecture publicly in Classics at
223:
481:
The Quality of Mercy: the Gentler Virtues in Greek Literature
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Vassal-Queens and Some Contemporary Women in the Roman Empire
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as sources in her pioneering studies of individual women.
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British Classics Outside England: The Academy and Beyond
273:, herself a female pioneer of the time. Her first book,
739:"A Documentary Chronicle of Vassar College: July 1946"
459:(1903), (PhD dissertation). Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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Macurdy retired in 1937. In 1946 she was awarded the
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351:King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom
259:The Chronology of the Extant Plays of Euripides,
457:The Chronology of the Extant Plays of Euripides
127:The Chronology of the Extant Plays of Euripides
191:for 44 years, despite a lengthy conflict with
624:"Breaking Ground: Biography of Grace Macurdy"
556:. Oxford University Press. pp. 194–215.
465:. (1925) New York: Columbia University Press.
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249:from 1899 to 1900, taking classes taught by
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580:(October 13, 2017). McHardy, Fiona (ed.).
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27:American classical philologist (1866-1946)
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342:on May 25, 1925, after being invited by
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842:People from Watertown, Massachusetts
832:People from Washington County, Maine
306:Head of department and later career
251:Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
25:
887:American women classical scholars
847:Scholars of ancient Greek history
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385:On her retirement in 1937, the
1:
897:Historians from Massachusetts
598:sculpture, vases, and papyri.
362:Impact and critical reception
447:Resources in other libraries
423:Resources in other libraries
882:American classical scholars
714:. Baylor University Press.
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857:Columbia University alumni
253:. She gained her PhD from
236:Cambridge School for Girls
852:American women historians
442:Resources in your library
418:Resources in your library
340:King's College, Cambridge
321:Elizabeth Hazelton Haight
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862:Radcliffe College alumni
281:Conflict with Abby Leach
228:Watertown, Massachusetts
780:"Grace Harriet Macurdy"
387:Vassar Alumnae Magazine
867:Vassar College faculty
299:Henry Noble MacCracken
195:, her first employer.
84:Poughkeepsie, New York
642:The Classical Journal
325:Mount Holyoke College
230:, before studying at
181:Grace Harriet Macurdy
18:Grace Harriet Macurdy
247:University of Berlin
218:Macurdy was born in
768:. October 24, 1946.
548:. In Wyles, Rosie;
542:McManus, Barbara F.
291:James Monroe Taylor
255:Columbia University
185:Columbia University
114:Columbia University
96:Academic background
892:Writers from Maine
837:Women's historians
578:Hallett, Judith P.
376:Hellenistic Queens
327:to take care that
200:Hellenistic period
61:September 12, 1866
745:on April 21, 2015
404:Library resources
344:J. A. K. Thompson
232:Radcliffe College
204:material evidence
187:. She taught at
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105:Radcliffe College
65:Robbinston, Maine
16:(Redirected from
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372:Troy and Paeonia
329:Cornelia Coulter
317:Lily Ross Taylor
275:Troy and Paeonia
208:textual evidence
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76:October 23, 1946
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78:(1946-10-23)
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877:1946 deaths
872:1866 births
550:Hall, Edith
826:Categories
648:(4): 356.
488:References
287:Abby Leach
220:Robbinston
193:Abby Leach
139:Discipline
57:1866-09-12
749:April 12,
591:August 2,
101:Education
552:(eds.).
544:(2016).
143:Classics
805:has an
803:Scholia
654:3295959
586:Cloelia
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122:Thesis
86:, U.S.
67:, U.S.
650:JSTOR
627:(PDF)
398:Books
224:Maine
116:(PhD)
751:2016
716:ISBN
593:2018
558:ISBN
378:and
206:and
73:Died
51:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
