Laura Johnson Wylie

Laura Johnson Wylie
Laura Johnson Wylie, from the 1917 yearbook of Vassar College
BornDecember 1, 1855
Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedApril 2, 1932 (age 76)
Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Professor of English, suffragist
PartnerGertrude Buck

Laura Johnson Wylie (December 1, 1855 – April 2, 1932) was a college professor. She was one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. at Yale University, in 1894. She taught English at Vassar College from 1895 to 1924; she was head of the English department for most of her tenure there.

Early life and education

Wylie was born in Milton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of William Theodorus Wylie and Sarah Murray Johnson Wylie. Her father was a Presbyterian minister; her mother died Wylie was four years old, and her father remarried twice.[1] She graduated from Vassar College in 1877,[2] as valedictorian of her class.[3] She was one of the first women admitted to a graduate program at Yale University, where she completed doctoral studies in 1894; her thesis was the first thesis by a woman published by Yale.[4][5]

Career

Wylie taught Latin and English at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn from 1884 to 1892,[1][2] while she was in graduate school.[6] English at Vassar College from 1895 to 1924,[7] and was head of the English department beginning for most of that time. She and her colleague Lucy Maynard Salmon co-founded Vassar's Equal Suffrage League in 1909, and she was president of the league and its successor organization, the Women's City and County Club, until 1928.[8] She served on the board of the Poughkeepsie Community Theatre, and left $10,000 to the theater in her will.[4] In retirement, she taught at the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers,[1] and spoke to community groups about literature.[9]

Publications

Wylie wrote two textbooks. She edited a collection of Gertrude Buck's poems and plays,[10] and school editions of The Winter's Tale and Adam Bede.[1]

  • Studies in the Evolution of English Criticism (1894)[5]
  • Social Studies in English Literature (1916)[11]
  • "What Can Be Done About It?" (1918)

Personal life

Wylie's partner was fellow Vassar professor Gertrude Buck.[1][10] They shared a house on Market Street in Poughkeepsie, and hosted suffrage meetings and other groups there. Wylie died in 1932, at the age of 76.[12] Eleanor Roosevelt contributed to Miss Wylie of Vassar (1934), a tribute book of essays about Wylie.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Bordelon, Suzanne (2009-03-10). A Feminist Legacy: The Rhetoric and Pedagogy of Gertrude Buck. SIU Press. pp. 74–76. ISBN 978-0-8093-8651-2.
  2. ^ a b "Miss Laura Johnson Resigns". Brooklyn Life. 1924-03-15. p. 12. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  3. ^ "Commencement Exercises at Vassar". Democrat and Chronicle. 1877-06-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c "Laura Johnson Wylie '1877". Vassar Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  5. ^ a b "Women Students of Yale; Result of Experiment for First Five Years Shows a Gradual Growth". Omaha World-Herald. 1898-01-23. p. 20. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Vayzman, Liena; Vaughan, Ruth; Wexler, Laura (September–October 2012). "The pioneers". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  7. ^ Bruno, Maryann; Daniels, Elizabeth A. (2001-02-01). Vassar College. Arcadia Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-7385-0454-4.
  8. ^ Flad, Harvey K.; Griffen, Clyde C. (2010-03-25). Main Street to Mainframes: Landscape and Social Change in Poughkeepsie. State University of New York Press. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-1-4384-2636-5.
  9. ^ Suydam, Emma B. (1925-01-11). "Literary Authority Defines Character in Modern Novel". The Pittsburgh Post. p. 40. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b Campbell, JoAnn (1996-04-15). Toward a Feminist Rhetoric: The Writing of Gertrude Buck. University of Pittsburgh Pre. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8229-9061-1.
  11. ^ Wylie, Laura Johnson (1916). Social Studies in English Literature. Houghton Mifflin.
  12. ^ "Laura Johnson Wylie". Poughkeepsie Eagle-News. 1932-04-04. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via Newspapers.com.
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