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Louise Fitz Randolph

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Louise Fitz Randolph
An older white woman with greying hair, wearing pince-nez glasses and a high-collored white blouse or dress
Louise Fitz Randolph, from the 1910 yearbook of Mount Holyoke College
Born
Louisa Phebe Fitz Randolph

June 25, 1851
Panama, New York
DiedDecember 29, 1932 (aged 81)
Toledo, Ohio
Occupation(s)Art historian, college professor
RelativesLee Fritz Randolph (nephew),
Caroline Ransom Williams (niece)

Louisa Phebe Fitz Randolph (June 25, 1851 – December 29, 1932), known as Louise Fitz Randolph, was an American art historian and college professor.[1] She taught archaeology and art history courses at Mount Holyoke College from 1892 to 1912, and built the school's collections of art, photographs, engravings and texts about the classical world.

Early life and education

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Louise Fitz Randolph was born in Panama, New York, the daughter of Reuben Fitz Randolph and Julia Bell Randolph. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1872 and received a master's degree in 1904, both at Mount Holyoke College.[2] She also studied at schools in London, Paris, Berlin, Zürich, Rome, Athens, Chicago, and New York.[3]

Career

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Randolph taught at Lake Erie Seminary in Ohio, from 1876 to 1890. From 1890 to 1892, she traveled in Europe with her niece, Caroline Ransom Williams, who became a noted Egyptologist and curator.[4][5] In 1892 she joined the faculty of Mount Holyoke College, where she taught art history and archaeology courses and built the school's collections of art, photographs, engravings, and texts. She joined the Archaeological Institute of America in 1889.[6] She was a member of the Classical Association of Western New England[7] and corresponded with archaeologist Esther Boise Van Deman.[8] She became a full professor in 1904. She was a speaker at a meeting of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae of New York, alongside Ida Tarbell and Lyman Abbott.[9]

Randolph retired as professor emerita in 1912. In 1905, she was succeeded in teaching archaeology at Mount Holyoke by Caroline Morris Galt.[10] A gallery of plaster casts at the school was named for her.[2][11]

Personal life

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Randolph died in 1932, while visiting her sister's family in Toledo, Ohio, aged 81 years.[2][12] Her estate continued to make gifts to the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum for decades after her death, until as recently as 2013.[4][13] Mount Holyoke College offers the Louise Fitz-Randolph Fellowship in Art, for Mount Holyoke alumnae pursuing graduate studies in art history, archaeology, or the history of architecture.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Her surname is sometimes shown hyphenated, as Fitz-Randolph, but she is also referred to as "Miss Randolph" in contemporary sources.
  2. ^ a b c "Louise Fitz Randolph Dead at 81in Toledo; Professor Emeritus of Mount Holyoke College, Where She Organized Art Courses". The New York Times. 1932-12-30. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  3. ^ The Llamarada. published yearly by the Junior Class, Mount Holyoke College. 1899. p. 10.
  4. ^ a b Sheppard, Kathleen L. (2018-04-30). My dear Miss Ransom: Letters between Caroline Ransom Williams and James Henry Breasted, 1898-1935. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. pp. 8, 21, 283. ISBN 978-1-78491-783-8.
  5. ^ Stevenson, Alice (2019-01-22). Scattered Finds: Archaeology, Egyptology and Museums. UCL Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-78735-141-7.
  6. ^ Navarro, Dominique (June 14, 2021). "America's First Woman Egyptologist – Caroline Ransom Williams". Digital Epigraphy. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  7. ^ Mount Holyoke College, Lllamarada (1910 yearbook): 18.
  8. ^ Cohen, Getzel M.; Joukowsky, Martha Sharp (2010-06-02). Breaking Ground: Pioneering Women Archaeologists. University of Michigan Press. pp. 73, 97. ISBN 978-0-472-02536-7.
  9. ^ "Alumnae Notes". The Mount Holyoke. 14: 224. January 1905.
  10. ^ "Prof. Caroline M. Galt; Taught Greek and Archaeology at Mount Holyoke College". The New York Times. 1937-01-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  11. ^ Mount Holyoke College (1917). Annual Catalogue of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary and College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke College. p. 110.
  12. ^ "Louise Fitz Randolph Succumbs at Toledo". The Indianapolis Star. 1932-12-30. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-04-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Foster, Karen Polinger (1995). "Minoan Material at Smith and Cornell". Mediterranean Archaeology. 8: 107–111. ISSN 1030-8482. JSTOR 24667837.
  14. ^ "Award Opportunities in Art History". Mount Holyoke College. 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2022-04-29.