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{{Short description|American educator, writer, and welfare activist (1861–1954)}}
[[File:Vida Dutton Scudder 001.jpg|thumb|230px|Vida Dutton Scudder c. 1890]]
'''(Julia) Vida Dutton Scudder''' (December 15, 1861 – October 9, 1954) was an American [[educator]], [[writer]], and [[Social welfare provision|welfare]] activist in the [[social gospel]] movement.
[[File:Vida Dutton Scudder 001.jpg|thumb|Scudder, {{circa|1890}}]]
'''Julia Vida Dutton Scudder''' (1861–1954) was an American [[educator]], [[writer]], and [[Social welfare provision|welfare]] activist in the [[social gospel]] movement.


==Early life==
==Early life==
She was born in [[Madurai]], India, in 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder (of the [[Scudder family of missionaries in India]]) and Harriet Louise (Dutton) Scudder. After her father, a Congregationalist missionary, was accidentally drowned in 1862, she and her mother returned to the family home in Boston. Apart from travel in Europe, she attended private secondary schools in Boston, and was graduated from the Boston Girl's Latin School in 1880. Scudder then entered [[Smith College]], where she received her BA degree in 1884.<ref name=bio>''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1977) Supplement 5, p. 616., Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.</ref>
She was born in [[Madurai]], [[British Raj|India]], on December 15, 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder (of the [[Scudder family of missionaries in India]]) and Harriet Louise (Dutton) Scudder. After her father, a Congregationalist missionary, was accidentally drowned in 1862, she and her mother returned to the family home in Boston. Apart from travel in Europe, she attended private secondary schools in Boston, and was graduated from the Boston Girl's Latin School in 1880. Scudder then entered [[Smith College]], where she received her BA degree in 1884.<ref name=bio>''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1977) Supplement 5, p. 616., Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.</ref>


In 1885 she and [[Clara French]] were the first American women admitted to the graduate program at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], where she was influenced by [[York Powell]] and [[John Ruskin]]. While in England she was also influenced by [[Leo Tolstoi]] and by [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[Fabian Socialism]]. Scudder and French returned to Boston in 1886.<ref name=bio/><ref name=cyclo>''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'' (1902) James T. White & Company, New York, Reprint of 1891 edition.</ref>
In 1885 she and [[Clara French]] were the first American women admitted to the graduate program at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], where she was influenced by [[York Powell]] and [[John Ruskin]]. While in England she was also influenced by [[Leo Tolstoi]] and by [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[Fabian socialism]]. Scudder and French returned to Boston in 1886.<ref name=bio/><ref name=cyclo>''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'' (1902) James T. White & Company, New York, Reprint of 1891 edition.</ref>


==Academic career and social activism==
==Academic career and social activism==
Scudder taught English literature from 1887 at [[Wellesley College]], where she became an associate professor in 1892 and full professor in 1910.<ref name=cyclo/><ref name=columb>''The Illustrated Columbia Encyclopedia'' (1963) 3rd ed. Vol. 18, p. 5575., Columbia University Press,New York.</ref>
Scudder taught English literature from 1887 at [[Wellesley College]], where she became an associate professor in 1892 and full professor in 1910.<ref name=cyclo/><ref name=columb>''The Illustrated Columbia Encyclopedia'' (1963) 3rd ed. Vol. 18, p. 5575., Columbia University Press, New York.</ref>


She was one of the founders, in 1887, of the College Settlement Association, along with [[Helena Dudley]], [[Katharine Coman]], [[Katharine Lee Bates]], and other women.<ref name="davis/">{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Allen F.|title=Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlements and the Progressive Movement 1890-1914|date=1984|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|isbn=0-8135-1072-4|page=11|edition=Second}}</ref> She and [[Emily Greene Balch]] were also involved with the establishment of the CSA's third [[settlement house]] venture, [[Denison House (Boston)|Denison House]] in Boston.<ref name="barbuto/">{{cite book|last1=Barbuto|first1=Domenica M.|title=American Settlement Houses and Progressive Reform: An Encyclopedia of the American Settlement House Movement|date=1999|publisher=The Oryx Press|location=Phoenix, Arizona|isbn=1-57356-146-0|page=53}}</ref> Scudder was its primary administrator from 1893 to 1913.<ref name=bio/>
She was one of the founders, in 1887, of the [[College Settlements Association]], along with [[Helena Dudley]], [[Katharine Coman]], [[Katharine Lee Bates]], and other women.<ref name="davis/">{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Allen F.|title=Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlements and the Progressive Movement 1890–1914|date=1984|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|isbn=0-8135-1072-4|page=11|edition=Second}}</ref> She and [[Emily Greene Balch]] were also involved with the establishment of the CSA's third [[settlement house]] venture, [[Denison House (Boston)|Denison House]] in Boston.<ref name="barbuto/">{{cite book|last1=Barbuto|first1=Domenica M.|title=American Settlement Houses and Progressive Reform: An Encyclopedia of the American Settlement House Movement|date=1999|publisher=The Oryx Press|location=Phoenix, Arizona|isbn=1-57356-146-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/americansettleme0000barb_r9g2/page/53 53]|url=https://archive.org/details/americansettleme0000barb_r9g2/page/53}}</ref> Scudder was its primary administrator from 1893 to 1913.<ref name=bio/>
⚫
When French died in 1888, Scudder joined the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, a group of Episcopalian women dedicated to intercessionary prayer and social reconciliation. Also in 1888, she joined the Society of Christian Socialists, which, under the Rev. [[William Dwight Porter Bliss]], established the [[Church of the Carpenter, Boston|Church of the Carpenter]] in Boston and published ''The Dawn''.<ref name=bio/><ref name=cyclo/>


⚫
When French died in 1888, Scudder joined the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, a group of Episcopal women dedicated to intercessionary prayer and social reconciliation. Also in 1888, she joined the Society of Christian Socialists, which, under [[William Dwight Porter Bliss]], established the [[Church of the Carpenter, Boston|Church of the Carpenter]] in Boston and published ''The Dawn''.<ref name=bio/><ref name=cyclo/>
⚫
In 1893 Scudder was a delegate to the convention of the Boston Central Labor Union.<ref name=columb/> Later, she helped organize the Federal Labor Union, a group of professional people who associated themselves with the [[American Federation of Labor]].<ref name=bio/>


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In 1893, Scudder was a delegate to the convention of the Boston Central Labor Union.<ref name=columb/> Later, she helped organize the Federal Labor Union, a group of professional people who associated themselves with the [[American Federation of Labor]].<ref name=bio/>
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Having received a leave of absence from Wellesley for 1894–96, Scudder spent a year in Italy and France studying modern Italian and French literature.<ref name=cyclo/>


⚫
Having received a leave of absence from Wellesley for 1894–1896, Scudder spent a year in Italy and France studying modern Italian and French literature.<ref name=cyclo/>
⚫
In 1903 Scudder helped organize the Women's Trade Union League. The same year she became director of the Circolo Italo-Americano at Denison House.<ref name=bio/>


⚫
In 1903, Scudder helped organize the Women's Trade Union League. The same year she became director of the Circolo Italo-Americano at Denison House.<ref name=bio/>
⚫
Moving farther to the left, in 1911 she co-founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League and joined the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]]. Scudder attempted to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of [[Marxism]] and [[Christianity]]. She became controversial in 1912 when she supported striking textile workers in [[Lawrence, Massachusetts]], and spoke at a strike meeting, but Wellesley resisted calls for her dismissal as a professor.<ref name=columb/> In Scudder's famous speech, she declared,


⚫
Moving farther to the left, in 1911, she co-founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League and joined the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]]. Scudder attempted to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of [[Marxism]] and [[Christianity]]. She became controversial in 1912 when she supported striking textile workers in [[Lawrence, Massachusetts]], and spoke at a strike meeting, but Wellesley resisted calls for her dismissal as a professor.<ref name=columb/> In Scudder's famous speech, she declared,
⚫
<blockquote>I would rather never again wear a thread of woolen than know my garments had been woven at the cost of such misery as I have seen and known past the shadow of a doubt to have existed in this town....If the wages are of necessity below the standard to maintain man and woman in decency and in health, then the woolen industry has not a present right to exist in Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vorse |first1=Mary Heaton |authorlink=Mary Heaton Vorse |website=Marxists.org |title=Lawrence Strike |url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/vorse/lawrence.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[American Magazine]] |volume=74-75 |last1=Tarbell |first1=Ida M. |authorlink=Ida Tarbell |date=1912 |page=475 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkQ9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA475 |title=A Woman and Her Raiment }}</ref></blockquote>


⚫
<blockquote>I would rather never again wear a thread of woolen than know my garments had been woven at the cost of such misery as I have seen and known past the shadow of a doubt to have existed in this town.&nbsp;... If the wages are of necessity below the standard to maintain man and woman in decency and in health, then the woolen industry has not a present right to exist in Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vorse |first1=Mary Heaton |author-link=Mary Heaton Vorse |website=Marxists.org |title=Lawrence Strike |url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/vorse/lawrence.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[American Magazine]] |volume=74-75 |last1=Tarbell |first1=Ida M. |author-link=Ida Tarbell |date=1912 |page=475 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkQ9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA475 |title=A Woman and Her Raiment }}</ref></blockquote>
⚫
In 1913 Scudder ended her association with Denison House and moved to [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]], with her elderly mother, who died in 1920.<ref name=bio/>


⚫
In 1913, Scudder ended her association with Denison House and moved to [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]], with her elderly mother, who died in 1920.<ref name=bio/>
⚫
Unlike [[Eugene Victor Debs]] and other Socialist leaders, Scudder supported President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s decision to intervene in the [[First World War]] in 1917. In 1919 she founded the Church League for Industrial Democracy.


⚫
Unlike [[Eugene Victor Debs]] and other Socialist leaders, Scudder supported President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s decision to intervene in the [[First World War]] in 1917. In 1919 she founded the Church League for Industrial Democracy.
⚫
From 1919 until her death, Scudder lived with [[Florence Converse]]<ref>Lillian Faderman (1991) ''Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America'' pp. 23–24., Penguin Books Ltd, London.</ref> In Wellesley they resided at 45 Leighton Road.<ref name=who>''Who Was Who in America'' (1960) Marquis Who's Who, Inc., Chicago.</ref> She lived with Helena Dudley, her closest friend, from 1922 until Dudley's death in 1932.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Allen F. |chapter=Dudley, Helena Stuart |editor-last1=James |editor-first1=Edward T. |title=Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 2 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |date=1971 |isbn=9780674627345 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&pg=PA527 |page=527 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin |title=Helena S. Dudley |volume=XII |issue=8 |date=November 1932 |url=https://archive.org/stream/brynmawralumnaeb12bryn#page/n320/mode/1up/search/Helena+Dudley |page=23}}
⚫
</ref>


⚫
From 1919 until her death, Scudder lived with [[Florence Converse]].<ref>Lillian Faderman (1991) ''Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America'' pp. 23–24., Penguin Books Ltd, London.</ref> In Wellesley they resided at 45 Leighton Road.<ref name=who>''Who Was Who in America'' (1960) Marquis Who's Who, Inc., Chicago.</ref> Scudder's closest friend Helena Dudley lived with Scudder from 1922 until Dudley's death in 1932.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Allen F. |chapter=Dudley, Helena Stuart |editor-last1=James |editor-first1=Edward T. |title=Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 2 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |date=1971 |isbn=9780674627345 |url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw02jame_0 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw02jame_0/page/527 527] }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin |title=Helena S. Dudley |volume=XII |issue=8 |date=November 1932 |url=https://archive.org/stream/brynmawralumnaeb12bryn#page/n320/mode/1up/search/Helena+Dudley |page=23}}
At [[Wellesley College]] the poet [[Katherine Lee Bates]] developed an intimate partnership with fellow poet [[Katharine Coman]], the professor of economics and dean of the college. They jointly wrote ''English History as Taught by English Poets.''<ref>Bates, Katherine Lee, compiler with Katharine Coman, English History Told by English Poets, Macmillan, New York, NY, 1902, reprinted, Books for Libraries Press (Freeport, NY), 1969</ref> Their “Boston Marriage” of living together for twenty-five years ended in Coman’s cancer death at age 57. Bates, in her agony, published ''Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance''<ref>''Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance'', Dutton, New York, NY, 1922</ref> celebrating their love, common labor in education and literature and their involvement in social reform with their colleague Vida Scudder.<ref name=Bates>
⚫
</ref>
{{citation
|url=http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/poets/bates.php
|title=Katharine Lee Bates 1859–1929
|work=Poets of Cambridge, US
|author=Herbert F. Vetter
|accessdate=2011-10-26
}}</ref>


In the 1920s Scudder embraced [[pacifism]]. She joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1923, the same year she gave a series of lectures before the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom]] in [[Prague]].
In the 1920s, Scudder embraced [[pacifism]]. She joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1923, the same year she gave a series of lectures before the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom]] in [[Prague]].


==Later life==
==Later life==
Scudder retired from Wellesley in 1927 and received the title of professor emeritus.<ref name=columb/><ref name=who/> She became the first dean of the Summer School of Christian Ethics in 1930 at Wellesley. In 1931 she lectured weekly at the [[New School for Social Research]] in New York.
Scudder retired from Wellesley in 1927 and received the title of professor emeritus.<ref name=columb/><ref name=who/> She became the first dean of the Summer School of Christian Ethics in 1930 at Wellesley. In 1931 she lectured weekly at the [[New School for Social Research]] in New York. Having studied the [[Franciscans]] extensively after her retirement for Wellesley, she published ''The Franciscan Adventure'', in 1931 which established her as one of the leading Franciscan scholars of her time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/scudder-vida-dutton|title=Scudder, Vida Dutton|date=2012-05-22|work=Episcopal Church|access-date=2018-10-24|language=en}}</ref>


She published an autobiography, ''On Journey'', in London in 1937, and a collection of essays, ''The Privilege of Age'', in New York in 1939.
She published an autobiography, ''On Journey'', in London in 1937, and a collection of essays, ''The Privilege of Age'', in New York in 1939.
Line 48: Line 41:
Scudder had received the degree of LHD from Smith College in 1922. From [[Nashotah House]], an Episcopal seminary in [[Nashotah, Wisconsin]], she received an LLD degree in 1942.<ref name=who/>
Scudder had received the degree of LHD from Smith College in 1922. From [[Nashotah House]], an Episcopal seminary in [[Nashotah, Wisconsin]], she received an LLD degree in 1942.<ref name=who/>


Vida Dutton Scudder died at Wellesley, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1954, and is buried alongside Florence Converse at Newton Cemetery, [[Newton, Massachusetts]].<ref>[[Lillian Faderman]], ''Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America'', Penguin Books Ltd, 1991, pages 23-24. ISBN 0-231-07488-3</ref>
Vida Dutton Scudder died at her home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on October 9, 1954,<ref>[[Theresa Corcoran]], ''Virginia Dutton Scudder'', Twayne Publishers, 1982. ISBN 0-8057-7354-1</ref> and is buried alongside Florence Converse at Newton Cemetery, [[Newton, Massachusetts]].<ref>[[Lillian Faderman]], ''Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America'', Penguin Books Ltd, 1991, pages 23-24. {{ISBN|0-231-07488-3}}</ref>


==Veneration==
==Veneration==
Scudder is honored with a [[feast day]] on the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)]] on October 10.
Scudder is honored with a [[feast day]] on the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)]] on October 10.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=2019-12-17 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en}}</ref>


==Works==
==Works==
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* ''Shelley's Prometheus Unbound'', 1892 (edited).
* ''Shelley's Prometheus Unbound'', 1892 (edited).
* ''The Witness of Denial''. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1895.
* ''The Witness of Denial''. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1895.
* ''The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets''. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A50nAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s |title=The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2013-12-02}}</ref>
* ''The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets''. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A50nAAAAMAAJ |title=The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |access-date=2013-12-02|last1=Scudder |first1=Vida Dutton |year=1895 }}</ref>
* ''Socialism and Spiritual Progress: A Speculation''. Boston: Church Social Union, 1896.
* ''Socialism and Spiritual Progress: A Speculation''. Boston: Church Social Union, 1896.
* ''Social Ideals in English Letters.'' Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898 (enlarged edition, 1923).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbgLAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s |title=Social Ideals in English Letters - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |publisher= |date=2000-01-01 |accessdate=2013-12-02}}</ref>
* ''Social Ideals in English Letters.'' Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898 (enlarged edition, 1923).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbgLAAAAMAAJ |title=Social Ideals in English Letters - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |date=2000-01-01 |access-date=2013-12-02|last1=Scudder |first1=Vida Dutton }}</ref>
* ''Christian Simplicity''. Boston: Christian Social Union, 1898.
* ''Christian Simplicity''. Boston: Christian Social Union, 1898.
* ''Introduction to the Study of English Literature'', 1901 <ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9YcAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s |title=Introduction to the Study of English Literature - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2013-12-02}}</ref>
* ''Introduction to the Study of English Literature'', 1901 <ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9YcAAAAMAAJ |title=Introduction to the Study of English Literature - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |access-date=2013-12-02|last1=Scudder |first1=Vida Dutton |year=1914 }}</ref>
* ''A Listener in Babel: Being a Series of Imaginary Conversations held at the Close of the Last Century and Reported by Vida D. Scudder''. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903.
* ''A Listener in Babel: Being a Series of Imaginary Conversations held at the Close of the Last Century and Reported by Vida D. Scudder''. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903.
* ''Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters''. London: J.M. Dent, 1905; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1905 (edited and translated).
* ''Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters''. London: J.M. Dent, 1905; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1905 (edited and translated).
* ''The Disciple of a Saint, Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero di Landoccio dei Pagliaresi''. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907 (reissued in 1921 and 1927).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpJifQIxqBcC&source=gbs_navlinks_s |title=The Disciple of a Saint: Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero Di ... - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2013-12-02}}</ref>
* ''The Disciple of a Saint, Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero di Landoccio dei Pagliaresi''. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907 (reissued in 1921 and 1927).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpJifQIxqBcC |title=The Disciple of a Saint: Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero Di ... - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |access-date=2013-12-02|last1=Scudder |first1=Vida Dutton |year=1907 }}</ref>
* ''Works of John Woolman'', 1910 (edited for Everyman's Library).
* ''Works of John Woolman'', 1910 (edited for Everyman's Library).
* ''Bede's History of England'', 1911 (edited for Everyman's Library).
* ''Bede's History of England'', 1911 (edited for Everyman's Library).
* ''Socialism and Character''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zlJAAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s |title=Socialism and Character - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |publisher= |date=2008-02-29 |accessdate=2013-12-02}}</ref>
* ''Socialism and Character''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zlJAAAAIAAJ |title=Socialism and Character - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken |date=2008-02-29 |access-date=2013-12-02|last1=Scudder |first1=Vida Dutton }}</ref>
* ''English Poems'', 1915 (edited for Lake English Classics).
* ''English Poems'', 1915 (edited for Lake English Classics).
* ''The Church and the Hour: Reflections of A Socialist Churchwoman''. New York, E.P. Dutton, 1917.
* ''The Church and the Hour: Reflections of A Socialist Churchwoman''. New York, E.P. Dutton, 1917.
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* [http://anglicanhistory.org/women/adelynroodsketch.html Letters to Her Companions], by [[Emily Malbone Morgan]]. Edited by Vida Dutton Scudder, with a biographical sketch by Emily Sophie Brown. Privately printed, 1944.
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/women/adelynroodsketch.html Letters to Her Companions], by [[Emily Malbone Morgan]]. Edited by Vida Dutton Scudder, with a biographical sketch by Emily Sophie Brown. Privately printed, 1944.
* ''My Quest for Reality''. Wellesley: Published by the Author, 1952.
* ''My Quest for Reality''. Wellesley: Published by the Author, 1952.

==See also==
{{Portal|Saints}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Peter J. Frederick, ''Knights of the Golden Rule: The Intellectual As Christian Social Reformer in the 1890s.'' Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1976.


==External links==
==External links==
* [https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/447 Vida Dutton Scudder papers] at the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History, Smith College
* [http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss111_bioghist.html Biography]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Scudder,+Vida+Dutton }}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=38765}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Vida Dutton Scudder}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Vida Dutton Scudder}}


{{Portal bar|Christianity|Biography|Saints|Socialism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}



{{DEFAULTSORT:Scudder, Vida Dutton}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scudder, Vida Dutton}}
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[[Category:People from Madurai]]
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:American activists]]
[[Category:American activists]]
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[[Category:American Christian socialists]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:LGBT writers from the United States]]
[[Category:American women non-fiction writers]]
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[[Category:Wellesley College faculty]]
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[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Anglican pacifists]]
[[Category:Anglican pacifists]]
[[Category:American Christian socialists]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]
[[Category:Anglican socialists]]
[[Category:Anglo-Catholic socialists]]
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[[Category:American women writers]]
[[Category:Christian female saints of the Late Modern era]]
[[Category:Christian female saints of the Late Modern era]]
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[[Category:LGBT Anglicans]]
[[Category:American LGBT writers]]
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[[Category:Wellesley College faculty]]
[[Category:Women's Trade Union League people]]
[[Category:Women's Trade Union League people]]
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[[Category:Writers from Madurai]]
[[Category:Female Christian socialists]]
[[Category:LGBT people from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Indian LGBT writers]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:College Settlements Association]]

Latest revision as of 13:08, 11 October 2023

Scudder, c. 1890

Julia Vida Dutton Scudder (1861–1954) was an American educator, writer, and welfare activist in the social gospel movement.

Early life

[edit]

She was born in Madurai, India, on December 15, 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder (of the Scudder family of missionaries in India) and Harriet Louise (Dutton) Scudder. After her father, a Congregationalist missionary, was accidentally drowned in 1862, she and her mother returned to the family home in Boston. Apart from travel in Europe, she attended private secondary schools in Boston, and was graduated from the Boston Girl's Latin School in 1880. Scudder then entered Smith College, where she received her BA degree in 1884.[1]

In 1885 she and Clara French were the first American women admitted to the graduate program at Oxford, where she was influenced by York Powell and John Ruskin. While in England she was also influenced by Leo Tolstoi and by George Bernard Shaw and Fabian socialism. Scudder and French returned to Boston in 1886.[1][2]

Academic career and social activism

[edit]

Scudder taught English literature from 1887 at Wellesley College, where she became an associate professor in 1892 and full professor in 1910.[2][3]

She was one of the founders, in 1887, of the College Settlements Association, along with Helena Dudley, Katharine Coman, Katharine Lee Bates, and other women.[4] She and Emily Greene Balch were also involved with the establishment of the CSA's third settlement house venture, Denison House in Boston.[5] Scudder was its primary administrator from 1893 to 1913.[1]

When French died in 1888, Scudder joined the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, a group of Episcopal women dedicated to intercessionary prayer and social reconciliation. Also in 1888, she joined the Society of Christian Socialists, which, under William Dwight Porter Bliss, established the Church of the Carpenter in Boston and published The Dawn.[1][2]

In 1893, Scudder was a delegate to the convention of the Boston Central Labor Union.[3] Later, she helped organize the Federal Labor Union, a group of professional people who associated themselves with the American Federation of Labor.[1]

Having received a leave of absence from Wellesley for 1894–1896, Scudder spent a year in Italy and France studying modern Italian and French literature.[2]

In 1903, Scudder helped organize the Women's Trade Union League. The same year she became director of the Circolo Italo-Americano at Denison House.[1]

Moving farther to the left, in 1911, she co-founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League and joined the Socialist Party. Scudder attempted to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of Marxism and Christianity. She became controversial in 1912 when she supported striking textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and spoke at a strike meeting, but Wellesley resisted calls for her dismissal as a professor.[3] In Scudder's famous speech, she declared,

I would rather never again wear a thread of woolen than know my garments had been woven at the cost of such misery as I have seen and known past the shadow of a doubt to have existed in this town. ... If the wages are of necessity below the standard to maintain man and woman in decency and in health, then the woolen industry has not a present right to exist in Massachusetts.[6][7]

In 1913, Scudder ended her association with Denison House and moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, with her elderly mother, who died in 1920.[1]

Unlike Eugene Victor Debs and other Socialist leaders, Scudder supported President Woodrow Wilson's decision to intervene in the First World War in 1917. In 1919 she founded the Church League for Industrial Democracy.

From 1919 until her death, Scudder lived with Florence Converse.[8] In Wellesley they resided at 45 Leighton Road.[9] Scudder's closest friend Helena Dudley lived with Scudder from 1922 until Dudley's death in 1932.[10][11]

In the 1920s, Scudder embraced pacifism. She joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1923, the same year she gave a series of lectures before the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in Prague.

Later life

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Scudder retired from Wellesley in 1927 and received the title of professor emeritus.[3][9] She became the first dean of the Summer School of Christian Ethics in 1930 at Wellesley. In 1931 she lectured weekly at the New School for Social Research in New York. Having studied the Franciscans extensively after her retirement for Wellesley, she published The Franciscan Adventure, in 1931 which established her as one of the leading Franciscan scholars of her time.[12]

She published an autobiography, On Journey, in London in 1937, and a collection of essays, The Privilege of Age, in New York in 1939.

Scudder had received the degree of LHD from Smith College in 1922. From Nashotah House, an Episcopal seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin, she received an LLD degree in 1942.[9]

Vida Dutton Scudder died at her home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on October 9, 1954,[13] and is buried alongside Florence Converse at Newton Cemetery, Newton, Massachusetts.[14]

Veneration

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Scudder is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on October 10.[15]

Works

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  • How the Rain Sprites Were Freed. Boston: D. Lothrop, 1883.
  • Poems by George Macdonald, 1887 (edited with Clara French).[1][2]
  • Mitsu-Yu-Nissi; or, The Japanese Wedding. Chicago: T.S. Denison 1887.
  • Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive. Boston: Sibley and Ducker, 1889 (edited).
  • An Introduction to the Writings of John Ruskin. Boston: Leach, Shewell and Sanborn, 1890 edited.
  • Topical Outlines for the Study of Modern English Literature. Boston: Frank Wood, 1892.
  • Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, 1892 (edited).
  • The Witness of Denial. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1895.
  • The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895.[16]
  • Socialism and Spiritual Progress: A Speculation. Boston: Church Social Union, 1896.
  • Social Ideals in English Letters. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898 (enlarged edition, 1923).[17]
  • Christian Simplicity. Boston: Christian Social Union, 1898.
  • Introduction to the Study of English Literature, 1901 [18]
  • A Listener in Babel: Being a Series of Imaginary Conversations held at the Close of the Last Century and Reported by Vida D. Scudder. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903.
  • Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters. London: J.M. Dent, 1905; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1905 (edited and translated).
  • The Disciple of a Saint, Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero di Landoccio dei Pagliaresi. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907 (reissued in 1921 and 1927).[19]
  • Works of John Woolman, 1910 (edited for Everyman's Library).
  • Bede's History of England, 1911 (edited for Everyman's Library).
  • Socialism and Character. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.[20]
  • English Poems, 1915 (edited for Lake English Classics).
  • The Church and the Hour: Reflections of A Socialist Churchwoman. New York, E.P. Dutton, 1917.
  • Le Morte D'Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory and Its Sources, 1917 (edited and translated).
  • Social Teachings of the Christian Year: Lectures Delivered at the Cambridge Conference, 1918. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1921.
  • Brother John: A Tale of the First Franciscans. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1927.
  • The Franciscan Adventure: A Study in the First Hundred Years of the Order of St. Francis of Assisi. London and Toronto: J.M. Dent, 1931; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1931.
  • The Christian Attitude Toward Private Property. Milwaukee: Morehouse, 1934.
  • On Journey. London: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1937.
  • The Privilege of Age: Essays Secular and Spiritual. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1939.
  • Father Huntington, Founder of the Order of the Holy Cross. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1940.
  • Letters to Her Companions, by Emily Malbone Morgan. Edited by Vida Dutton Scudder, with a biographical sketch by Emily Sophie Brown. Privately printed, 1944.
  • My Quest for Reality. Wellesley: Published by the Author, 1952.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dictionary of American Biography (1977) Supplement 5, p. 616., Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
  2. ^ a b c d e The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1902) James T. White & Company, New York, Reprint of 1891 edition.
  3. ^ a b c d The Illustrated Columbia Encyclopedia (1963) 3rd ed. Vol. 18, p. 5575., Columbia University Press, New York.
  4. ^ Davis, Allen F. (1984). Spearheads for Reform: The Social Settlements and the Progressive Movement 1890–1914 (Second ed.). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-8135-1072-4.
  5. ^ Barbuto, Domenica M. (1999). American Settlement Houses and Progressive Reform: An Encyclopedia of the American Settlement House Movement. Phoenix, Arizona: The Oryx Press. p. 53. ISBN 1-57356-146-0.
  6. ^ Vorse, Mary Heaton. "Lawrence Strike". Marxists.org.
  7. ^ Tarbell, Ida M. (1912). "A Woman and Her Raiment". American Magazine. 74–75: 475.
  8. ^ Lillian Faderman (1991) Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America pp. 23–24., Penguin Books Ltd, London.
  9. ^ a b c Who Was Who in America (1960) Marquis Who's Who, Inc., Chicago.
  10. ^ Davis, Allen F. (1971). "Dudley, Helena Stuart". In James, Edward T. (ed.). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 2. Harvard University Press. p. 527. ISBN 9780674627345.
  11. ^ "Helena S. Dudley". Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin. XII (8): 23. November 1932.
  12. ^ "Scudder, Vida Dutton". Episcopal Church. 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  13. ^ Theresa Corcoran, Virginia Dutton Scudder, Twayne Publishers, 1982. ISBN 0-8057-7354-1
  14. ^ Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, Penguin Books Ltd, 1991, pages 23-24. ISBN 0-231-07488-3
  15. ^ Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018. Church Publishing, Inc. 2019-12-17. ISBN 978-1-64065-235-4.
  16. ^ Scudder, Vida Dutton (1895). The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  17. ^ Scudder, Vida Dutton (2000-01-01). Social Ideals in English Letters - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  18. ^ Scudder, Vida Dutton (1914). Introduction to the Study of English Literature - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  19. ^ Scudder, Vida Dutton (1907). The Disciple of a Saint: Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero Di ... - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  20. ^ Scudder, Vida Dutton (2008-02-29). Socialism and Character - Vida Dutton Scudder - Google Boeken. Retrieved 2013-12-02.

Further reading

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  • Peter J. Frederick, Knights of the Golden Rule: The Intellectual As Christian Social Reformer in the 1890s. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1976.
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