Edith Philips (November 3, 1892 – July 19, 1983) was an American writer and academic of French literature. Her research focused on eighteenth-century French literature and French emigration to the United States. She was a
Guggenheim Fellow (1928) and a professor of French at
Goucher College
Goucher College ( ') is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...
and
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
. In 1932, she published ''
The Good Quaker in French Legend''. She served as the acting dean of women at Swarthmore and was later appointed the Susan W. Lippincott Professor of French in 1941. Philips was the founding chair of the Department of Modern Languages at Swarthmore, serving in this position from 1949 to 1960.
Early life and education
Edith Philips was born November 3, 1892, in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
to Mary Durham of
Yorklyn and Jesse E. Philips of
East Nantmeal Township. Her mother was a school teacher who helped assist her husband's operations.
Her father served as an instructor of mathematics and was the assistant headmaster for two years at the
Rutgers Preparatory School
Rutgers Preparatory School (also known as Rutgers Prep or RPS) is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school established in 1766. The school educates students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located on a campus along t ...
before opening the Philips Tutoring School in
West Chester, Pennsylvania
West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...
, in 1927.
Philips earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1913 from
Goucher College
Goucher College ( ') is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...
. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy from
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
in 1923.
She completed her dissertation entitled ''Les réfugiés bonapartistes en Amérique (1815-1830)''.
[Reviews of Dissertation:
* ]
Career
Philips joined the Goucher College faculty as an assistant professor of French in 1923.
She conducted research in France the summer of 1927.
Philips was awarded the
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
in 1928 to study "the Quaker as a type in French literature, chiefly in the eighteenth century."
For her fellowship, she studied in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and Russia. In 1930, Philips, then an assistant professor of Romance languages at Goucher, was conducting an "exhaustive study" on French emigration to the United States where she uncovered much on the life of
Louis Girardin, the first head of the Maryland Academy of Science and friend of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
.
Philips started at Swarthmore College in 1930 as an associate professor of French.
She became a full professor in 1934. Philips served as the acting dean of women from 1938 to 1939. She was appointed Susan W. Lippincott Professor of French in 1941. Philips was the founding chair of the Swarthmore Department of Modern languages from December 1949 until 1960. She retired in 1961. Philips was subsequently recognized as a professor emerita at Swarthmore.
Personal life
Philips' sister Amy was a director of the Newington Hospital for Crippled Children in
Newington, Connecticut
Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. Located south of downtown Hartford, Newington is an older, mainly residential suburb located in Greater Hartford. As of 2023, t ...
. Her brother J. Evan Philips was a private school teacher in
St. Louis
St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
,
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
.
She died after a surgery at
Crozer-Chester Medical Center in
Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...
, on July 19, 1983.
Selected works
Books
*
*
*
*
[Reviews of ''Paris and the Arts, 1851-1896'':
*
*
]
References
External links
Guggenheim Fellow Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philips, Edith
1892 births
1983 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
Academics from Maryland
Academics from Massachusetts
Academics from Pennsylvania
American women academics
American women non-fiction writers
Educators from Massachusetts
Exophonic writers
Goucher College alumni
Goucher College faculty and staff
Historians of French literature
Scholars of French literature
Swarthmore College faculty
University of Paris alumni
Writers from Boston
American writers in French