Cora Olive Sutton Castle (May 10, 1880 – August 14, 1966) was an American educator, sociologist, author, and

clubwoman The club movement is an American women's social movement that started in the mid-19th century and spread throughout the United States. It established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While wome ...

based in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Early life and education

Cora Olive Sutton was born in

Prior Lake, Minnesota Prior Lake is an exurban city southwest of Minneapolis, next to Savage and Shakopee in Scott County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Surrounding the shores of Lower and Upper Prior Lake, the city is south of the Minnesota River in an area k ...

, the daughter of Andrew Stewart Sutton and Harriet Snow Sutton. She earned a bachelor's degree at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1905, and a master's degree in literature at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

.Laura Ball
"Cora Sutton Castle"
''Psychology's Feminist Voices'' profile (2010).

''A Statistical Study of Eminent Women'' and other work

Cora Sutton Castle earned her doctorate in the psychology department at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1913, with a dissertation titled ''A Statistical Study of Eminent Women'',Cora Sutton Castle
''A Statistical Study of Eminent Women''
(Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1913). the title a direct reference to her advisor

James McKeen Cattell James McKeen Cattell (May 25, 1860 – January 20, 1944) was the first professor of psychology in the United States, teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was a long-time editor and publisher of scientific journals and pub ...

's paper, "A Statistical Study of Eminent Men" (1903). In her version of the study, she asked, "Has innate inferiority been the reason for the small number of eminent women, or has civilization never yet allowed them an opportunity to develop their innate powers and possibilities?" Her dissertation was published as a book the next year, and is still read and cited as an early example of collective biography of women. In 1916, six local organizations formed the San Francisco City and County Federation of Women's Club. Castle served as president of the San Francisco City Federation of Women's Clubs from 1918 to 1920, and in that role helped establish the "New Outside Inn," to host visiting family members of servicemen being treated at the

Letterman Army Hospital The Letterman Army Hospital, established around 1898 and redesignated as the Letterman Army Medical Center (LAMC) in 1969, was a US Army facility at the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco, California, US. It was decommissioned in 1994 ...

. Castle survived a fatal shipwreck in China in 1926, while traveling."S. F. Writer Rescued in Ship Wreck"
''Oakland Tribune'' (December 13, 1926): 3. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...

Works

''A Statistical Study of Eminent Women''
(Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1913). * * '' A Statistical Study of Eminent Women'' Volume 82 June 1913

Popular Science Monthly Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

* A Statistical Study of Eminent Women. (1913). Archives of Psychology, 4(No. 27), 90.

Personal life

Cora Sutton married Harry Edward Castle, a surgeon, in 1910. They lived in the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco for many years, while he served as the hotel doctor. Cora Sutton Castle was widowed in 1949 and died from cancer in 1966, aged 86 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle, Cora Sutton 1880 births 1966 deaths American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists American women in World War I Academics from San Francisco People from Scott County, Minnesota Clubwomen 20th-century American academics