Cornelia Catlin Coulter (1885 – April 27, 1960) was an American classicist and academic who was Professor of Latin at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

from 1926 to 1951. She is known in particular for her work on the Medieval and Renaissance use of Classical sources and for her presidency of and advocacy for the

Classical Association of New England The Classical Association of New England (CANE) is a learned society, professional organization for scholars and teachers of classical antiquity in New England. CANE was founded in 1906 by a group of "concerned collegiate Hellenists" led by George ...

Career

Coulter was born in 1885 in

Ferguson, Missouri Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 18,527, and is predominantly Bla ...

and was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Joseph Hill Coulter. Coulter gained her BA from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

in 1907 and her Ph.D. from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

in 1911. From 1909 to 1910 Coulter spent a year studying at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. Coulter's PhD dissertation, ''Retractatio in the Ambrosian and Palatine Recensions of Plautus:'' ''A Study of the Persa, Poenulus, Pseudolus, Stichus and Trinummus'', was published as a Bryn Mawr College Monograph in 1911. After her PhD, Coulter became Reader of Latin at

. From 1912 to 1914 she taught Latin and Greek at Saint Agnes School in New York. Coulter became Associate Professor of Latin and Greek at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

in 1916 and moved to

in 1926, where she remained till her retirement in 1951. In 1927 Coulter became a member of the

American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States that was founded in 1915 in New York City and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAUP membership inc ...

. At Mount Holyoke College, Coulter was a professor of Latin and chairman of the department from 1935 to 1948. After her retirement from

, Coulter taught for two years at

Hiram College Hiram College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Hiram, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute by Amos Sutton Hayden and other members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The college is nonse ...

from 1951 to 1953 as a visiting professor for the John Hay Whitney Foundation. Following this, Coulter returned to brief periods of teaching at

for a semester in 1957 and at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1959. Coulter's work on the reception of classical authors in Medieval and Renaissance scholarship returned repeatedly throughout her career and retirement to the use of classical sources in the work of

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...

and this work is still in use today in assessing Boccaccio's sources. Coulter served as president of the

, the

American Philological Association The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA), is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the pree ...

, and the Western Massachusetts Society of the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America, North America's oldest learned society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and ...

Legacy

Coulter's work for the

had particular impact and she was described in 1961 by Prof. Claude W. Barlow as 'in many ways the greatest single benefactress that the Classical Association of New England has ever had'. Coulter had joined the Association in 1927 and became a life member in 1953. She was vice-president in 1942-1943 and President in 1947–1948. Coulter also served as an officer and on a number of committees for the Association during her membership but she had the most impact in fundraising for the Association. Alongside this activity, in 1946 Coulter became the Chair of a special committee for summer scholarships to the

American School of Classical Studies in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

. Coulter was the largest single contributor to the Association's Rome Scholarship Fund, and for a number of years anonymously supplied the full funds for the annual awards. In 1961 the

renamed the Rome Scholarship the Cornelia Catlin Coulter Rome Scholarship. Coulter was widely regarded as an excellent teacher who devoted her career to supporting the classics, students, and colleagues: The Cornelia Catlin Coulter papers are held in the

Archives including correspondence, poetry, and Coulter's PhD dissertation submitted to

in 1911. A manuscript typed by Coulter on the "History of Town of Ferguson, 1845-1911" is held among the Coulter Family Papers in the

Missouri Historical Society The Missouri Historical Society was founded in St. Louis on August 11, 1866. Founding members created the historical society "for the purpose of saving from oblivion the early history of the city and state". Organization The Missouri Historica ...

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 ...

Selected publications

* 'Statius, Silvae, V, 4 and Fiammetta's Prayer to Sleep' in ''The American Journal of Philology'' Vol. 80, No. 4 (1959), pp. 390–395 * 'Boccaccio's Knowledge of Quintilian' in ''Speculum'' Vol. 33, No. 4 (Oct., 1958), pp. 490–496 * 'Pollio's History of the Civil War' in ''The Classical Weekly'' Vol. 46, No. 3 (Dec. 1, 1952), pp. 33–36 * 'The Transfiguration of the Sibyl' in ''The Classical Journal'' Vol. 46, No. 3 (Dec., 1950), pp. 121–126 * 'Boccaccio and the Cassinese Manuscripts of the Laurentian Library' in ''Classical Philology'' Vol. 43, No. 4 (Oct., 1948), pp. 217–230 * 'The Library of the Angevin Kings at Naples' in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' Vol. 75 (1944), pp. 141–155 * 'Marcus Junius Brutus and the "Brutus" of Accius' in ''The Classical Journal'' Vol. 35, No. 8 (May, 1940), pp. 460–470 * 'Further Notes on the Ritual of the Bithynian Christians' in ''Classical Philology'' Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jan., 1940), pp. 60–63 * 'Boccaccio's Archaeological Knowledge' in ''American Journal of Archaeology'' Vol. 41, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1937), pp. 397–405 * 'Aeolian Strains on the Roman Lyre' in ''The Classical Journal'' Vol. 31, No. 3 (Dec., 1935), pp. 175–182 * 'Boccaccio's Acquaintance with Homer' in ''Philological Quarterly'' (January 1926) * 'The Happy Otherworld and Fairy Mistress Themes in the Odyssey' in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' Vol. 56 (1925), pp. 37–53 * 'Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages' in ''Studies in Philology'' Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct., 1924), pp. 571–585 * 'The Genealogy of the Gods' in ''Vassar Medieval Studies'' (Yale University Press, 1923) pp. 336–40 * 'The Plautine Tradition in Shakespeare' in ''The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'' Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan., 1920), pp. 66–83 * ''Compound adjectives in early Latin poetry'' (Ginn & Company, Boston, 1916) * ''Retractatio in the Ambrosian and Palatine Recensions of Plautus''. ''A Study of the Persa, Poenulus, Pseudolus, Stichus and Trinummus'' (Bryn Mawr College Monographs: Monograph Series, vol. X. 1911)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulter, Cornelia 1885 births 1960 deaths People from St. Louis County, Missouri Washington University in St. Louis alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni Presidents and Principals of Mount Holyoke College American classical scholars American women classical scholars Women heads of universities and colleges Vassar College faculty Mount Holyoke College faculty Hiram College faculty Bryn Mawr College faculty