Edith Gratia Stedman

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(December 29, 1888 - July 16, 1978) was an American

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

er, educator, writer and volunteer. She is best known for her

vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious ...

programming created at

Radcliffe Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * R ...

starting in the Great Depression and also for her help in restoring

Dorchester Abbey The Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul, more usually called Dorchester Abbey, is a Church of England parish church in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, about southeast of Oxford. It was formerly a Norman abbey church and was built on the s ...

Biography

Stedman was born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

, and the family later moved to

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It is a western suburb of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States; and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's p ...

, where she attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. Stedman enjoyed high school, writing, "I think I worked harder and got more academic pleasure out of some of my work in high school than I ever did in college." She went on to

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

where she graduated in 1910. After school, she worked for a time at the Framingham Reformatory for Women until her brother convinced her to quit in order to run the family's candy store, a job she later discovered she hated. After two years, she quit and went to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

with the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

to help the war effort there in 1917. She was a canteen worker in France and Germany working for the YMCA until 1919. Back in the United States, Stedman did not find work that interested her. Stedman then traveled to China in 1920, where she worked as a

medical social work Medical social work is a sub-discipline of social work. Medical social workers typically work in a hospital, outpatient clinic, community health agency, skilled nursing facility, long-term care facility or hospice. They work with patients and their ...

er in

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wh ...

at an Episocopal Mission. She stayed until 1927, returning to Boston, where she started working as an

executive secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

for the Judge Baker Foundation.

Ada Louise Comstock Ada Louise Comstock (December 11, 1876 – December 12, 1973) was an American women's education pioneer. She served as the first dean of women at the University of Minnesota and later as the first full-time president of Radcliffe College. Early ...

invited Stedman to come for the Appointment Bureau at Radcliffe in 1930. Stedman developed vocational programs for women in the 1930s. Undergraduates and graduate students were both helped by Stedman in finding employment. She created and directed the Training Course in Personnel Administration and supported professional training for women. Stedman worked as the director of the Training Course until 1941. Students could be awarded a fellowship grant in her name. She also created the

Radcliffe Publishing Course Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * ...

, which has launched the careers of many editors and still continues today as a part of Columbia University. Stedman stayed at Radcliffe until 1954, when she retired. As a retiree, she worked as a volunteer in different capacities. Between 1955 and 1959, Stedman volunteered at the

Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two fo ...

. In 1959, she started spending half the year living with friends at the Manor House, Dorchester. Stedman created a group, the American Friends of

, which raised money for both the Abbey and the surrounding gardens. Stedman also wrote during her retirement. Her last years were spent living in Sherrill House, a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

in Boston run by the Episcopal church. She lived with

Ménière's disease Ménière's disease (MD) is a disease of the inner ear that is characterized by potentially severe and incapacitating episodes of vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness in the ear. Typically, only one ear is affected initi ...

and had

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

. Stedman died in Boston on July 16, 1978.

Legacy

Stedman was awarded as an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1976 for her work supporting the restoration of

. She was given the award at the British embassy in Washington, D.C. A stone carving of Stedman is located above the west door of the Abbey.

Selected bibliography

* "The House of the Merciful Saviour: A Training School for Social Workers" (1924) * * *

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stedman, Edith G. 1888 births 1978 deaths Radcliffe College alumni Deaf writers American deaf people 20th-century American educators Radcliffe College faculty Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women educators People with Ménière's disease Deaf educators American writers with disabilities