Kate Denny McKnight Elderkin (February 14, 1897Birth date and father's name from Kate Denny McKnight's 1920 application for a United States passport; historian Ida Thallon Hill, her cousin's partner, vouched for McKnight's citizenship on the same form; via Ancestry. – February 16, 1962) was an American art historian and archaeologist. She taught 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 ...

and was an editor of the ''

American Journal of Archaeology The ''American Journal of Archaeology'' (AJA), the peer-reviewed journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, has been published since 1897 (continuing the ''American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts'' founded by t ...

'' with her husband, George W. Elderkin.

Early life and education

Kate Denny McKnight was born in San Diego and raised in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

, the daughter of Woodruff McKnight and Cora Burdon McKnight. Her father died when she was very young; her mother remarried, to Arthur Robinson Ocheltree. Both her father and her stepfather owned orange orchards in California. Her younger brother Arthur Ocheltree became an opera singer in the 1930s, and younger brother John Ocheltree was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

and a diplomat. She graduated from Vassar College in 1919, and earned a master's degree in 1920. She completed doctoral studies at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

in 1922. Her cousin Elizabeth Denny Pierce Blegen was an archaeologist.

Career

McKnight taught art at Vassar College, and participated in excavations in North Africa and in the Greek Islands as a young woman. From 1925 to 1931, she edited the book review section of the ''American Journal of Archaeology'', while her husband was editor in chief. She spoke about archaeological topics to women's clubs. Her studies of everyday objects in antiquity, including jointed dolls and buttons, drew attention beyond her academic field. In 1944 she published a travel memoir, ''From Tripoli to Marrakesh''.

Publications

* "Chachrylion and His Vases" (1924) * "The Ulysses Panels by

Piero di Cosimo Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, who continued to use an essentially Early Renaissance style into the 16th century. He is most famous for the mythologica ...

at Vassar College" (1924) * "Aphrodite Worship on a Minoan Gem" (1925) * "An Alexandrian Carved Casket of the Fourth Century" (1926) * "Buttons and their use on Greek Garments" (1928) * "Jointed Dolls in Antiquity" (1930) * "The Contribution of Women to Ornament in Antiquity" (1936) * ''From Tripoli to Marrakech'' (1944)

Personal life

McKnight married archaeologist George Wicker Elderkin in 1924, at

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

, with

Harry Emerson Fosdick Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the fundamentalist–modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominen ...

performing the ceremony. They had three children. In 1936 she made a roadtrip from New Jersey to California with her brother Arthur and his colleague, Emanuel Marti-Folgado. She died in 1965, at the age of 62, at her home in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

.via

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Mrs. George Elderkin"
, '' The Daily Home News'', February 17, 1962. Accessed October 9, 2024, 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 ...

. "Princeton - Kate McKnight Elderkin, former Vassar College instructor and trustee of Miss Fine's School here, died today at her home, 11 Hazlet Ave."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elderkin, Kate 1897 births 1965 deaths Historians from New Jersey People from Princeton, New Jersey People from San Diego Vassar College alumni Radcliffe College alumni American art historians American editors American women art historians