Mary Edwards Calhoun (December 8, 1873 – November 10, 1963) was the Calhoun School headmistress from 1916 to 1942.

Biography

Calhoun was born in 1873 to Alfred R. Calhoun also known as Major A.R. Calhoun, a Kentucky-born Civil War hero, journalist, and author, and Agnes Edwards Calhoun, born a Philadelphia Quaker, although she later joined the Congregationalist Plymouth Church. Calhoun lived most of her adult life with her sister Alice, a social worker. In 1893, she graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn and in 1905 from Teachers College of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. She taught at Wilson College in 1913,

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , count ...

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Col ...

and Packer. She also was the Women's page editor at the ''

Herald Tribune ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * ''Barossa and Light Herald ...

''. During October 1915, Calhoun campaigned as a state organizer in support of the Pennsylvania Suffrage Referendum. In 1916, she succeeded Laura Jacobi as headmistress at the Jacobi School. Around 1924, the school name was changed to The Calhoun School at the request of parents. Retiring in 1942, Miss Calhoun became chairman of the board, pursued her interests in the World Federation, supported the work of the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, and left bequests to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

as well as to her sister and the educational institutions with which she had been associated. She wrote ''Readings from American Literature, a Textbook for Schools and Colleges'' (1915) which was given mixed reviews by ''

The School Review ''The American Journal of Education'' seeks to bridge and integrate the intellectual, methodological, and substantive diversity of educational scholarship and to encourage a vigorous dialogue between educational scholars and policy makers. It pub ...

''. Calhoun died on November 10, 1963, in her Westport home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calhoun, Mary Edwards 1873 births 1963 deaths Educators from Philadelphia American women educators Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Barnard College faculty American headmistresses