Vida Dutton Scudder
Encyclopedia
Vida Dutton Scudder (December 15, 1861 - October 9, 1954) was an American educator, writer
, and welfare activist in the social gospel
movement. She was one of the most prominent lesbian
authors of her time.
, where she received her BA degree in 1884.
In 1885 she and Clara French were the first American women admitted to the graduate program at Oxford, where she was influenced by York Powell and John Ruskin
. While in England she was also influenced by Leo Tolstoi and by George Bernard Shaw
and Fabian Socialism. Scudder and French returned to Boston in 1886.
When French died in 1888, Scudder joined the Companions of the Holy Cross, a group of Episcopalian women dedicated to intercessionary prayer and social reconciliation. Also in 1888, she joined the Society of Christian Socialists, which, under the Rev. William Dwight Porter Bliss
, established the Church of the Carpenter in Boston and published The Dawn.
She was one of the founders, in 1890, along with Helena Dudley and Emily Greene Balch
, of Denison House in Boston, the third settlement house in the United States. Scudder was its primary administrator from 1893 to 1913.
In 1893 Scudder was a delegate to the convention of the Boston Central Labor Union. Later, she helped organize the Federal Labor Union, a group of professional people who associated themselves with the American Federation of Labor
.
Having received a leave of absence from Wellesley for 1894-96, Scudder spent a year in Italy
and France
studying modern Italian and French literature.
In 1903 Scudder helped organize the Women's Trade Union League. The same year she became director of the Circolo Italo-Americano at Denison House.
Moving farther to the left, in 1911 she co-founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League and joined the Socialist Party
. Scudder attempted to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of Marxism
and Christianity
. She became controversial in 1912 when she supported striking textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts
, and spoke at a strike meeting, but Wellesley resisted calls for her dismissal as a professor. In 1913 Scudder ended her association with Denison House and moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts
, with her elderly mother, who died in 1920.
Unlike Eugene Victor Debs and other Socialist leaders, Scudder supported President Woodrow Wilson
's decision to intervene in the First World War in 1917. In 1919 she founded the Church League for Industrial Democracy.
From 1919 until her death, Scudder was in a lesbian
relationship with Florence Converse
In Wellesley they resided at 45 Leighton Road.
At Wellesley College the poet Katherine Lee Bates developed an intimate partnership with fellow poet Katharine Coman
, the professor of economics and dean of the college. They jointly wrote English History as Taught by English Poets. Their “Boston Marriage” of living together for twenty-five years ended in Coman’s cancer death at age 57. Bates, in her agony, published Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance celebrating their love, common labor in education and literature and their involvement in social reform with their colleague Vida Scudder.
In the 1920s Scudder embraced pacifism
. She joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1923, the same year she gave a series of lectures before the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
in Prague
.
She published an autobiography, On Journey, in London in 1937, and a collection of essays, The Privilege of Age, in New York in 1939.
Scudder had received the degree of LHD from Smith College in 1922. From Nashotah House
, an Episcopalian seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin
, she received an LLD degree in 1942.
Vida Dutton Scudder died at Wellesley, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1954.
on October 10.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and welfare activist in the social gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
movement. She was one of the most prominent lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
authors of her time.
Early life
She was born in Madurai, India, in 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder and Harriet Louise (Dutton) Scudder. After her father, a Congregationalist missionary, was accidentally drowned in 1862, she and her mother returned to the family home in Boston. Apart from travel in Europe, she attended private secondary schools in Boston, and was graduated from the Boston Girl's Latin School in 1880. Scudder then entered Smith CollegeSmith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
, where she received her BA degree in 1884.
In 1885 she and Clara French were the first American women admitted to the graduate program at Oxford, where she was influenced by York Powell and John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. While in England she was also influenced by Leo Tolstoi and by George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
and Fabian Socialism. Scudder and French returned to Boston in 1886.
Academic career and social activism
Scudder taught English literature from 1887 at Wellesley College, where she became an associate professor in 1892 and full professor in 1910.When French died in 1888, Scudder joined the Companions of the Holy Cross, a group of Episcopalian women dedicated to intercessionary prayer and social reconciliation. Also in 1888, she joined the Society of Christian Socialists, which, under the Rev. William Dwight Porter Bliss
William Dwight Porter Bliss
William Dwight Porter Bliss was an American Christian Socialist writer, editor, and activist. He is remembered as a pioneer historian of the world socialist movement.-Early life:...
, established the Church of the Carpenter in Boston and published The Dawn.
She was one of the founders, in 1890, along with Helena Dudley and Emily Greene Balch
Emily Greene Balch
Emily Greene Balch was an American academic, writer, and pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 , notably for her work with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom .Born in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston into an affluent family, she was amongst the first...
, of Denison House in Boston, the third settlement house in the United States. Scudder was its primary administrator from 1893 to 1913.
In 1893 Scudder was a delegate to the convention of the Boston Central Labor Union. Later, she helped organize the Federal Labor Union, a group of professional people who associated themselves with the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
.
Having received a leave of absence from Wellesley for 1894-96, Scudder spent a year in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
studying modern Italian and French literature.
In 1903 Scudder helped organize the Women's Trade Union League. The same year she became director of the Circolo Italo-Americano at Denison House.
Moving farther to the left, in 1911 she co-founded the Episcopal Church Socialist League and joined the Socialist Party
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
. Scudder attempted to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. She became controversial in 1912 when she supported striking textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States on the Merrimack River. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a total population of 76,377. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the southeast. It and Salem are...
, and spoke at a strike meeting, but Wellesley resisted calls for her dismissal as a professor. In 1913 Scudder ended her association with Denison House and moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston. The population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census.It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College...
, with her elderly mother, who died in 1920.
Unlike Eugene Victor Debs and other Socialist leaders, Scudder supported President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's decision to intervene in the First World War in 1917. In 1919 she founded the Church League for Industrial Democracy.
From 1919 until her death, Scudder was in a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
relationship with Florence Converse
Florence Converse
-Biography:Florence Converse was born in New Orleans in 1871.She graduated from Wellesley College in 1893 and was a member of the editorial staff of the The Churchman from 1900 to 1908, when she joined the staff of the Atlantic Monthly....
In Wellesley they resided at 45 Leighton Road.
At Wellesley College the poet Katherine Lee Bates developed an intimate partnership with fellow poet Katharine Coman
Katharine Coman
Katharine Coman was a social activist and distinguished economist. She specialized in teaching about the development of the American West...
, the professor of economics and dean of the college. They jointly wrote English History as Taught by English Poets. Their “Boston Marriage” of living together for twenty-five years ended in Coman’s cancer death at age 57. Bates, in her agony, published Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance celebrating their love, common labor in education and literature and their involvement in social reform with their colleague Vida Scudder.
In the 1920s Scudder embraced pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
. She joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1923, the same year she gave a series of lectures before the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was established in the United States in January 1915 as the Woman's Peace Party...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
Later life
Scudder retired from Wellesley in 1927 and received the title of professor emeritus. She became the first dean of the Summer School of Christian Ethics in 1930 at Wellesley. In 1931 she lectured weekly at the New School for Social Research in New York.She published an autobiography, On Journey, in London in 1937, and a collection of essays, The Privilege of Age, in New York in 1939.
Scudder had received the degree of LHD from Smith College in 1922. From Nashotah House
Nashotah House
Nashotah House is an Anglo-Catholic seminary of the Episcopal Church located in Nashotah, Wisconsin, approximately 30 miles from Milwaukee, in the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee. The seminary opened its doors in 1842 and received its official charter in 1847...
, an Episcopalian seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin
Nashotah, Wisconsin
Nashotah is a village in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,266 at the 2000 census.-Education:Nashotah House, a seminary of The Episcopal Church, is in Nashotah.-Geography:...
, she received an LLD degree in 1942.
Vida Dutton Scudder died at Wellesley, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1954.
Veneration
Scudder is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA)Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)
The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...
on October 10.
Works
- How the Rain Sprites Were Freed. Boston: D. Lothrop, 1883.
- Poems by George Macdonald, 1887 (edited with Clara French).
- Mitsu-Yu-Nissi; or, The Japanese Wedding. Chicago: T.S. Denison 1887.
- Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive. Boston: Sibley and Ducker, 1889 (edited).
- An Introduction to the Writings of John Ruskin. Boston: Leach, Shewell and Sanborn, 1890 edited).
- Topical Outlines for the Study of Modern English Literature. Boston: Frank Wood, 1892.
- Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, 1892 (edited).
- The Witness of Denial. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1895.
- The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895. http://books.google.com/books?id=A50nAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- Socialism and Spiritual Progress: A Speculation. Boston: Church Social Union, 1896.
- Social Ideals in English Letters. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898 (enlarged edition, 1923). http://books.google.com/books?id=YbgLAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- Christian Simplicity. Boston: Christian Social Union, 1898.
- Introduction to the Study of English Literature, 1901 http://books.google.com/books?id=S9YcAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- A Listener in Babel: Being a Series of Imaginary Conversations held at the Close of the Last Century and Reported by Vida D. Scudder. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903.
- Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters. London: J.M. Dent, 1905; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1905 (edited and translated).
- The Disciple of a Saint, Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero di Landoccio dei Pagliaresi. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907 (reissued in 1921 and 1927). http://books.google.com/books?id=qpJifQIxqBcC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- Works of John Woolman, 1910 (edited for Everyman's Library).
- Bede's History of England, 1911 (edited for Everyman's Library).
- Socialism and Character. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912. http://books.google.com/books?id=_zlJAAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
- English Poems, 1915 (edited for Lake English Classics).
- The Church and the Hour: Reflections of A Socialist Churchwoman. New York, E.P. Dutton, 1917.
- Le Morte D'Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory and Its Sources, 1917 (edited and translated).
- Social Teachings of the Christian Year: Lectures Delivered at the Cambridge Conference, 1918. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1921.
- Brother John: A Tale of the First Franciscans. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1927.
- The Franciscan Adventure: A Study in the First Hundred Years of the Order of St. Francis of Assisi. London and Toronto: J.M. Dent, 1931; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1931.
- The Christian Attitude Toward Private Property. Milwaukee: Morehouse, 1934.
- On Journey. London: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1937.
- The Privilege of Age: Essays Secular and Spiritual. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1939.
- Father Huntington, Founder of the Order of the Holy Cross. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1940.
- My Quest for Reality. Wellesley: Published by the Author, 1952.