Helen Adolf

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Helen Adolf
Born
Helene Adolf

December 31, 1895
linguist
, writer

Helen Adolf (December 31, 1895 – December 13, 1998) was an

linguist
and literature scholar.

Early life and education

Helene "Elly" Adolf was born in 1895 in

Jewish. Her mother, Hedwig (née Spitzer) Adolf, was an artist, while her father, Jakob Adolf, was a lawyer. Adolf had one older sister, Anna Simona Adolf (Mrs. Spiegel; 1893-1983), who became a medical doctor.[1] Helen and Anna Adolf were first cousins of writer Leonie Adele Spitzer.[2]

She received her medical degree from the University of Vienna and eventually moved to the United States to work in medical education. Adolf attended the University of Vienna and graduated in 1923 with her PhD in literature. Unable to find work in Vienna, she moved to Leipzig, Germany to seek work.[3]

Career in Europe

Upon moving to Leipzig, she worked for Reclam. At Reclam, she worked on creating publications focused around the history of the German Confederation through the beginning of World War I in Germany. Outside of working at Reclam, Adolf also wrote poetry and studied subjects like religion and psychology. She also translated literature, including Sainte Thérèse d'Avila by Jeanne Galzy. She served as secretary at the International Society for the Psychology of Religion from 1923 until 1938.[3]

Relocation and work in the United States

Due to the

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where her sister lived. She received assistance from the American Friends Service Committee. She attended the University of Pennsylvania to study Spanish. She worked in Virginia and Colorado at secondary schools teaching languages. She moved back to Philadelphia in 1943. She started working at Pennsylvania State University that year.[3]

In 1946, she started working at the

full professor there.[3]
She was the schools' first Liberal Arts Research Scholar, which she was named in 1958.

She wrote in German, writing poetry.

The Holy Grail
extensively and published the book Visio Pacis: Holy City and Grail in 1961. The book was awarded the Louis H. Memorial Award. Her work was published in Austria in 1964.

A Festschrift was published about her in 1968. She was awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class, in 1987.[3] She retired in 1979.

Death

Helen Adolf died on December 13, 1998, aged 102, in State College, Pennsylvania.[4]

Selected works by Helen Adolf

References

  1. ^ Profile, meduniwien.ac.at. Accessed February 6, 2024.(in German).
  2. ISBN 978-3-7001-3213-4
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f Haag, John. "Adolf, Helen (b. 1895)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research Inc. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2013.(subscription required)
  4. ^ Profile, encyclopedia.com. Accessed October 24, 2022.
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