Margaret Clapp

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Margaret Clapp with Indian Prime Minister, his daughter, and the Indian ambassador to the U.S.A.
In October 1949, the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, visited Wellesley College with his daughter, Shrimati Indira Gandhi. In this image, they are pictured on the step of the President's House on Wellesley College's campus. (Margaret Clapp is pictured second from the left).

Margaret Antoinette Clapp (April 10, 1910 – May 3, 1974)[1] was an American scholar, educator and Pulitzer Prize winner. She was the president of Wellesley College from 1949 to 1966.[2]

During her presidency, she was able to make many improvements to the college campus by increasing the number of faculty members and increasing financial aid for students. Other accomplishments of note during her tenure construction and remodeling of major campus buildings as well as increasing the college endowment fund.

After her presidency, she moved to

United States Embassy, becoming the first woman to hold such a position. In addition, she was the chief cultural officer for the United States Information Service India for three years. She was also the principal of the Lady Doak College in Madurai for two years. She stayed in India until 1971, when she returned to her Berkshire home to retire.[3]

Biography

Clapp was born in East Orange, New Jersey on April 10, 1910 to parents Alfred Chapin Clapp and Anna (Roth) Clapp.[4] She had two brothers, future American politician Alfred C. and Oliver H. Clapp, and one sister, Lois Clapp Olds. In 1926 she graduated from East Orange High School and Wellesley College in 1930.[5]

The library at Wellesley College

She taught English literature at the

New York City for twelve years while working on her master's degree, which she obtained from Columbia University in 1937.[6]

During and after World War II, she taught history at

Douglass College, Columbia University, and Brooklyn College
.

While she was president of Wellesley College from 1949 until her retirement in 1966, the college's resources and facilities were expanded substantially. Clapp was a strong advocate of careers for women. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1952.[7]

After leaving Wellesley, Clapp served briefly as administrator of

Madurai, India, then as United States cultural attaché to India, then as minister-councilor of public affairs in the United States Information Agency
until her retirement in 1971.

Clapp died of cancer on May 3, 1974 at the age of 64 in her Tyringham, Massachusetts home. A memorial service was held June 1, 1974 in Houghton Memorial Chapel on the Wellesley campus.[8]

Honorary degrees and awards

Margaret Clapp's doctoral dissertation at Columbia grew into the biography Forgotten First Citizen:

Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.[6][9][10][11] Clapp received honorary degrees from Smith College in 1949 and Wheaton College in 1960.[12][13] In 1970, she received an honorary doctorate from Wellesley College.[14] Wellesley College's library was renamed the Margaret Clapp Library in 1974, in honor of Clapp.[15][11]

Books

See also

References

  1. ^ Barbara Sicherman, Carol Hurd Green - Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary, Volume 4
  2. ^ Records of the President's Office, 1DB.1899-1966, Wellesley College Archives. https://archives.wellesley.edu/repositories/2/resources/2 Accessed May 13, 2021.
  3. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  4. ISBN 0-8371-9893-3
    .
  5. ISBN 9780313237485
    . Accessed September 11, 2016. "Clapp graduated from East Orange High School in 1926 and attended Wellesley College on a scholarship."
  6. ^ a b Margaret Antoinette Clapp Encyclopedia of world Biography
  7. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter C" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  8. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  9. ^ Wellesley Class of 1930 Archived 2010-12-15 at the Wayback Machine Wellesley College
  10. ^ "Biography or Autobiography". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
  11. ^ a b "Margaret Antoinette Clapp - Document - Gale In Context: Biography". go.gale.com. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  12. ^ "Honorary Degrees". Smith College. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  13. ^ "Margaret Clapp, Honorary Degree Recipient". College History. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  14. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  15. ^ "The Margaret Clapp Library". Wellesley College Library.
  16. ^ Clapp, Margaret Antoinette (1947). "Forgotten first citizen: John Bigelow". google.com.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Margaret_Clapp&oldid=1208655048"