Talbot, Marion. Papers, 1854-1948

© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library

University of Chicago - Founding and Early History

University of Chicago - Student Life and Athletics

Education

Gender Studies and Sexuality

Sociology and Social Welfare

This collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Talbot, Marion. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Marion Talbot received her A.B. (1880) degrees from Boston University where her father, Israel Tisdale Talbot, was dean of the medical school. In 1888 Miss Talbot was granted a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as president of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women and as secretary of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, both organizations founded by her mother, Emily, to promote higher education among women. Miss Talbot resigned a position as instructor at Wellesley College to come to the University of Chicago when it first opened in October of 1892. As Dean of Women in the University (i.e. Senior) colleges, she, and Alice Freeman Palmer, organized the women's dormitories and initiated the academic and social life of the women of the University When Mrs. Palmer resigned, Miss Talbot became Dean of Women in the Graduate Schools. She was successively Assistant Professor of Sanitary Science; Associate Professor of Household Administration; and in 1905 became full professor in the latter department. She retired from the University in 1925. After her retirement, she served as Acting President of Constantinople Women's College. She also joined the controversy surrounding the 1944 faculty "Memorial" expressing lack of confidence in Chancellor Robert M. Hutchins. In her administration of women's affairs in a co-educational institution, Miss Talbot adhered firmly to the principles of academic equality and of relative social freedom between men and women.

Series I: Correspondence, covers most aspects of Miss Talbot's career and interests and frequently supplements the materials in other series. The letters written prior to 1892 are of two types: a small body of correspondence between Miss Talbot's parents and their associates which later came into her possession; and a body of Miss Talbot's early letters, which highlight her personal relationships and reflect her developing interest in equal rights for women-particularly in educational and career opportunities. Miss Talbot's early work in the field of "sanitary science" is also documented.

The letters written in 1892 vividly record the early days of the University of Chicago. Miss Talbot participated from the beginning in such matters as faculty organization and the establishment of student life; her letters also record the realities of life under initially primitive physical conditions. Most of the letters from this time are between Miss Talbot and her Boston family; usually both sides of this correspondence has been preserved. There are also many letters from Alice Freeman Palmer who spent much of this first year with her husband at Harvard. Here one is given a picture, not only of the new educational venture in Chicago, but also of the on-going concerns of the established Eastern intellectual community.

Talbot's correspondence from 1892 until her retirement as Dean of Women in 1925 illuminate her various activities as Dean, as head of Green Hall, and as professor of Household Administration. Daily issues such as social deportment and the exigencies of dormitory life find their place next to the broader issues of the social and vocational roles of women. Throughout her own career in Household Administration, Talbot was called upon to recommend qualified persons in the field, and her opinions were frequently solicited regarding curriculum and other theoretical and academic dimensions of this work. Correspondence with her University colleagues in the social sciences and activities such as lecturing on sanitation at Hull House point illustrate Talbot's concern that her own discipline keep in touch with its theoretical neighbors and at the same time serve as a tool to promote social service and feminine dignity

In addition to many University of Chicago faculty members and Talbot's personal associates, some of Talbot's major correspondents are:

Jacob Abbott

Lyman Abbott

Countess of Aberdeen

Herbert Austin Adams

Maude Addams

Jane Addams

Elizabeth C. Agassiz

A. Bronson Alcott

Louisa May Alcott

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Lady Nancy Astor

Katharine Lee Bates

Henry Bernard

Eduard Benes

Anita McCormick Blaine

Sophonisba Breckenridge

John Dewey

Cyrus Eaton

Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Hamlin Garland

Arnold Gesell

Lillian Gish

Simon Guggenheim

Edward Everett Hale

G. Stanley Hall

William Rainey Harper

Carter Harrison

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Julia Ward Howe

Cordell Hull

Harold Ickes

Helen Keller

Martha Lamb

Julia C. Lathrop

Mary A. Livermore

Julia Marlowe

Walter Hines Page

Bertha (Mrs. Potter) Palmer

Palmer, Mrs. Potter, undated [Box 1, folder 1]

Elizabeth S.Phelps [Ward]

Theodore Roosevelt

Josiah Royce

Horace E.Scudder

Vida Dutton Scudder

Lucy Stone

W. I. Thomas

Thorstein Veblen

Booker T.Washington

Edith Wharton

Frances E. Willard

Ella Flagg Young

Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler

Brief abstracts of most letters in the Correspondence series are available in the Special Collections Research Center.

Series II: University of Chicago includes valuable material on the early history of the University, with a particular focus on women students.

Series III: Diaries, Articles and Books, includes diaries and travel journals, drafts and reprints of articles and addresses drafts, proofs and correspondence related to Talbot's books, particularly More than Lore (1936).

Series IV contains memorabilia and autographs collected by Talbot, material related to the life and work of her parents, particularly her mother, Emily Talbot and autobiographical documents.

Series V: Photographs, includes primarily family and personal images; also included are photographs of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Franz Liszt and views of Boston ca. 1892.

Series VI contains a small number of postcards, clippings on co-education, and small files of material on the World's Columbian Exposition and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Richards, Ellen H. (Ellen Henrietta), 1842-1911
  • Abbott, Edith, 1876-1957
  • Abbott, Grace, 1878-1939
  • Addams, Jane, 1860-1935
  • Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888
  • Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston, 1866-1948
  • Harper, William Rainey, 1856-1906
  • Judson, Harry Pratt, 1849-1927.
  • Lathrop, Julia Clifford, 1858-1932
  • Marlowe, Julia, 1865-1950
  • Palmer, Alice Freeman, 1855-1902
  • Rickert, Edith, 1871-1938
  • Talbot, Marion, 1858-1948
  • Association of Collegiate Alumnae (U.S.)
  • American College for Girls (Istanbul, Turkey)
  • University of Chicago. Department of Sociology
  • University of Chicago. Department of Household Administration
• Subject
  • Home economics - Study and teaching
  • Women - Education (Higher) - Illinois
  • Diaries