Mastrangelo, Lisa S. “Building a Dinosaur from the Bones: Fred Newton Scott and Women’s Progressive Era Graduate Work at the University of Michigan.” Rhetoric Review 24.4 (2005): 403-420.
Summary:
This article contains archival information about the University of Michigan’s Progressive Era graduate programs as they pertained to the female graduate students in rhetoric. The article explores the reasons why women went to the University of Michigan to study rhetoric, the influences on the program [Dewey and Scott], how the women got there, and how the program influenced their later teaching. Finally, the article notes that the University of Michigan’s graduate program merits more exploration” (abstract 403).
Mastrangelo comprised her “story of fragment and ruin” from information found at several archives over a period of 5 years.
Area Cluster:
103-Research; 104-History
Methodology:
Archival research, Historicity, Call for further study
Most Valuable Citations:
GBuck JDewey FNScott
Money Quotes:
“I was looking for answers to such questions as: What was the early graduate program like for these women, intellectually and socially. What drew them to such a program? Were the acquainted with one another? What was impact of this program on them? While I was not always able to answer these questions as fully as I would have liked, archival evidence and published historical work provided me with an amazing glimpse into a world I had never heard anything about previously: the world of women’s graduate training in rhetoric and composition at the turn of the century” (404).
“Many female graduates note in a 1924 alumnae survey that they encountered rudeness, criticism, and downright opposition to their presence. the graduate students, however, do not seem to register these complaints to the same degree” (409).
“Scott’s progressive pedagogy had a lineage; teachers were leaving his program and influencing their students with pedagogy that was directly influenced by him” (417).
