Mary Floyd Williams
Mary Floyd Williams | |
|---|---|
 Mary Floyd Williams, from a 1922 publication. | |
| Born | March 31, 1866 |
| Died | March 31, 1959 Palo Alto, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Librarian, historian, lecturer |
| Relatives | John P. Cushman (grandfather) Benjamin Tallmadge (great-grandfather) William Floyd (great-great-grandfather) Mary Floyd Cushman (cousin) |
Mary Floyd Williams (March 31, 1866 – March 31, 1959) was an American librarian and California historian. In 1918, she became the first woman to complete a doctorate in history at the University of California, with a dissertation on the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance.
Early life[edit]
Mary Floyd Williams was from Oakland, California, the daughter of Edwards C. Williams and Mary Floyd Cushman WiIliams.[1] Her father was a member of the 1st New York Volunteers during the Mexican–American War,[2] moved to California in 1847, and was founder and president of a lumber company.[3][4] Her mother was a clubwoman in Oakland,[5] and great-granddaughter of William Floyd, one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.[1] Through her mother, Williams' other ancestors included politicians Benjamin Tallmadge and John P. Cushman.[6]
Williams earned a bachelor of library science (BLS) degree at the New York State Library in 1900.[7] She worked with Henry Morris Stephens and completed doctoral studies in history at the University of California in 1918,[8][9] the first woman to complete a doctorate in history there.[1] She was 52 years old when she received her degree.[10]
Career[edit]
Williams moved back to California to work as a librarian at the Mechanics' Institute Library of San Francisco in 1900.[7] In 1902 she directed the University of California's first Summer School of Library Science.[11] In 1915 she served as secretary of the reception committee for the Panama–Pacific Historical Congress.[12]
Williams was one of the first two readers at the Huntington Library when it opened for researchers in 1920.[8] Her dissertation, History of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851: A Study of Social Control on the California Frontier in the Days of the Gold Rush (1919), was published by the University of California Press in 1921.[13] She also edited a published collection, Papers of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851 (1919).[14][15][16]
Other books by Williams included Library floors and floor coverings (1897),[17] Reading list for children's librarians (1901, with Bertha Mower Brown Shaw),[18] and a historical novel set in 1850s San Francisco, Fortune, Smile Once More! (1946).[19] She also wrote scholarly articles published in the California Historical Society Quarterly.[20]
Williams was a lecturer with the University of California Extension, teaching California history.[1] She traveled in Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, including Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, India, China, and Japan, and gave lectures about her travels with a slide show of her own photographs.[21][22]
Personal life[edit]
Williams died on her 93rd birthday, in 1959, at her home in Palo Alto.[10][23] Williams' lantern slides and correspondence are archived at the University of California's College of Environmental Design Visual Resources Center.[21]
Medical doctor and missionary Mary Floyd Cushman (1870-1965) was Mary Floyd Williams' cousin.[24]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "E. C. Williams Helped Make Calif. History; Daughter Writes of Pioneer Redwood Lumberman". Mendocino Coast Beacon. 1947-09-20. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Plans History of Tuolumne". Stockton Daily Evening Record. 1922-06-21. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Union Lumber Company Records, Bancroft Library". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
- ^ Ryder, David Warren. Memories of the Mendocino Coast (Taylor & Taylor 1948): 4.
- ^ "In Need of Help". Oakland Tribune. 1896-05-07. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Talmadge, Arthur White (1909). The Talmadge, Tallmadge and Talmage genealogy; being the descendants of Thomas Talmadge of Lynn, Massachusetts, with an appendix including other families. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. New York, The Grafton press. p. 146.
- ^ a b New York State Library, Report of the Library School (1900): 352-353.
- ^ a b Stalls, Clay (March 4, 2020). "First Readers at The Huntington". The Huntington. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
- ^ Harry H. Dunn, "Mystery of California's Vigilantes is Cleared: Young Woman's College Thesis First Comprehensive Compilation of Facts" Dearborn Independent 22 (June 3, 1922): 2.
- ^ a b "Death Claims History Expert Mary Williams". Oakland Tribune. 1959-04-02. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Dewey, Melvil; Bowker, Richard Rogers; Pylodet, L.; Leypoldt, Frederick; Cutter, Charles Ammi; Weston, Bertine Emma; Brown, Karl; Wessells, Helen E. (September 1902). "Library Schools and Training Classes". Library Journal. 27: 841.
- ^ Panama Pacific Historical Congress (1917). The Pacific Ocean in History: Papers and Addresses Presented at the Panama-Pacific Historical Congress, Held at San Francisco, Berkeley and Palo Alto, California, July 19-23, 1915. Macmillan. p. 12.
- ^ Williams, Mary Floyd. [from old catalog] (1921). History of the San Francisco Committee of vigilance of 1851... Berkeley.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851; Williams, Mary Floyd (1919). Papers of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851: minutes and miscellaneous papers, financial accounts and vouchers. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California. OCLC 60736142.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Meany, Edmond S. (January 1922). "Book Reviews". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 13: 67.
- ^ "Vigilance Committee". Oakland Tribune. 1921-11-27. p. 49. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Williams, Mary Floyd. (1897). Library floors and floor coverings. Urbana, Ill.: M.F. Floyd.
- ^ Williams, Mary Floyd.; Shaw, Bertha Mower Brown. (1901). Reading list for children's librarians. New York State Library. Bulletin62, May 1901. Bibliography 27. Albany: University of the State of New York.
- ^ Williams, Mary Floyd (1946). Fortune, smile once more!. Indianapolis, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. OCLC 1744670.
- ^ Williams, Mary Floyd (1922-07-01). "Mission, Presidio and Pueblo: Notes on California Local Institutions under Spain and Mexico". California Historical Society Quarterly. 1 (1): 23–35. doi:10.2307/25613566. ISSN 0008-1175. JSTOR 25613566.
- ^ a b "Williams (Mary Floyd) Lantern Slides, University of California's College of Environmental Design Visual Resources Center". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
- ^ "Lecture, Puppet Show at Berkeley". Oakland Tribune. 1941-04-06. p. 63. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mary F. Williams". San Mateo Times. April 2, 1959. p. 16. Retrieved May 17, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "Maria Tallmadge Cherington obituary". Oakland Tribune. 1958-07-14. p. 28. Retrieved 2020-05-17 – via Newspapers.com.
External links[edit]
- Louise Pubols, "Changing Interpretations of California's Mexican Past" California History 91(1)(2014): 16-22. A recent survey of the work of Mary Floyd Williams.
