Elizabeth Lee Bloomstein (January 8, 1859 – January 2, 1927) was an American history professor, university librarian, clubwoman, and suffragist based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

Early life and education

Elizabeth Lee Bloomstein was born in 1859 into a prominent

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

, the daughter of Jacob and Esther Miriam Bloomstein. She graduated from Ward Seminary before attending

George Peabody College for Teachers Vanderbilt Peabody College of Education and Human Development (also known as Vanderbilt Peabody College, Peabody College, or simply Peabody) is the education school of Vanderbilt University, a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. ...

. She was one of thirteen young women in the first graduation class from Peabody, the class of 1877. She pursued further studies during summers at other universities and during travel abroad. Gilchrist, Annie Somers (ed.)br>"Lizzie Lee Bloomstein"
''Some Representative Women of Tennessee'' (McQuiddy Publishing Company 1902): 76.

Career

Bloomstein served as professor of history at George Peabody College for Teachers. She was a member of the first executive committee of the Tennessee History Teachers' Association, when it was organized in 1912. Off-campus, she was president of the Magazine Club, a women's literary organization in Nashville. She was also active in the Twentieth Century Club, the Ladies' Hermitage Association, the Women's Association of the University of Nashville, the Tennessee Women's Press Club, the Women's Historical Association, and the Art Association. She was also a member of the Southern Rejection League, a temperance organization, and the Housekeepers' Club, a public hygiene group.John A. Simpson, ''Edith D. Pope and her Nashville Friends: Guardians of the Lost Cause in the Confederate Veteran'' (University of Tennessee Press 2003): 138-140. She chaired the education committee of the Tennessee Federation of Women's Clubs, and was on the education committee of the

National Federation of Women's Clubs The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...

. "I believe that the women's club movement is the consciousness of a desire for larger relations of life," she explained. She was also a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). In 1897, she gave an address, "The Decoration of the Parthenon," at the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition. During World War I, Bloomstein was a member of Nashville's Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense.

Later life

Elizabeth Lee Bloomstein died in 1927, age 66. Her remains were interred at Temple Cemetery in Nashville. Today there is a Lizzie Lee Bloomstein Fellowship for graduate students at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

.Lizzie Lee Bloomstein Fellowship
(Vanderbilt University), Scholarship Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomstein, Elizabeth Lee 1859 births 1927 deaths Jewish American writers Jewish Confederates People from Nashville, Tennessee Vanderbilt University alumni Vanderbilt University faculty American women historians 19th-century American historians 20th-century American historians 20th-century American women writers 19th-century American women writers Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy