Emma Miller Bolenius (May 3, 1876 – July 25, 1968) was an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and textbook writer.

Early life and education

Bolenius was born in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

, the daughter of Robert Miller Bolenius and Catherine Mathiot Carpenter Bolenius. Her father wrote ''Germans in Pennsylvania'' (1906). She graduated from

Maryland College for Women Maryland College for Women was a school in Lutherville, Maryland. The school was founded in 1853 as the Lutherville Female Seminary. It was the centerpiece of the planned community of Lutherville, created by two Lutheran ministers, Benjamin Kur ...

Lutherville Lutherville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,504. Prior to 2010 the area was part of the Lutherville-Timonium CDP. Within its borders lies the Luther ...

in 1896, earned a bachelor's degree at Bucknell University, and a master's degree at Columbia University.

Career

Bolenius taught at Maryland College, and at schools in Ohio and New Jersey, and was a professor of English and History at Roanoke Women's College. She was known for promoting the "project method" of teaching spoken English: assigning students a real-life situation of "socialized recitation", for example, presenting an award or campaigning for office, to focus and motivate their composition and speech. Her pedagogy blended language instruction with "wholesome moral lessons" and the Americanization goals common in public education at the time.

Publications

Bolenius was best known as a textbook author. One journal reviewed her first book, ''The Teaching of Oral English'' (1914) as "a delightfully unique textbook that reads like a novel". Bolenius wrote a monthly column on language for

McCall's Magazine ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...

; she also wrote a monthly column titled "Where Girls May Meet" for the journal ''American Motherhood,'' responding to the letters she received from girls. Her publications included the following titles: * "The Dear Friend from France" (1909, short story) * ''The Teaching of Oral English'' (1914) * ''Teaching Literature in the Grammar Grades and High School'' (1915) * "The ph Group of Words: How to Enliven Your Work in Language" (1916) * "Ingenious Devices Contrived by the Bride and the Handyman" (1916) * "Words and How to Use Them" (1916) * ''Everyday English composition'' (1917) * ''Advanced Lessons in Everyday English'' (1921) * ''First Grade Manual: A Help-Book for Teachers'' (1923) * ''Second and Third Grade Manual: A Help-Book for Teachers'' (1923) * ''Literature in the Junior High School'' (1926) * ''Mother Goose Book: A Work and Play Book for Silent Reading'' (1928, with Marion George Kellogg and

Gustaf Tenggren Gustaf Adolf Tenggren (November 3, 1896 – April 9, 1970) was a Swedish-American illustrator. He is known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use of silhouetted figures with caricatured faces. Tenggren was a chief illustrat ...

) * ''American Literature'' (1933, co-edited with Thomas H. Briggs and Max J. Herzberg) * ''New Frontiers'' (1940, co-edited with Thomas H. Briggs, Max J. Herzberg, and Lucile Prim Jackson) * ''Romance'' (1941, co-edited with Thomas H. Briggs, Max J. Herzberg, and Lucile Prim Jackson) * ''The boys' and girls' readers'' (a series, multiple dates, also known as ''The Bolenius Readers''; illustrated by

Mabel Betsy Hill Mabel Betsy Hill (1877 – 1971) was an American illustrator and author of children's books active in the first half of the 20th century. Her highly linear style with color fills in muted shades of orange, brown, and blue was typical of her era, ...

and others)

Personal life

Emma Bolenius married radio producer Edwin Morse Whitney in 1933. She lived in Pawling, New York, from 1945 to 1968, and died in 1968, aged 92 years, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolenius, Emma Miller 1876 births 1968 deaths People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania American educators Bucknell University alumni Columbia University alumni American women writers Women textbook writers American textbook writers