Helaine H. Newstead (1906–1981) was an American scholar of medieval literature. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1948 for her work. She was the first American and the first woman to serve as president of the International Arthurian Society (from 1972 to 1974).

Early life and education

Helaine Newstead was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She attended Hunter High School and

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

(BA 1927) and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(MA 1928, PhD 1939). She learned to speak or read an array of European languages, including

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

, and Latin

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

, for her work with medieval texts. Her dissertation, completed under advisor

Roger Sherman Loomis Roger Sherman Loomis (1887–1966) was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature. Loomis is perhaps best known for showing the roots of Arthurian legend, in particular the Holy Grail, in native Ce ...

, was published as ''Bran the Blessed in Arthurian Romance'' (1939).

Career

She taught at Hunter College beginning in 1928, and was promoted to full professor there in 1954. In the 1960s she moved to the faculty of the

Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...

, where she was in charge of the English doctoral program from 1962 to 1969, and the

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

doctoral program from 1974 to 1976. She retired in 1976, but continued to teach until 1981. In 1948, Helaine Newstead was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to focus on the

Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...

legend. In 1950, she was elected president of the Medieval Club of New York.Gale Sigal
"Voicing Silenced Rituals: The Unearthing of the Life Story of Arthurian Legend by Helaine Newstead (1906-1981)"
in Jane Chance, ed., ''Women Medievalists and the Academy'' (University of Wisconsin Press 2005): 683. She became the first American and the first woman to be president of the International Arthurian Society in 1972. Other career honors included an honorary Doctor of Letters from the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

(1969), the President's Medal from Hunter College (1970), and the Chancellor's Medal from City University of New York (1981). Philologist David Greetham recalled Newstead as "a sort of medievalist queen bee at the centre of a network of scholars" in her medieval colloquium at City University. Among her notable students were poet

Paul Mariani Paul Mariani (born 1940 in New York City) is an American poet and is University Professor Emeritus at Boston College. Life Paul Mariani is the University Professor Emeritus at Boston College, specializing in Modern American and British Poetry, r ...

and culinary historian Constance Hieatt.

Legacy

Helaine Newstead died on October 2, 1981, aged 75 years. In her memory, three Helaine Newstead Dissertation Fellowships were established at the City University of New York. A volume of essays in her honor was published by her colleagues in 1992.Gale Sigal and Deborah M. Sinnreich-Levi, eds.
''Voices in Translation: The Authority of 'Olde Bookes' in Medieval Literature; Essays in Honor of Helaine Newstead''
(AMS Press 1992).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newstead, Helaine 1906 births 1981 deaths Arthurian scholars 20th-century American women writers Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America