Mary Augusta Scott (1851–1918) was a scholar and professor of English at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

. She was one of the first women to receive a PhD from Yale University, in 1894.

Biography

Scott was born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, and received her master's degree at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

. She studied at Newnham College,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

; she earned her Ph.D. from Yale in 1894.Guide to the Mary Augusta Scott Papers
(Vassar College Archives and Special Collections) A professor of English at

from 1902, Scott edited and published ''The Essays of Francis Bacon''. She also completed ''Elizabethan Translations from the Italian'', published in the Vassar Semi-Centennial Series in 1916, and reviewed by the ''Journal of Modern Philology'' in 1918. She was a frequent contributor to ''The Dial'' and other literary and academic journals.

Death and legacy

Scott died in 1918. The Mary Augusta Scott Papers, ca. 1870 - 1917, are held at

Archives and Special Collections. In 2016, a portrait of the first seven women to receive Ph.D.s from Yale, which those seven women all did in 1894, was placed in Sterling Memorial Library at Yale. The women include Scott, Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Margaretta Palmer, Charlotte Fitch Roberts, Cornelia H.B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers, and Laura Johnson Wylie. The portrait is the first painting hanging in Sterling Memorial Library to have women as subjects. Brenda Zlamany was the artist.

Works

* ''The Essays of Francis Bacon'' (editor) (New York, 1908) * ''Elizabethan translations from the Italian'' (1916)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Mary Augusta 1851 births 1918 deaths Yale University alumni Vassar College alumni Smith College faculty Writers from Dayton, Ohio American women essayists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American essayists American women academics