WikiDwarfBOT: robot: add new article

2023-07-22T08:41:39Z

robot: add new article

New page

{{short description|American mathematician, educator and women's rights activist (1876–1959)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Agnes Ermina Wells
| image = Agnes Erminia Wells.jpg
| image_size =
| birth_date = January 4, 1876
| birth_place = [[Saginaw]], [[Michigan]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|7|7|1876|1|4|}}
| death_place = [[Saginaw, Michigan|Saginaw]], [[Michigan]]
| field = [[Astronomy]]
| work_institutions = [[University of Michigan]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Michigan]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Carleton College]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])<br />[[University of Michigan]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| doctoral_advisor = Ralph Hamilton Curtiss
| known_for = Women's Rights Advocacy
| awards =
}}

'''Agnes Ermina Wells''', Ph.D. (January 4, 1876, Saginaw, Michigan – July 6, 1959, Saginaw, Michigan) was an American educator and a [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's equal rights movement]] activist. She was Dean of Women at [[Indiana University]] and [[Professor of Mathematics|professor of mathematics]] and astronomy there.

==Early life and education==
Wells was born in [[Saginaw, Michigan]], on January 4, 1876, to Edgar S. and Julia H. Comstock Wells..<ref name="Harvard" /> She had a sister named Florence and a brother named Ben.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/105723540/?terms=Agnes%2BWells%2BIndiana%2BUniversity |title= Miss Agnes E. Wells Dies; Ex-Dean at I.U.|date=July 8, 1959 |newspaper= The Indianapolis Star|location=Indianapolis, Indiana|page=11|access-date=July 18, 2017|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

She attended the Arthur Hill High School<ref name="Harvard" /> and she then spent one year at the Saginaw County Training School for Teachers.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Saginaw Hall of Fame: Biographical Sketches|url=https://archive.org/details/saginawhalloffam0000mill|url-access=registration|author= Edward W. J. Miller|publisher=Saginaw County Bicentennial Commission, Saginaw County Bicentennial Commission|year=1976|page=[https://archive.org/details/saginawhalloffam0000mill/page/114 114]}}</ref> Wells spent another year in [[Dresden]], Germany, where she studied the German language and music. She studied at [[Bryn Mawr College]] before transferring to the [[University of Michigan]], where she studied mathematics and graduated in 1903 with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1916, she earned her Master of Arts degree from [[Carleton College]] in Minnesota, where her field of study was astronomy.<ref name="Harvard" /> After completing her dissertation under the [[Detroit Observatory]]’s Director [https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/curtiss-ralph-hamilton Ralph Hamilton Curtiss] on ''A Study of the Relative Proper Motions and Radial Velocities of Stars in the Pleiades Group'', she received her Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Michigan in 1924.<ref name="Harvard" />

==Career==
Wells first worked as an educator in [[Crystal Falls, Michigan|Crystal Falls]] in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she was a high school principal for the 1904 to 1905 school year.<ref name="WWD" /><ref name="Proceedings" /> From 1905-06, she became a teacher of Mathematics at Duluth High School in Minnesota. Then, from 1907 to 1914, she was the head of the mathematics department. While working on her master's degree, she was an instructor at [[Carleton College]].<ref name="Proceedings" />

In 1917, she was a faculty member and during the summers she was dean of women at the University of Michigan in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]].<ref name="WWD" /><ref name="Proceedings" /> At the Helen Newberry Residence, she was the social director.<ref name="Proceedings" /> She then went to Indiana University and taught mathematics<ref name="IS" /> and was the dean of women beginning in 1919.<ref name="WWD">{{cite web|url=https://womenwhodared.omeka.net/items/show/61|title=Saginaw Hall of Fame, Biographical Sketches|author1=Ed Miller|author2=Jean Beach|publisher=The Saginaw Hall of Fame|year=2000|via=Women Who Dare, site by historian Amy French of Delta College in University Center, Michigan}}</ref><ref name="Proceedings" /> Wells provided guidance to female students and assisted with them housing,<ref name="Harvard" /> as well as being credited with establishing the dormitory system at the school. In 1924, she became a member of the [[Indiana Academy of Science]],<ref name="Proceedings">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofin691959indi#page/48/mode/2up/search/Agnes|title=Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science|volume=69|year=1959|publisher=Indiana Academy of Science|pages=49–50|access-date=July 18, 2017}}</ref> and that year also began to teach astronomy courses.<ref name="Ogilvie">{{cite book|author1=Marilyn Ogilvie|author2=Joy Harvey|author-link=Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie|author2-link=Joy Harvey|title=The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUCUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT660|date=16 December 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-96343-9|page=1362}}</ref> She retired as the dean of women in 1938, and she taught mathematics and astronomy at the university from that point until 1944.<ref name="Proceedings" /> The Agnes E. Wells quadrangle at Indiana University comprises four buildings: Morrison Hall, Sycamore Hall, Memorial Hall, and Goodbody Hall, all built between 1925 and 1940.<ref>{{citation|title=Biographical Sketches|author1= Ed Miller|author2=Jean R. Beach|publisher=Saginaw Hall of Fame and Castle Museum of Saginaw County}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://libraries.indiana.edu/iu-chronology|title=IU Chronology|website=Indiana University|date=19 June 2014|access-date=July 18, 2017}}</ref>

For the [[American Association of University Women]], she established a fellowship fund in the amount of $1 million.<ref name="WWD" />

Wells was active in many clubs and organizations. She helped found chapters of the [[Mortar Board]] for senior women at both University of Michigan and Indiana University.<ref name="Proceedings" /> She was a member [[Dean of women#History|American Association of Deans of Women]], [[Sigma Xi]], [[Gamma Phi Beta]] , [[Pi Lambda Theta]], Michigan State Society, [[National Education Association]], [[Daughters of the American Revolution]], National Society of the Daughters of the War of 1812, [[American Association of University Professors]], the [[National Education Association]], Indiana School Women’s Club, and [[Phi Beta Kappa]].<ref name="Harvard">{{cite web |url=http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00957 |title=Wells, Agnes Ermina, 1876-1959. Papers of Agnes Ermina Wells, 1894-1959: A Finding Aid |website=Online Archival Search Information System (OASIS), Harvard University Library |access-date=July 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330213544/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00957 |archive-date=March 30, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">University of Michigan. Alumni Records. Wells, Ages Ermina [d. July 6, 1959: A.B. 1903, Ph.D 1924]. TS. Box 712 Suppl, Necrology Files, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan</ref>

Notable leadership positions she held were chairman of the [[National Woman's Party|National Woman’s Party]], president of the Michigan Society, president of the American Association of Deans of Women, first vice president of the American Association of University Professors, state president and national vice president of the American Association of University Women, and president of the Indiana State Federation of Business and Professional Women.<ref name=":0" />

Alongside her numerous avocations and activities, other hobbies she enjoyed included motoring and travel. She spent her summers in the Adirondacks in Upper Jay, Essex Country, New York, where she was the president of the Essex Country Garden Club.<ref name=":0" />

==Women's rights==
She was a member of the [[National Woman's Party]], and became its chair in 1949. The organization worked for the right for women to vote via the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution]] and for the [[Equal Rights Amendment]],<ref name="Harvard" /><ref name="WWD" /> which Wells spoke about to the subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of Congress in 1945.<ref>{{cite book|author=Beverley Manning|title=Index to American Women Speakers, 1828-1978|url=https://archive.org/details/indextoamericanw0000mann|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1282-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/indextoamericanw0000mann/page/305 305]}}</ref>

Under Wells’ authority, the National Woman’s Party fought for a revision of the Nineteenth Constitutional Amendment. This revision was that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress and the several states shall have power, within their respective jurisdictions, to enforce this article by appropriate legislation”.<ref name=":0" /> This constitutional amendment to guarantee equal rights was deemed unsuccessful in 1950 when, despite receiving a two-thirds favorable vote in the senate (65-19), was unable to reach the House of Representatives and receive ratification.<ref name=":0" />

In her acceptance speech as the new chairman of the National Woman’s party in 1949, she described how astounded she was by the idea that few people knew about the past century’s legislation that deemed women as “not persons” and, therefore, not entitled to the same rights as men. Her argument against advocates of the idea that “a woman belonged in the home” was that it overlooked the unmarried woman who, without wealth, was otherwise unable to earn her own living. In her opinion, it was time that women confronted the situations in which they were being restricted because of their sex.<ref name=":0" />

In 1951, a portrait bust was presented by the American Society of Achievement Memorials for Women to the National Women’s Party in Wells’ honor. It now stands among other accomplished women leaders in the National Woman’s Party Fine Art Collection in Washington, D.C..<ref>Taysom, Carmen Brooks. Plaster bust of “Dr. Agnes Ermina Wells” by Carmon Brooks Taysom, 1951 ca.”1951.001. National Woman’s Party Fine Art Collection. Database. 3 March 2020. https://nationalwomansparty.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/E13AA408-EB46-4977-AC33-071050190298 </ref>

==Personal life==
She lived with a woman named Lydia Woodbridge, a teacher at Indiana University, who was identified as Well's partner in Bloomington, Indiana.<ref>{{citation|title=Agnes E. Wells, N. Indiana Street, Bloomington, Indiana|work=1930 Federal Census, Bloomington, Monroe, Indiana; Roll: 619; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0009|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Agnes E. Wells, N. Indiana Street, Bloomington, Indiana|work=1940 Federal Census, Bloomington, Monroe, Indiana; Roll: T627_1079; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 53-11|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> Woodbridge was assistant dean of woman and a professor of French. When Wells retired as dean, Woodbridge also stepped down as assistant dean and devoted her efforts towards teaching French.<ref name="IS">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/104805291/ |title= Miss Wells is Transferred; I.U. Dean of Women Named|date=June 12, 1938 |newspaper= The Indianapolis Star|location=Indianapolis, Indiana|page=12|access-date=July 18, 2017|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Woodbridge died on July 28, 1946, in Bloomington, Indiana, at the age of 70.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/104937735/?terms=Lydia%2BWoodbridge%2BIndiana |title= Retired I.U. Teacher Dies|date=July 29, 1946 |newspaper= The Indianapolis Star|location=Indianapolis, Indiana|page=9|access-date=July 18, 2017|via=newspapers.com|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Soon after her death, Wells wrote in a letter to [[Anita Pollitzer]], an acquaintance in the Party, that her “friend of 41 years and house-companion for 28 years” had just died.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sexuality and sexual behavior|author=Nancy F. Cott|publisher=K.G. Saur|year=1993|page=378}}</ref>

In her later years, she lived with her sister Florence Wells in Saginaw, Michigan.<ref name="obit" /> She died there after a long illness in St. Luke’s Hospital on July 7, 1959.<ref name="Harvard" /> In 1971, she was inducted into the Saginaw Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2016/05/saginaw_county_hall_of_fame_se_1.html|title=Saginaw County Hall of Fame seeks nominations for 2016|website=MLive|date=May 17, 2016|access-date=July 18, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Fame|first=Saginaw County Hall of|title=Dr. Agnes E. Wells|url=https://saginawcountyhalloffame.org/dr-agnes-e-wells|access-date=2020-11-06|website=Saginaw County Hall of Fame|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Selected published works ==
Wells, Agnes E. ''A Study of the Relative Proper Motions and Radial Velocities of Stars in the Pleiades Group'', University of Michigan, 1924.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aodnAQAACAAJ|title=A STUDY OF THE RELATIVE PROPER MOTIONS AND RADIAL VELOCITIES OF STARS IN THE PLEIADES GROUP.|last=WELLS|first=AGNES ERMINA|date=1924|publisher=University of MICHIGAN|language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|editor=Humphrey Mahan Barbour|journal=Indiana University Alumni Quarterly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4wmAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA377 |title=The Centennial Commencement |volume=VII|year=1920|publisher=Alumni Association of Indiana University|pages=213, 214, 225, 239, 244, 371, 377, 378, 571|number=1}}
* {{cite book|author=James H. Capshew|title=Herman B Wells: The Promise of the American University|year=2012|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-35720-5|page=109}}
* {{cite book|author1=Rachel B. Harley|author2=Betty MacDowell|title=Michigan Women: Firsts and Founder|year=1995|publisher=Michigan Women's Studies Association|isbn=978-0-9619390-2-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/michiganwomenfir0000harl/page/117 117]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/michiganwomenfir0000harl/page/117}}
* {{cite book|author1=Burton Dorr Myers|author2=David Demaree Banta|title=History of Indiana University|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofindiana00myer|url-access=registration|year=1952|publisher=Indiana University}}
* {{cite book|author=Margaret W. Rossiter|title=Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJr6ZfkDbE4C&pg=PA204|date=August 1984|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-2509-5|pages=204, 214}}
*Wells, A. (1894). [https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=HVD2&search_scope=everything&tab=everything&lang=en_US&docid=01HVD_ALMA211768125300003941 Papers of Agnes Ermina Wells], 1894-1959. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Database. 3 March 2020.
*Voices from the IU Bicentennial; [https://blogs.iu.edu/bicentennialblogs/2017/08/14/dr-agnes-wells-educator-administrator-equal-rights-advocate/ Agnes Wells: Educator, Administrator, Equal Rights Advocate]. 14 August 2017. Indiana University. 2 March 2020

==External links==
* [http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/search/search.do?userQuery=Agnes+Wells&sortKeys=&offset=0&facetFilters=PERSON_PICTURED-part-entered_name+exact+%22Wells%2C+Agnes+Ermina%22&maxResults=10 Agnes Wells (photographs)], Indiana University
* [https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/2016/06/17/amelia-earharts-lecture-at-iu/ Letter arranging for Amelia Earhart to speak at IU]
* {{Find a Grave|29030490|Agnes E. Wells}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Agnes E.}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni]]
[[Category:Indiana University faculty]]
[[Category:American lesbians]]
[[Category:American women's rights activists]]
[[Category:People from Saginaw, Michigan]]
[[Category:American women mathematicians]]
[[Category:American LGBT scientists]]
[[Category:Lesbian academics]]
[[Category:Lesbian scientists]]
[[Category:LGBT mathematicians]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]

Agnes E. Wells - Revision history

WikiDwarfBOT: robot: add new article