Edith Olive Stratton Kitt (December 15, 1878 – January 18, 1968) was an American clubwoman and historian, who expanded the collections and membership of the Arizona Historical Society as secretary of the society from 1925 to 1947. She was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 1983.
Edith Stratton Kitt | |
|---|---|
 Edith Stratton Kitt, from the 1920 yearbook of the University of Arizona | |
| Born | Edith Olive Stratton 1878 Florence, Arizona, U.S. |
| Died | January 18, 1968 Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Edith O. Kitt |
| Occupation(s) | Educator, historian |
Early life and education
edit
Stratton was born in an adobe house with a dirt floor in Florence, Arizona, and raised on a cattle ranch,[1] the daughter of Emerson Oliver Stratton and Caroline Crocker Ames Stratton. She graduated from high school in Los Angeles in 1900. She completed a bachelor's degree at the University of Arizona at age 41, in 1920.[2][3][4]
Career
editStratton taught school in Arizona and Colorado as a young woman.[3] She was a founder and president of the Tucson Woman's Club, and president of the Arizona State Federation of Woman's Clubs. She was also active in the Tucson Fine Arts Association, the University of Arizona Alumni Association, and the Tucson Collegiate Club.[2]
Kitt became secretary of the Arizona Pioneers' Society (later renamed the Arizona Historical Society) in 1925, and continued in that post until 1947, and remained active with the society for the rest of her life. She focused on collecting archival materials and oral histories, and on increasing the society's membership and budget.[5][3] She collaborated with the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in the 1930s, to have ruins near Tucson surveyed and photographed.[6] She was on the editorial staff of the Arizona Historical Review.[7]
In 1963, Kitt was named "First Lady of Arizona's Territorial Centennial".[1] "You can't say anything about preserving history without giving supreme credit to Edith Kitt and Sharlot Hall," said Bert Fireman of the Arizona Historical Foundation in 1970. "These women were out collecting at an early time."[8]
Publications
editPersonal life
editIn 1903, Stratton married George Farwell Kitt. They had two children, also named Edith and George.[2] Her husband died in 1935, and she died in 1968, at the age of 89, in Sacramento, California.[3] Her papers are in the collections she once oversaw, at the Arizona Historical Society.[11] In 1983, she was posthumously inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.[12]
References
edit- ^ a b "Mrs. George Kitt Centennial 'First Lady'". Arizona Republic. 1963-04-25. p. 26. Retrieved 2024-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Binheim, Max; Elvin, Charles A. (1928). Women of the West; a series of biographical sketches of living eminent women in the eleven western states of the United States of America. University of Connecticut Libraries. Los Angeles, Calif., Publishers Press. p. 7.
- ^ a b c d Harte, John Bret (July 23, 1975). "Bicentennial Profile: Mrs. Kitt adopted fledgling local historical group". Tucson Daily Citizen. p. 5. Retrieved March 11, 2024 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ University of Arizona, Desert (1920 yearbook): 26.
- ^ "Edith Stratton Kitt". Arizona Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
- ^ Gilley, Amy (Summer 2008). "Women's Contributions to the Historic American Buildings Survey, 1933-1941". CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship. National Park Service. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
- ^ University of Arizona; Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society (April 1936). Arizona Historical Review. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. pp. Masthead – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Cook, James E. (July 12, 1970). "Hustling the History". Phoenix Arizona Republic. p. 220. Retrieved March 11, 2024 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ Kitt, Mrs. George F. (1936). "Reminiscences of Juan I. Tellez". Arizona Historical Review. 7: 85–89 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Kitt, Edith O.; Pearce, T. M. (1952). "Arizona Place Name Records". Western Folklore. 11 (4): 284–287. doi:10.2307/1496233. ISSN 0043-373X. JSTOR 1496233.
- ^ Edith O. Stratton Kitt Papers, Arizona Historical Society.
- ^ "Tusconians Inducted into State Women's Hall of Fame". Arizona Daily Star. 1983-10-16. p. 114. Retrieved 2024-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.