Elizabeth Laetitia Moon Conard (May 9, 1871 – November 29, 1946) was an American college instructor, politician, community leader and activist, based in Iowa. She taught sociology and economics at Grinnell College, and ran for governor of Iowa in 1932.
Laetitia Moon Conard | |
|---|---|
 Laetitia Moon Conard, from a 1932 newspaper | |
| Born | Elizabeth Laetitia Moon May 9, 1871 Fallsington, Pennsylvania |
| Died | November 29, 1946 (aged 75) Grinnell, Iowa |
| Occupation(s) | College instructor, politician, community leader, activist |
| Spouse | Henry Shoemaker Conard |
Early life and education
editElizabeth Laetitia Moon was born in Fallsington, Pennsylvania, the daughter of James H. Moon and Elizabeth Balderston Moon. Her parents were Quakers, and she attended Westtown School. She graduated from Smith College with a bachelor's degree in 1894, and a master's degree in 1896.[1] She pursued further studies at the Sorbonne, and completed a doctorate in comparative religion at the University of Chicago in 1899,[2] with a dissertation titled "Ideas of the Future Life Held by Algonkin Indian Tribes".[3] It was the second doctorate awarded by the comparative religion department at Chicago.[4] She later earned further credentials in economics and sociology at Columbia University.[5]
Career
editMoon's doctoral research was published in 1900 as "Les idées des Indiens algonquins relatives a la vie d'outre-tombe" in the Revue de l'histoire des religions,[6][7] and in 1903 as "The Idea of God Held by North American Indians" in The American Journal of Theology.[8] During the same time, in 1901, she wrote an obituary notice about religion scholar Léon Marillier for The Open Court.[9]
Conard taught correspondence courses for the University of Chicago in 1905.[2] When her husband became a professor at Grinnell College, she moved to Grinnell, Iowa.[10] She helped to found the First Friends Church of Grinnell, and the city's League of Women Voters chapter. She was a longtime board member of the Grinnell Social Service Committee, and a member of the Iowa Association for Public Welfare.[11]
Conard officially joined the faculty at Grinnell College in the mid-1920s, and helped establish the sociology department.[11] She was never paid for teaching sociology or economics courses,[12] nor admitted to the rank or title of Professor, because her husband was a professor.[13] Her students did field work in the town of Grinnell, visiting workers in their homes. She retired from teaching in 1941.[5][14]
Conard campaigned for Robert M. LaFollette when he ran for president in 1924.[5] She ran for governor of Iowa in 1932,[15] for a Congressional seat in 1934, for a Senate seat in 1936, and for lieutenant governor in 1940, always on the Socialist Party ticket.[11][16] She published articles on the socioeconomic effects of the Great Depression in Social Forces[17] and The American Journal of Sociology.[14]
Personal life
editLaetitia Moon married another Pennsylvania Quaker, botanist Henry Shoemaker Conard (1874–1971) in 1900. They had three children, Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Alfred.[2] They retired to Florida in 1944. She died in Grinnell in 1946, aged 75 years.
References
edit- ^ "Class of 1894: Moon, Elizabeth Laetitia, 1900-01, 1946". Smith College Finding Aids. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ a b c Leonard, John William (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. American Commonwealth Company. p. 198.
- ^ Turner, James (2014-05-04). Philology: The Forgotten Origins of the Modern Humanities. Princeton University Press. p. 451. ISBN 978-1-4008-5015-0.
- ^ Turner, James (2012-12-01). Religion Enters the Academy: The Origins of the Scholarly Study of Religion in America. University of Georgia Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8203-4418-8.
- ^ a b c Levin, Malcolm Galpern (March 15, 2021). "Recognizing Grinnell trailblazer Laetitia Moon Conard". The Scarlet and Black. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ Conard, E. Laetitia Moon (1900). "Les idées des Indiens algonquins relatives a la vie d'outre-tombe: (Deuxième article.)". Revue de l'histoire des religions (in French). 42: 220. ISSN 2105-2573.
- ^ Conard, E. Laetitia Moon (Elizabeth Laetitia Moon) (1901). Les idées des indiens algonquins relatives à la vie d'outre-tombe. University of California Libraries. Paris : E. Leroux. ISBN 9780524014219.
- ^ Conard, Lætitia Moon (October 1903). "The Idea of God Held by North American Indians". The American Journal of Theology. 7 (4): 635–646. doi:10.1086/478402. ISSN 1550-3283.
- ^ Conard, E. L. (January 1902). "Leon Marillier". The Open Court. 16: 50–51.
- ^ "Trailblazers: Notable Women of Grinnell" (PDF). Grinnell Historical Museum Newsletter: 2. Summer 2012.
- ^ a b c Ferguson, Susan J.; Mears, Katie. "Sociology Department History: Early Sociologist at Grinnell Was a Radical Socialist". Grinnell College. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ "Six End Long Careers at Grinnell". Des Moines Tribune. 1941-05-30. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "CERA's History". Grinnell College. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ a b Conard, Laetitia M. (1939). "Differential Depression Effects on Families of Laborers, Farmers, and the Business Class: A Survey of an Iowa Town". American Journal of Sociology. 44 (4): 526–533. doi:10.1086/218064. ISSN 0002-9602. JSTOR 2769335. S2CID 145021136.
- ^ "Woman for Governor". The Oshkosh Northwestern. 1932-11-04. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Iowa Socialist Ticket Selected". Dubuque Telegraph Herald. August 13, 1940. p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ Conard, L. M. (1936-10-01). "Some Effects of the Depression on Family Life". Social Forces. 15 (1): 76–81. doi:10.2307/2570471. ISSN 0037-7732. JSTOR 2570471.