Description: Mary Sleator Temperley (1925-2018) was an instructor of English at the University of Illinois from 1956-1961, an Assistant Professor from 1969-1970, and a Research Assistant professor from 1973-75 at a time when university nepotism rules kept female scholars from being hired as long as their husbands had faculty status. She returned to the university in 1982 as a Visiting Assistant Professor, and became an Assistant Professor in the Division of English as an International Language from 1985-2001. While an assistant professor at the University of Illinois in 1969-1970, she taught the first courses on transformational grammar and proposed and taught the first course on teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). This course became the basis for the master's program offered by the Division of English as an International Language. Sleator Temperley was a member of the Institute for Communications Research and was a member of the committee that planned the Linguistics Department, which was established in 1965. She published articles on applied linguistics and English language teaching, and is co-author of the book: A Practical Guide to the Teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language (1978).
Few of Mary Sleator Temerley's papers have survived. Among these are rhetoric and English courses taught by her, including assignments, exams, bibliographies, lectures, and notes. Her papers also contain notes on grammar and rhetoric, "Pleasure Dome" -- a poem written by Sleator Temperley and a publication rejection letter from Scientific American, and Sleator's talk to the Cambridge University Linguistic Society in 1963. Also included is a list of publications from members of the Institute of Communications, with two of Sleator's unpublished works listed, and (most likely) Sleator writing about her experiences as a teacher of English as a second language labeled "Institute Report." There are a few records of the Department of English and Department of Linguistics, including, course listings, staff directories, requirements for a master's of arts in the teaching of English as a second language, and some faculty biographical information.
Series 1: Subject Files, 1956-1691, is arranged alphabetically.