Finding Aid for Louise B. Dunbar Papers, 1894-1975 | University of Illinois Archives

Title: Louise B. Dunbar Papers, 1894-1975

ID: 15/13/36

Primary Creator: Dunbar, Louise Burnham (1894-1975)

Extent: 7.7 cubic feet

Arrangement: By type of material and chronological thereunder.

Subjects: Alpha Delta Theta, American Revolution, Berea College, British Coronations, Centennial, Philadelphia, Colonial History, Colorado, Episcopal Church, Faculty Papers, Kemper Hall, Mount Holyoke College, Vermont, Women's Suffrage

Formats/Genres: Papers

Languages: English

Papers of Louise Burnham Dunbar (1894-1975) A.M. '17, Ph.D. '20, assistant professor of history (1927-62), including correspondence of Mrs. Belle Hanchett Dunbar (1920-54) and Louise B. Dunbar (1920-75) with friends, relatives, classmates, former students and university faculty; diaries (1927-44); programs; photographs; publications; and clippings relating to school and social life in White River Junction, Vermont and Urbana, Illinois; academic life at the University of Illinois; research in colonial and revolutionary period American history; Kemper Hall (1925-29); the Episcopal Church (1928-58); and course materials and syllabi for history department and World War II military training, radio lectures and extension courses in history.

Louise Burnham Dunbar (1894-1975) was instructor (1920-23); associate (1923-25); lecturer (1926-27); assistant professor (1927-62); and assistant professor emerita (1962-75) at the University of Illinois (UI) Department of History. She was a pioneering woman professor of history and was widely respected for her scholarship on the American colonial period.

Dunbar was born on August 11, 1894, in White River Junction, Vermont, to parents Belle Hanchett Dunbar and Joseph Henry Dunbar. She earned a bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College (1916), and, encouraged by her mentor Professor Susan Reid Stifler (the first woman to earn a PhD in history from the UI), she went on to earn a master's degree (1917) and a PhD (1920) in history from UI. Her dissertation and major work, A Study of Monarchical Tendencies in the United States from 1776 to 1801 was published in 1922 and, again, in 1969. Over the course of her career, Dunbar continued to research British colonial administration and "monarchical tendencies" in colonial America in archives and libraries throughout the United States, Canada, and England. Additional publications include "The Royal Governors in the Middle and Southern Colonies on the Eve of the Revolution: A Study in Imperial Personnel," in The Era of the American Revolution; Studies Inscribed to Evarts Boutell Greene (1939) and articles for the Dictionary of American History and the Dictionary of American Biography.

A member of the History Department faculty at UI beginning in 1920, Dunbar ultimately advanced to the rank of assistant professor at a time when women professors were rare and seldom promoted like their male peers. The courses she taught at UI included Colonial Beginnings and the American Revolutionary Era to 1789; Great Britain Under the Tudors and Stuarts, 1485-1688; Foundations of American Society: The Colonies in the Eighteenth Century; Foundations of American Society: Transition to National Life and Organization; and Seminar in American History: The Revolutionary Period. During WWII, Dunbar served as an educator for the Army Specialized Training Program.

Dunbar retired in 1962 and died in 1975. Upon her death, she was remembered by the UI History Department for her "inexhaustible research" and her "lively" and "vivid" lectures (History at Illinois).

Sources:

"Louise B. Dunbar," History at Illinois, (1974â??76), accessed May 27, 2020, https://history.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/1974-76_20160310133139.pdf.

"Louise B. Dunbar [Box/Folder List]," UIUC University Archives, accessed May 27, 2020, https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1513036.pdf.

Alpha Delta Theta
American Revolution
Berea College
British Coronations
Centennial, Philadelphia
Colonial History
Colorado
Episcopal Church
Faculty Papers
Kemper Hall
Mount Holyoke College
Vermont
Women's Suffrage

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Accruals: 11/17/1975; 1/28/76; 5/8/76; 10/8/76; 4/19/78; 6/14/2001

Other Note: 11 Pages

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1513036.pdf

PDF finding aid for Louise B. Dunbar Papers (15/13/36)