Babcock, Maud May, 1867-1954

Born in East Worchester, New York, on 2 May 1867, Maud May Babcock (1867-1954) was graduated from the National School of Oratory of Philadelphia and the Lyceum School of Acting, now the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She also studied at Chicago University and for two years, in London and Paris. She received a B.A. degree from Wells College in New York. Babcock was an instructor for three summer sessions at Harvard University and taught at Engleside School for Girls in the Berkshires, Rutgers College, and in the public schools of New York before coming to the University of Utah. She came to Salt Lake City in 1892 as a professor of oratory and speech at the old Social Hall. On the occasion of her birthday in 1947, she said that Mrs. Susa Young Gates, a daughter of Brigham Young, was responsible for her coming West. Mrs. Gates was in one of her Harvard summer classes. Babcock organized the physical culture and speech departments at the University and trained thousands of students, some of whom went on to make names for themselves on the legitimate stage, in movies, and in radio. She wrote numerous books relating to the fields of speech and elocution, including Handbook for Teachers of Interpretation, Interpretive Selections for High Schools, and Interpretive Selections for College . She was former president of the national Association fo the Teachers of Speech, served on the board of Utah School for the Deaf and Blind for twenty years and later in life was made an honorary member of the National League of American Pen Women. She was chaplain of the Utah State Senate, probably the first woman in the country to hold such a position. Miss Babcock made a number of trips to the Orient, as well as to Europe, sometimes conducting parties of students. In 1938, after making a personal contribution for the aid of Chinese victims fo the Sino-Japanese war, she received a letter from Madame Chiang Kai-shek thanking her for her interest in the Chinese people. Miss Babcock retired from the University of Utah in 1938. She was the pioneer of the college Little Theater movement and organized the first little theater west of the Mississippi. Maud May Babcock died on 31 December 1954 after a long illness. (This biography was taken from an article in the Utah Alumnus, May 1955.)