Woodworth, Elizabeth

Mary Katharine Woodworth (1900-1988) was a graduate of Philadelphia's Girls High and Bryn Mawr College. She taught English at Bryn Mawr from 1935 to 1964. She was an enthusiast of the arts, and during her life she made numerous trips to Europe.

Her mother, Elizabeth Katharine Woodworth was an Ohio native while her father, Loyal E. Woodworth, was from Oregon. Her father died in 1905. Shortly afterwards, her mother brought her and her younger sister Allegra to live in Philadelphia. Both girls attended Philadelphia's Girls High School. Woodworth graduated in 1920 – a year before her sister. They both went on to Bryn Mawr College. Woodworth graduated 1924 with a Greek and English major and a minor in archeology.

She pursued graduate studies in English at Johns Hopkins University, while teaching at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore. In 1925 she left Johns Hopkins and returned to Bryn Mawr as a graduate student and teacher at the Thorne School. After completing her Masters degree in 1927, she continued on at Bryn Mawr in pursuit of her Ph.D. In 1929, a fellowship allowed her to spend a year at the University College of London studying the works of British poet and genealogist Samuel Egerton Brydges (1762-1837) for dissertation.

In 1933 she received her Ph. D. in English. When her book on Brydges was published in 1935 she was given the position of Assistant Professor of English at Bryn Mawr. In 1943 she was promoted to Associate Professor and in 1956 became a full Professor. She was active within her field, belonging to the Modern Languages Association, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and the Johnsonian Society. Woodworth was awarded a Distinguished Teaching Award from Bryn Mawr in 1968, the year she retired, and taught the first course at the college in 20th century writers.

After she finished her research on Brydges Woodworth, she remained interested in early British literature. In 1944, she published an article on Edmund Spenser's (1552-1599) Mutabilitié Cantors. She also developed a close professional and personal relationship with Dr. Samuel Chew who had been one of her graduate professors. In 1953 she published an article on his career. She had a great interest in art, architecture and writing which became a part of her research interests as well. She spent the latter portion of her career investigating (and teaching courses on) the intersection between writing and illustrating, which culminated in an article written in 1970 on William Blake's illustrations. Additionally, she cultivated relationships with many of the century's foremost authors, bringing several of them to Bryn Mawr to give readings and lectures.

Woodworth lived in Haverford most of her life with her sister, who was a teacher at the Shipley School. Throughout the 1930s they made several voyages to Europe. It was on one of these voyages that Woodworth bought Chagall's The Violinist and The Wounded Soldier. Following her sister Allegra's death in 1974, Woodworth established a scholarship at Bryn Mawr in her name. She also donated The Wounded Soldier to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1986. In 1987 she was awarded a medal by Bryn Mawr College for her contributions to the library. She died in 1988, leaving behind no family, and left her entire estate to Bryn Mawr. The estate included The Violinist which was auctioned shortly after her death bringing in 4.8 million dollars and making her the fourth largest contributor to the college at the time.

From the guide to the Mary Katharine Woodworth papers, 1787-1989, (Bryn Mawr College)