Grant, Mary A. (Mary Amelia), 1890-1987

The Grant and Bradbury family members represented by these papers include the donor, Mary Amelia Grant, and her Grant and Bradbury family ancestors and contemporaries. Mary Amelia Grant was born November 10, 1890 at Topeka, Kansas to Emerson Warren and Jane (Jennie) Bradbury Grant. She earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1913 and 1914 respectively, and a doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1919. Dr. Grant joined the University of Kansas faculty in 1921, taught classical languages, was curator of the University's Wilcox Museum of classical antiquities, and published many books. She retired in 1960, and in 1975 was named to the University's Women's Hall of Fame. Dr. Grant died in 1987 at Lawrence.

Dr. Grant's father, a native of Livingston County, Michigan was a son of Amelia Jane (Hitchcock) Grant and Elisha Wilcox Grant, whose Massachusetts heritage dated to the Revolutionary War. Dr. Grant's mother, Jennie (Bradbury) Grant, was the daughter of William H. and Mary (Brown) Bradbury. William H. Bradbury was born in England in 1829. His father was Timothy Bradbury, who with his brothers operated cotton mills in England, extending their business interests to America in the 1820s. William Bradbury emigrated to America in 1851, settling in Dwight (Livingston County), Illinois, where he practiced law and was a published writer of essays and poetry. He served as a military clerk in the 129th Illinois Voluntary Infantry during the Civil War and was a paid correspondent to large newspapers in America and England. His Civil War letters, which are housed in the Library of Congress, are published in the book titled While Father is Away: The Civil War Letters of William H. Bradbury, edited by Jennifer Cain Bohrnstedt. Bradbury and his wife invested in Kansas land following the war, and in 1880 moved to Topeka, Kansas.

From the guide to the Grant-Bradbury family papers, 1716-1987, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)

Mary A. Grant, a Galesburg, Illinois native, received her baccalaureate degree from the University of Kansas in 1913, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. A year later she earned a masters degree from KU and in 1919 a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. In 1921 Grant joined the KU teaching staff as an instructor in Latin, becoming a faculty member as an associate professor in 1927.

Grant taught courses in Greek and Latin languages and literatures, as well as Greek and Roman mythology, architecture and sculpture. Grant served the classical language department in many capacities: she was acting chairman one year, and from 1943 until her retirement in 1960 she was curator of the Wilcox Museum, a collection of antiquities used for teaching.

Grant published a number of works, including "The Ancient Rhetorical Theories of the Laughable: The Greek Rhetoricians and Cicero," "Cicero's 'De Oratore' and Horace's 'Ars Poetica,'" "Folktale and Hero-Tale Motifs in the Odes of Pindar," and "The Myths of Hyginus." She also had poetry published in Atlantic Monthly and Spirit magazines. She traveled extensively in the Near East, Greece, and Italy. In 1975, Grant was named to the KU Women's Hall of Fame.

From the guide to the Personal Papers of Mary A. Grant, 1925-1987, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library University Archives)