Frances Hall (Rousmaniere) Dewing was born in 1877 into a middle class family in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and entered Wellesley College in 1894. Her father's death in 1897 and her brother's illness necessitated a leave of absence, but she returned, graduating in 1900. She received a Master's degree in philosophy from Wellesley in 1904, and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Radcliffe College in 1906,one of the first women to do so. She taught philosophy and psychology at Mount Holyoke College (1906-1908) and Smith College (1908-1910). In 1910 she married Arthur Stone Dewing and by 1915 was the mother of three daughters. Her activities focused on her family until 1943-45, when she taught experimental mathematics at Bennington College. She was a popular instructor, and although she did not teach again after 1945 she continued to think and write about education and educational methods for the remainder of her life. She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on February 20, 1964.
From the guide to the Papers, 1906-1963, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)
