Yearbook dedication page to Helen Bartlett, 1907
Title
Yearbook dedication page to Helen Bartlett, 1907
Description
Helen Bartlett (b. Peoria, 14 Dec. 1854 – d. Evanston, 31 Oct. 1939) is a prominent name on the unfortunately short list of women who earned a doctorate in the nineteenth century. Bradley Polytechnic was certainly fortunate to secure her as a founding member of the faculty. She served the Institute from 1897 to 1910 as Professor of Modern Languages, Dean of Women, and as an inspiration for all that women might achieve in the new century.
In this sense, Dr. Bartlett surely represented Lydia Moss Bradley’s highest ambitions to combine education in practical skills with religious ethics and high culture. Dr. Bartlett expressed this shared faith in liberal education at the tenth anniversary of the school when she called the graduates of the Institute—all the “rationally educated young men and women,” who were now “prepared not only to make their way in this difficult, competing world but also to get the deepest enjoyment out of life, as well as to put into life the best work and the most intelligent service”—a suitable gift to honor the founder’s generosity (see “The Later Years,” The First Decade, p. 71).
Dr. Bartlett also fit with L. M. Bradley’s plans to connect the Institute to prominent families in the community. Her parents, Amos P. Bartlett and Sarah Rogers, had settled in Peoria in the 1830s. Her brothers Samuel C. and William H. Bartlett, both Dartmouth graduates, grew extremely wealthy in the grain business. Perhaps this partially explains why Dr. Bartlett was in a position in 1920 to donate a valuable collection of books and artworks to the school in honor of her sister, Mary Eleanor (d. 1918).
Dean Bartlett also helped link the Institute to the vibrant German culture of central Illinois beautifully documented by Frederich Bess in Eine populäre Geschichte der Stadt Peoria [A Popular History of the City of Peoria], 1906, preserved in the VH Chase Special Collections.
Bartlett had studied in Germany (in 1882-84, 1890, and 1905) and taught German language and culture at Peoria High School (1884-89) and at the Portland Academy, Oregon (1896-97), before coming to Bradley. When Bartlett gave a public lecture praising Berlin above Paris, and all the other cities of the world, was noted briefly by others but received a detailed description in Die Sonne, 9 Dec. 1905—just one of the German-language newspapers that flourished in Peoria from the 1850s through the 1910s.
Bradley University has honored her legacy in a variety of ways since the 1940s. Bartlett House, later Bartlett Hall, was a women’s dormitory. The Bartlett Award for Excellence in Service to Student was also established in her name in 1997.
In this sense, Dr. Bartlett surely represented Lydia Moss Bradley’s highest ambitions to combine education in practical skills with religious ethics and high culture. Dr. Bartlett expressed this shared faith in liberal education at the tenth anniversary of the school when she called the graduates of the Institute—all the “rationally educated young men and women,” who were now “prepared not only to make their way in this difficult, competing world but also to get the deepest enjoyment out of life, as well as to put into life the best work and the most intelligent service”—a suitable gift to honor the founder’s generosity (see “The Later Years,” The First Decade, p. 71).
Dr. Bartlett also fit with L. M. Bradley’s plans to connect the Institute to prominent families in the community. Her parents, Amos P. Bartlett and Sarah Rogers, had settled in Peoria in the 1830s. Her brothers Samuel C. and William H. Bartlett, both Dartmouth graduates, grew extremely wealthy in the grain business. Perhaps this partially explains why Dr. Bartlett was in a position in 1920 to donate a valuable collection of books and artworks to the school in honor of her sister, Mary Eleanor (d. 1918).
Dean Bartlett also helped link the Institute to the vibrant German culture of central Illinois beautifully documented by Frederich Bess in Eine populäre Geschichte der Stadt Peoria [A Popular History of the City of Peoria], 1906, preserved in the VH Chase Special Collections.
Bartlett had studied in Germany (in 1882-84, 1890, and 1905) and taught German language and culture at Peoria High School (1884-89) and at the Portland Academy, Oregon (1896-97), before coming to Bradley. When Bartlett gave a public lecture praising Berlin above Paris, and all the other cities of the world, was noted briefly by others but received a detailed description in Die Sonne, 9 Dec. 1905—just one of the German-language newspapers that flourished in Peoria from the 1850s through the 1910s.
Bradley University has honored her legacy in a variety of ways since the 1940s. Bartlett House, later Bartlett Hall, was a women’s dormitory. The Bartlett Award for Excellence in Service to Student was also established in her name in 1997.
Creator
Polyscope
Date
1907
Subject
Universities and colleges--Faculty
Rights
For official publication permission or to request high resolution images, contact Special Collections at specialcollections@bradley.edu or (309)677-2822.
Citation
Polyscope, “Yearbook dedication page to Helen Bartlett, 1907,” Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center, accessed May 8, 2024, https://bradleyspecialcollections.omeka.net/items/show/71.