Lilla Estelle Appleton Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-334

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Lilla Estelle Appleton Papers provide uneven documentation of the life and career of this Oberlin alumna and educator. The papers consist of biographical information, diaries, correspondence, writings, essays, teaching related materials, newspapers, and non-textual items. The papers are arranged in eight series: 1. Biographical Files, 2. Diaries and Journals, 3. Correspondence, 4. Student Files, 5. Teaching Files, 6. Writings, 7. Non-Textual Materials, and 8. Newspapers.

Best documented are her school and undergraduate studies. This period of her life is represented by essays, diaries, and correspondence. Appleton’s graduate studies are represented only by her theses and dissertations.

Of Appleton’s long and varied career as a teacher, much less information is available. Her early positions as a teacher in Vermont and Hawaii are covered to a degree by diaries and correspondence.

A transcript (in Series II and III) of Lilla Estelle Appleton's diaries and letters provides some insight into her life as a young woman in Vermont, her studies at Oberlin College, and her teaching career. Of particular interest is her correspondence, dated 1887-96, from her years teaching at Kawaiahao Seminary, a missionary school in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The student files in Series IV contain compositions written by Appleton while a student in Vermont and at Oberlin College. They cover a wide range of topics, including women's rights, politics, and the Oberlin Class of 1886. Several of these essays illustrate Appleton's lifelong interest in education, most notably in the essay she read at her 1886 graduation from the Literary Course, "The Teacher's Mission." An undated essay titled "Stepping Stones of our Dead Selves" appears to be a draft of her 1890 Philosophical Course Commencement essay "Death a Condition of Growth."

Lilla Estelle Appleton wrote chiefly on the topics of education and child study. Writings in Series VI include Appleton's University of Chicago theses and the published version of her doctoral dissertation A Comparative Study of the Play Characteristics of Adult Savages and Civilized Children: an Investigation of the Scientific Basis of Education (1910).

The non-textual material in Series VII includes a full-length portrait of Appleton in academic regalia, date unknown, on a printer’s plate.

Dates

Creation: 1848-1937, undated
Other: Date acquired: 1989 October 5

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Lilla Estelle Appleton was born in Victory, Vermont, on November 9, 1858, to George Ashley Appleton (1823-1913) and Fanny Reed (Wooster) Appleton (1833-1918). In 1875 she began teaching in rural schools in Vermont, and she studied at the State Normal School in Randolph, Vermont, graduating in 1879. In 1881 she and her brother John Ashley Appleton (1856–83; enr. 1881-83) entered Oberlin College, joining their brothers Fayette Gilman Appleton (1854-1938; BD 1884) and George Stebins Appleton (1862-1941; enrolled 1880-83). After one year as a student in the Preparatory Department, Lilla Estelle Appleton entered the Literary Course and graduated with the LB in 1886.

Following her graduation Appleton returned to teaching. She taught at Kawaiahao Seminary in Honolulu, Hawaii, from 1886 to 1888. During 1888-89 she taught in Lake Henry, South Dakota, and then spent three months in 1889 teaching at Santee Indian Training School in Santee Agency, Nebraska. She returned to Oberlin College in 1889 for further study in the Philosophical Course. She received the PhB in 1890 and subsequently spent a year (1890-91) studying in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Appleton returned to Hawaii in 1891 and taught in government schools there for the next three years. She returned to Vermont in 1895-96 as a teacher and lecturer. She subsequently spent two years at the Oswego (New York) State Normal School, pursuing studies in the classical (1897) and critic courses (1898). Following her graduation from these courses, Lilla Estelle Appleton began teaching in teacher-training courses. Over the next few years she taught and was a school administrator at State Normal Schools in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Washington.

In 1903, Appleton resigned her position as principal of the City Normal Training Class in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to enter into graduate studies at the University of Chicago. There she earned the Masters of Philosophy (PhM) degree in 1903, the Masters of Science (SM) degree in 1904, and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1909.

Between 1907 and 1916, Appleton served as head of teacher training programs at Upper Iowa University (Fayette, Iowa), Marshall College (Huntington, West Virginia), Milwaukee-Downer College (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), and at the Kindergarten Training School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Throughout her life, Lilla Estelle Appleton continued to pursue her studies. She was a senior research fellow at Clark University, 1908-09, and also conducted research at Columbia University in 1910-11. She pursued courses studying mental testing at The Training School in Vineland, New Jersey, in 1914 and 1916.

In 1919, after three years of doing primarily editorial work, Lilla Estelle Appleton took the position of Head of the Department of Psychology and Education at Oxford College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. When that institution was closed in 1928, she retired from teaching and returned to Chicago where she did research work at the University of Chicago, revising and expanding her doctoral dissertation. She was the author of many published articles, mostly in the area of her chief interest, child study.

In 1911 she was invited to join the Institut Solvay – Institut de Sociologie, an international organization for scientific research work, based in Brussels, Belgium. She was also honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) which named her a Fellow in 1915.

Lilla Estelle Appleton died of abdominal cancer in Chicago on May 8, 1937. She was buried in Granby, Vermont.

Note written by Melissa Gottwald.

Extent

3.90 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Method of Acquisition

The bulk of the Lilla Estelle Appleton papers were received from the Oberlin College Library, Department of Special Collections, in 2001. The transcript of Lilla Estelle Appleton's diaries and letters was given to the Oberlin College Archives in 1989 by S. Elizabeth Lang. Prints from the printer’s plate in Series VII were struck by Zygote Press at the request of the Archives in 2009.

Accruals and Additions

Accession Nos: 1989/172, 2001/94, 2004/103.

Related Materials

Alumni file of Lilla Estelle Appleton (RG 28).

The Henry Churchill King Papers contain 1903 correspondence concerning Lilla Estelle Appleton's desire to earn a master's or doctoral degree (RG 2/6).