A Larger Life Than I Expected: Seeking Ella Flagg Young

• In Event: 71.013 - The Biographical and Documentary Research SIG Business Meeting Presents: The (Im)Possibilities of Biography: Persisting Methodological Issues in Representing Women's Lives

Abstract

Over the past decade, I have been researching and writing a biography of Ella Flagg Young. Young readily captures attention because of her extraordinary public achievements during the Progressive Era, such as serving as Chicago’s school superintendent from 1909-1915 and becoming one of the first women full professors at a US research university when she joined the University of Chicago faculty and worked alongside John Dewey. However, previous accounts of Young’s life largely have failed to examine her personal experiences – mainly because she left no archives, asked her friends to keep details secret, and notoriously diverted attempts to inquire about her private life. I knew that Young lived for many years with Laura Brayton and left her companion the bulk of her sizeable estate when she died. From this, I understood that a much fuller depiction of Young’s life was needed, one that somehow recovered aspects of her private world and endeavored to make sense of them in light of her very public contributions.

Author

• Jackie M. Blount, The Ohio State University