Margaret C. Waites

Margaret C. Waites
Margaret C. Waites, from the 1905 Radcliffe College yearbook
Born	October 7, 1883 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	March 15, 1923 (aged 39) South Hadley, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Radcliffe College
Occupation(s)	Classical scholar, college professor

Margaret Coleman Waites (October 7, 1883 – March 15, 1923) was an American classical scholar who was the head of the Latin department at Rockford College from 1909 to 1914 and head of the Latin Language and Literature department at Mount Holyoke College at the time of her death in 1923.

Early life and education

Waites was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of Alfred Waites and Kate Sanderson Waites. Her father was born in England. She graduated from Worcester Classical High School in 1902 and Radcliffe College in 1905.[1] She completed a master's degree at Radcliffe in 1906, and her Ph.D. in 1910. Her thesis was "The Dramatic Art of Euripides" (1905).[2] She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[3]

Career

Waites was head of the department of Latin at Rockford College from 1909 to 1914.[3] She spent the 1912–1913 academic year at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, supported by a fellowship from the American Association of Collegiate Alumnae.[4] She began teaching at Mount Holyoke College in 1914, and was head of the Latin Language and Literature department there for about one year.[3][5] In 1921 she wrote the Latin lyrics of a commemoration ode, sung at the twentieth anniversary of Mary E. Woolley's installation as president of Mount Holyoke.[6] In that same year she attended the Classical Association conference in England, and reported on it for the Boston Transcript.[7]

Publications

Waites's work was published in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology,[8] Classical Philology,[9] The Classical Weekly,[10][11] American Journal of Archaeology,[12][13][14] the American Journal of Philology, and other publications.[15]

• "Some Features of the Allegorical Debate in Greek Literature" (1912)[8]
• "The Form of the Early Etruscan and Roman House" (1914)[9]
• "The Performance of the Phormio, in Latin, at Mount Holyoke College" (1917)[10]
• "The Meaning of the 'Dokana'" (1919)[12]
• "Satura Redivivia" (1919)[15]
• "The Nature of the Lares and their Representation in Roman Art" (1920)[13]
• "The Deities of the Sacred Axe" (1923)[14]
• "Latin an End in Itself" (1923)[11]

Personal life and legacy

Waites's mother died in 1923, and Waites herself died of pneumonia a month later, aged 39.[16] Said Woolley at her memorial:

She was a scholar in the real meaning of the term, creative, constructive. She wrote much for classical publications and an article was no sooner out of her hands than she was thinking of the next. Her writing was forceful and clear, and her opinion was listened to with respect by other scholars ... Patient and sympathetic with the slow student, she was inspiring and stimulating with the brilliant student.[17]

Waites bequeathed $1000 to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children[18] and left her library, her personal effects, and $27,000 to Radcliffe College.[19] According to Harvard campus legend (Radcliffe College and Harvard College having merged in the late 20th century), Waites's ghost supposedly haunts a suite of undergraduate rooms in Cabot House – rooms which used to be part of the house library – where her books are shelved.[20][21][22]

References

1. Radcliffe College, Class of 1905 (1905 yearbook): 58.
2. Waites, Margaret Coleman. "The Dramatic Art of Euripides: With Special Reference to the Plays Discussed by Dr. AW Verrall in 'Euripides the Rationalist'" (1905).
3. Mount Holyoke College, "Department of Latin", Llamarada (1918 yearbook): 40, 72.
4. "The College Women". Syracuse Herald-Journal. March 16, 1912. p. 5. Retrieved October 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Collection: Classics Department records". Mount Holyoke and Hampshire College archives. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
6. "Phi Beta Kappa News and Notes". The Phi Beta Kappa Key. 4 (9): 537–538. 1921. ISSN 2373-0331. JSTOR 42913234.
7. "Dr. Margaret C. Waites Writes of When Good Classicists Get Together". Transcript-Telegram. November 9, 1921. p. 18. Retrieved October 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Waites, M. C. (1912). "Some Features of the Allegorical Debate in Greek Literature". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 23: 1–46. doi:10.2307/310446. ISSN 0073-0688. JSTOR 310446.
9. Waites, Margaret C. (1914). "The Form of the Early Etruscan and Roman House". Classical Philology. 9 (2): 113–133. doi:10.1086/359861.
10. Waites, Margaret C. (1917). "The Performance of the Phormio, in Latin, at Mount Holyoke College". The Classical Weekly. 10 (13): 104. ISSN 1940-641X. JSTOR 4387401.
11. Waites, Margaret C. (1923). "Latin an End in Itself". The Classical Weekly. 16 (17): 134. doi:10.2307/4388472. ISSN 1940-641X. JSTOR 4388472.
12. Waites, Margaret C. (1919). "The Meaning of the "Dokana"". American Journal of Archaeology. 23 (1): 1–18. doi:10.2307/497365. JSTOR 497365.
13. Waites, Margaret C. (1920). "The Nature of the Lares and Their Representation in Roman Art". American Journal of Archaeology. 24 (3): 241–261. doi:10.2307/497689. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 497689.
14. Waites, Margaret C. (1923). "The Deities of the Sacred Axe". American Journal of Archaeology. 27 (1): 25–56. doi:10.2307/497531. JSTOR 497531.
15. Waites, M. C. (1919). "Satura Rediviva". The American Journal of Philology. 40 (3): 308–316. doi:10.2307/289271. ISSN 0002-9475. JSTOR 289271.
16. "College News". Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly: 46. April 1923.
17. "Memorial Service for Dr. Margaret C. Waites". The Springfield Daily Republican. March 18, 1923. p. 3. Retrieved October 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
18. "S. P. C. C. District Recipient of $1000". The Morning Union. March 28, 1923. p. 4. Retrieved October 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
19. "'Harvard Women' at Radcliffe Commencement". Transcript-Telegram. June 19, 1924. p. 2. Retrieved October 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
20. Molly E. Egan; Emily T. Schwartz (October 29, 2023). "FM's Campus Ghost Tour". The Harvard Crimson.
21. Sarah Sweeney (October 29, 2014). "Harvard's Haunted Houses". Harvard Gazette.
22. Meghan M. Dolan; Cornelia L. Griggs (October 23, 2003). "Room With A Crew". The Harvard Crimson.