Mary Louise Foster Papers, 1885-1960
General International Standard for Archival Description
Smith College Archives Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Nanci A. Young. 2005-04-29
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Mary Louise Foster Papers
Creation of Mary Louise Foster Papers
Time of Creation of Mary Louise Foster Papers
Foster, Mary Louise, 1865-
Biographical History for: Mary Louise Foster Papers
Biographical Note Mary Louise Foster was born on April 20, 1865 in Melrose, Massachusetts. Between the years of 1878-1883, she attended the Girls' Latin School in Boston, MA, and later went on to study Classics at Smith College from 1888 to 1891. After her graduation, Foster taught Chemistry and Physics at West Roxbury High School until 1896. During this time, she was also enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston (1893-1895). In 1898, Foster found work teaching Chemistry at Lynn High and Classical School. The next year, she became an assistant researcher in the Lab of Physiology and Chemistry in New York, where she stayed until 1901. In 1903, Foster worked as a research chemist for a professor of Pharmacology at Columbia University, where she stayed on until 1907. While working for the professor, she was also a professor herself in the Chemistry department at the Woman's Medical College of New York (1904-1905). After working at Columbia, Foster was appointed as an instructor at Smith College, where she became an Associate Professor of Biochemistry in 1908. In 1912, she received her Masters' Degree from Smith, and two years later earned her PhD from the University of Chicago. She spent the summer of 1917 at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. In 1918, she became secretary to the faculty at Smith College, a position she held for one year. In 1920, she was offered the position of Director at the International Institute for Girls in Spain, located in Madrid. She stayed there for two years, before returning to Smith as the Chairman of the Committee on Interdepartmental Majors, a position she held until 1927. In 1928, she was appointed a member of the Special Honors Committee. In 1930, Foster returned to Spain to work as the lab organizer at the Institute, in the lab which she helped establish, where she stayed until 1932. It was in that year that she went to Santiago College in Chile to work at the Director of New Laboratories in Chemistry and Physics. In the years that followed, she did a great deal of research, was published numerous times and delivered several lectures in her field. She died June 21, 1960.
Scope and Contents of the Collection This collection includes biographical materials, correspondence, publications, photographs, scrapbooks and newspaper clippings regarding Foster's education and career at Smith College and elsewhere.
Chemistry--Study and teaching (Higher)--Massachusetts--Northampton.
lcsh
Women--Education (Higher)--Chile.
Women--Education (Higher)--Spain.
Women--Education (Higher)--United States.
lcnaf
Smith College--Faculty.
Instituto internacional (Madrid, Spain)
Santiago College (Santiago, Chile)
Primer lapidario del rey Alfonso X el Sabio. English.
Awards 1929-1931
Biographical Material 1902-1942
Certificates and Recommendations 1885-1902
Correspondence
Anslow, Gladys Amelia 1947-1960
Boston Herald 1898
Browne, Nina Eliza 1924-1928
Chester, Ruth Miriam - 1942-1954
Clapp, Mary Antoinette n.d.
Harvard College Library 1941
Kunz, George Frederick 1929
Library of Congress 1933
Munroe, James H. 1897
Richards, Ellen H. 1911
Sarton, George Alfred Leon 1925-1930
Singer, Charles 1932
Slosson, Edwin Emery 1925
Teagle, Alice Berry 1931
Wilson, Mary Elizabeth 1931
Women's Clubs Federation 1898
General n.d.
Degrees 1912-1913
Diaries 1907-1922
Employment-International Institute for Girls in Spain 1920-1944
Employment-International Institute for Girls in Spain-Photographs 1924-1925
Employment-Rockefeller Institute 1917
Employment-Santiago College 1932-1942
Employment-Smith College 1917-1931
Leather Research 1941-1942
Lectures and Speeches 1898-1937
Photographs 1906-1934
Societies-Association of Collegiate Alumnae- Boston Branch 1898
Societies-Phi Beta Kappa 1915
Societies-Saturday Morning Club 1928-1940
List of Publications n.d.
Alfonsine Lapidary 1930-1932
American Chemical Industries in Chile n.d.
Articles on Spain 1925-1930
Bernard Palissy 1931
Bernard Palissy-Manuscript 1945
Biochemistry 1911-1920
Book of Stones
Correspondence 1934-1948
Manuscript n.d.
Typescript n.d.
Manuscripts and Notes n.d.
Incomplete Publications 1936
Chemistry in Spain 1934
A Comparative Study of the Metabolism of Pheumococcus 1913
Conquistadores 1934
Eastern Science in Spain in the 13th Century 1938
Education of Spanish Women in Chemistry 1931
Guadalupe in Spain n.d.
Higher Education for Women in Spain 1931
The Influence of Substituent Groups on the Visible and Ultra-Violet Absorption Spectra of Amino Acids and Related Substances 1932
Life of Lavoisier 1926
Life of Lavoisier- Typescript n.d.
Lo que Jesu me significa n.d.
A Method for the Quantitative Determination of Indol 1906
Modern Education n.d.
Note on Formation of Butyric Acid from Inulin by way of Pyruvic Acid n.d.
On the Separation of Indol from Skatol and their Quantitative Determination 1906
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword 1936
Preliminary Study of the Biochemical Activity of Bacillus Lactis Erythrogenes 1913
Present Status of Higher Education for Spanish Women 1931
Progress of Higher Education for Women in Spain 1931
Reviews 1938
A Scientific Phenomenon Influential in Human Personality n.d.
Significance of a Recent Change in the Curriculum of Smith College 1924
Smith Around the World 1912-1926
Spain, Still Proud, Joins with America in Studies 1922
Spanish Stitches n.d.
The Struggle in Spain 1936
Studies on the Distribution of Nitrogen in Egg Lecithin n.d.
Studies on a Method for the Quantitative Estimation of Certain Groups in Phospholipins 1915
A Study of the Decompositions Products of Milk Caused by Lactis Erythogenes 1912
Study of Some of the Chemical Characteristics and the Absorption Spectrum of Cystine 1930
The Visible and Ultra-Violet Absorption Spectra of Certain Amino Acids 1931
Thirteenth Century Book on Stones 1933
Three Great Spanish Libraries 1931
Triumph of Education in Spain 1931
Water as a Basis for the Study of Chemistry 1926
Scrapbooks 1941-1947