Lily C. Whitaker

Before her education was completed, her literary productions appeared in the leading local journals.[3] She contributed to the Southern Quarterly under their father's direction and for years wrote for the New Orleans Press.[6]

Whitaker's literary style was characterized as being "...full of grace, ideality and imagination, further possessing strength, wit and pathos".[3] Her plays included The Useful and the Beautiful, The Study of the Rainbow, The Earth and the Ocean Peris, The Fate of Narcissus, The Golden Rod, Cupid and Pysche, Among the Stars, One Day in the Legislature, The Hobby Club, The Sunday Law, At the White House, and others numbering fifteen plays, all of which were produced at the New Orleans Grand Opera House with great success. The manager of the New Orleans Grand Opera House stated that Miss Whitaker was the best stage manager he had ever seen.[3] Whitaker adapted her mother's novel, Albert Hastings, to the stage. Whitaker's volume of poems entitled Donata, though written when a girl, won for the writer an enviable reputation. She was also a frequent contributor to the press in New Orleans and elsewhere.[3]

Whitaker, at her own expense, gave six receptions to a large circle of acquaintances, at each of which the actors of the day lectured upon some great play, playwright or dramatic epoch. The lectures led social events each season. Whitaker did a great deal of acting, playing such parts as Pauline in the Lady of Lyons. It is said that she was born to be a musician, so decided was her musical talent.[3]

New Orleans College of Oratory and Elocution graduates (1904)

Whitaker, for a number of years, was the principal of McDonough School No. 9. While in charge of the Department of Expression at St. Simeon's School, Whitaker, realizing the increasing demand for the harmonic development of physical, mental and moral faculties, began the instruction of a private class of fifteen pupils at Grunewald Hall. This was in October 1887,[7] and was the primary effort from which the history of the New Orleans College of Oratory and Elocution had its beginning. This class expanded and greatly enlarged, and she added other courses and in January, 1894, the New Orleans College of Oratory was chartered by the Legislature and incorporated.[6] The state charter was granted by the Senate and House of Representatives without a dissenting vote.[3] It was the only school of oratory chartered south of Baltimore. Whitaker had studied oratory under Professor Caldwell and in every school of oratory east of California. The fundamental principle of her school was not to make orators or actors but to develop the talent inherent in the individual; the aim was individuality and originality. Branch schools were established for the benefit of pupils living remote from the college. This normal department by proficiency gained the recognition and approval of the City Board of Education, and credit for work by public school teachers was given there. Associated with Whitaker was her sister, Ida, who held the office of secretary and treasurer and was also on the staff of instructors.[6]

During the World Cotton Centennial of 1884, she wrote articles regarding the fair for Washington, D.C. newspapers.[5] Whitaker was elected second vice president of the Louisiana State Teachers' Association in 1890.[5] In 1894, she was elected president of the St. Simeon's Alumnae Association.[8] In the summer of 1897, she took charge of the department of elocution at the Monteagle (Tennessee) assembly.[4]

In 1907, she attended the National Educational Association meeting in Los Angeles, and then spent some months in the west.[9]

• Donata and Other Poems (Baltimore, Maryland, 1880)

• Spoken thought : a text book on vocal expression for use in high schools, normal schools and colleges (1927)

• The Useful and the Beautiful
• The Study of the Rainbow
• The Earth and the Ocean Peris
• The Fate of Narcissus
• The Golden Rod
• Cupid and Pysche
• Among the Stars
• One Day in the Legislature
• The Hobby Club
• The Sunday Law
• At the White House
• Dreamland
• Ghosts of Cluna

• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits ... American Publishers' Association.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Kendall, John Smith (1922). History of New Orleans (Public domain ed.). Lewis publishing Company.
• This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Mount, May W. (1896). Some Notables of New Orleans: Biographical and Descriptive Sketches of the Artists of New Orleans, and Their Work (Public domain ed.). The Author.

• University of Wisconsin (1956). Summaries of Doctoral Dissertations, University of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press.