Olive B. White

Olive Bernardine White (May 28, 1899 – September 9, 1983) was an American writer, college professor and longtime Dean of Women at Bradley University in Illinois.

Olive B. White
A young white woman wearing a mortarboard cap
White in 1919
Born
Olive Bernardine White

May 28, 1899
New Haven, Connecticut, US
DiedSeptember 9, 1983
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Occupation(s)Writer, college professor, college dean
RelativesHelen C. White (sister)

Early life and education

White was born in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston,[1] the daughter of John White and Mary King White. Her family was Roman Catholic. Her older sister Helen C. White was also an English professor, at the University of Wisconsin.[2]

She graduated Girls' High School in Boston in 1915.[3][4] She earned a bachelor's degree at Radcliffe College in 1918, and stayed at Radcliffe to complete a master's degree in 1919, and a PhD in 1926. White won Radcliffe's Caroline Wilby Prize twice, and was the only person to do so, when she won in 1918 for her undergraduate thesis, "The Verse Translations of John Dryden",[5][6] and shared the prize with Eleanor Lansing Dulles in 1926, for her dissertation "The Background of English Renaissance in 15th Century Oxford".[7]

Career

White was an English professor, head of the English department,[8][9] and Dean of Women[10] at Bradley University from 1933[1] into the 1960s.[11][12] She wrote a school history, Centennial History of the Girls' High School of Boston (1952),[13] and two "Catholic historical" novels,[1]The King's Good Servant (1936),[14] about Thomas More,[15][16] and Late Harvest (1940).[17] "Although the book proceeds slowly and takes considerable more time in telling its story than is necessary," noted one reviewer of the latter novel, "it is not without its good points."[18] She was active in the Peoria Community Council, the American Association of University Women and the American Red Cross.[8][19]

Publications
  • The King's Good Servant (novel, 1936)
  • Late Harvest (novel, 1940)
  • “Richard Taverner's Interpretation of Erasmus in Proverbes or Adagies" (article, 1944)[20]
  • Centennial History of The Girls' High School of Boston (history, 1952)

Personal life and legacy

White died at a hospital in Boston in 1983, aged 84 years.[1] Bradley University gives an annual Olive B. White Award to an outstanding creative writing major.[21] There is a tradition on the Bradley campus that White's ghost haunts Constance Hall, once a women's dormitory, now the music building.[22]

References
  1. "Olive B. White, 84; Retired English professor, dean". The Boston Globe. 1983-09-12. p. 42. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Helen Constance White (obituary)". The Boston Globe. 1967-06-09. p. 55. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Radcliffe College, Yearbook (1919): 56. via Hathi Trust.
  4. "Old South Prizes Awarded". The Boston Globe. 1917-02-23. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "1918 Holds Commencement". The Radcliffe News. 5: 5. June 19, 1918.
  6. "Prize Winners at Radcliffe College; Olive B. White, Author of Best Original Work". The Boston Globe. 1919-03-01. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Degrees Awarded to 201 at Radcliffe". The Boston Globe. 1926-06-24. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Olive B. White Appointed Head of English Department". Bradley Scout. March 22, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved December 29, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  9. "Washington Club Program on Poetry". The Pantagraph. 1956-12-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "MInonk Women to Hear Talk by Peoria Speaker". The Times. 1939-04-20. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Bradley University, Polyscope (1949 yearbook): 61.
  12. Bradley University, Anaga (1962 yearbook): 60.
  13. "Our History". Girls' High School of Boston Alumnae. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  14. White, Olive Bernardine (1936). The King's Good Servant. Macmillan.
  15. "Chancellor Who Served God and Then the King". The Province. 1936-05-23. p. 36. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "O'Reilly Reading Circle to Conduct Reception". The Boston Globe. 1936-12-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. White, Olive Bernardine (1940). Late Harvest. Macmillan.
  18. "When England Ruled with a Mailed Fist". The Daily Oklahoman. 1940-08-11. p. 59. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Dr. Olive B. White is A.A.U.W. Speaker". The Daily Times. 1944-05-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. White, Olive B. “Richard Taverner's Interpretation of Erasmus in Proverbes or Adagies.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 59, no. 4-Part1 (1944): 928–43. doi:10.2307/459321.
  21. "Awards and Scholarships". Bradley University. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  22. "Staff Picks: Best campus haunt". The Bradley Scout. October 29, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
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