Martha Emily Foote Crow was an educator and writer. Born in Sackets Harbor, New York

Sackets Harbor, New York

Sackets Harbor is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 1,386 at the 2000 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who founded it in the early 19th century.The Village of Sackets Harbor is within the western part of the...

, she played an important role in the development of higher education for women in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Mary Foote Crowe was born to Reverend John B. and Mary Pendexter (Stilphen) Foote in 1854. In 1872, while studying at Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

, she was one of the founding members of the sorority Alpha Phi

Alpha Phi

Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity was founded at Syracuse University on September 18, 1872. Alpha Phi currently has 152 active chapters and over 200,000 initiated members. Its celebrated Founders' Day is October 10. It was the third Greek-letter organization founded for women. In Alpha...

. She earned a Ph.B. in 1876 and Ph.M. in 1878, and finally her Ph.D. in English literature in 1886, all at Syracuse. In 1885, she married John M. Crow, an archaeologist. John Crow joined the faculty of Iowa College (now Grinnell College) in 1884, and Mary Foote Crow became "Lady Principal" of the college (1884-1891) and preceptress (1884-1888) of the academy that operated under the college's auspices. While at Iowa College, she participated in the work of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, coordinating an international survey of women's higher education.

Upon her husband's death from tuberculosis in 1891, Mary Foote Crow left Grinnell to become assistant professor of English literature at the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. In 1900, she became dean of women at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

. While at Northwestern, she participated in the formation of an association of deans of women, organizing the 1903 Conference of Deans of Women of the Middle West.

On January 1, 1924, Martha Foote Crow died in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1996, Alpha Phi

Alpha Phi

Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity was founded at Syracuse University on September 18, 1872. Alpha Phi currently has 152 active chapters and over 200,000 initiated members. Its celebrated Founders' Day is October 10. It was the third Greek-letter organization founded for women. In Alpha...

published a biography of Martha Foote Crow.

Publications

• Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles (1896)
• The World Above (1905)
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1907)
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Biography (1913)
• The American Country Girl (1915)
• Lafayette (1916)
• Christ in the Poetry of Today (1917)