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Kate Elderkin

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Kate Elderkin
A young white woman with short hair
Kate Denny McKnight, later Elderkin, from the 1919 yearbook of Vassar College
Born
Kate Denny McKnight

February 14, 1897
San Diego, California, U.S.
DiedFebruary 16, 1962 (aged 65)
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)Art historian, archaeologist
RelativesElizabeth Pierce Blegen (cousin)

Kate Denny McKnight Elderkin (February 14, 1897[1] – February 16, 1962) was an American art historian and archaeologist. She taught at Vassar College and was an editor of the American Journal of Archaeology with her husband, George W. Elderkin.

Early life and education

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Kate Denny McKnight was born in San Diego and raised in Riverside, California, the daughter of Woodruff McKnight[1] and Cora Burdon McKnight. Her father died when she was very young;[2] her mother remarried, to Arthur Robinson Ocheltree.[3][4] Both her father and her stepfather owned orange orchards in California. Her younger brother Arthur Ocheltree became an opera singer in the 1930s, and younger brother John Ocheltree was a Rhodes Scholar and a diplomat.[5] She graduated from Vassar College in 1919,[6] and earned a master's degree in 1920.[7] She completed doctoral studies at Radcliffe College in 1922.[8] Her cousin Elizabeth Denny Pierce Blegen was an archaeologist.[9]

Career

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McKnight taught art at Vassar College,[10] and participated in excavations in North Africa and in the Greek Islands as a young woman. From 1925 to 1931, she edited the book review section of the American Journal of Archaeology, while her husband was editor in chief.[11] She spoke about archaeological topics to women's clubs.[12] Her studies of everyday objects in antiquity, including jointed dolls and buttons, drew attention beyond her academic field.[13][14] In 1944 she published a travel memoir, From Tripoli to Marrakesh.[15]

Publications

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  • "Chachrylion and His Vases" (1924)[16]
  • "The Ulysses Panels by Piero di Cosimo at Vassar College" (1924)[17]
  • "Aphrodite Worship on a Minoan Gem" (1925)[18]
  • "An Alexandrian Carved Casket of the Fourth Century" (1926)[19]
  • "Buttons and their use on Greek Garments" (1928)[20]
  • "Jointed Dolls in Antiquity" (1930)[21]
  • "The Contribution of Women to Ornament in Antiquity" (1936)
  • From Tripoli to Marrakech (1944)[15]

Personal life

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McKnight married archaeologist George Wicker Elderkin in 1924, at Union Theological Seminary, with Harry Emerson Fosdick performing the ceremony.[8][22] They had three children. In 1936 she made a roadtrip from New Jersey to California with her brother Arthur and his colleague, Emanuel Marti-Folgado.[5] She died in 1965, at the age of 62, at her home in Princeton, New Jersey.[11][23][24]

References

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  1. ^ a b Birth date and father's name from Kate Denny McKnight's 1920 application for a United States passport; historian Ida Thallon Hill, her cousin's partner, vouched for McKnight's citizenship on the same form; via Ancestry.
  2. ^ "Woodruff McKnight". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1898-06-04. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "$200,000 Estate Left by Mrs. M'Knight". Reno Gazette-Journal. 1927-02-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Death Follows Long Illness". Reno Gazette-Journal. 1927-02-03. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "Singer Returns to Native Town; Arthur Ocheltree Has Become Famous Since He Left Riverside". Riverside Daily Press. 1936-04-30. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Vassar College, Vassarion (1919 yearbook): 88. via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ "Vassar Confers Degrees on 1920". Miscellany News. June 17, 1920. pp. 1, 5.
  8. ^ a b "Kate M'Knight Weds Professor". Riverside Daily Press. 1924-05-07. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Langridge-Noti, Elizabeth. "Elizabeth Pierce Blegen (1888–1966)" (PDF). Breaking Ground: Women in Old World Archeology. Brown University. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 20, 2006. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  10. ^ "Kate M'Knight is Highly Honored". Riverside Daily Press. 1919-02-27. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Elderkin, Kate". Dictionary of Art Historians. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  12. ^ "Ancient Aegean Homes is Subject of Lecture; Dr. Kate Elderkin Speaker at Woman's Club Yesterday". The News and Advance. 1925-01-10. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Children's Graves Tell Story of Jointed Doll". The Grand Rapids Press. 1931-03-09. p. 16. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Greeks Used Buttons on Armor". Stanton Register. 1928-10-04. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b Kate Denny McKnight Elderkin (1944-01-01). From Tripoli to Marrakesh. Internet Archive. The Pond-Ekberg company.
  16. ^ Elderkin, Kate McKnight (1924). "Chachrylion and His Vases". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 35: 75–136. doi:10.2307/310710. ISSN 0073-0688. JSTOR 310710.
  17. ^ McKnight, Kate Denny (June 1924). "The Ulysses Panels by Piero di Cosimo at Vassar College". The Art Bulletin. 6 (4): 99–102. doi:10.1080/00043079.1924.11409430. ISSN 0004-3079.
  18. ^ Elderkin, Kate McK. (1925). "Aphrodite Worship on a Minoan Gem". American Journal of Archaeology. 29 (1): 53–58. doi:10.2307/497722. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 497722.
  19. ^ Elderkin, Kate McK. (1926-04-01). "An Alexandrian Carved Casket of the Fourth Century". American Journal of Archaeology. 30 (2): 150–157. doi:10.2307/497432. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 497432.
  20. ^ Elderkin, Kate McK. (1928-07-01). "Buttons and Their Use on Greek Garments". American Journal of Archaeology. 32 (3): 333–345. doi:10.2307/497471. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 497471.
  21. ^ Elderkin, Kate McK (1930-10-01). "Jointed Dolls in Antiquity". American Journal of Archaeology. 34 (4): 455–479. doi:10.2307/498710. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 498710.
  22. ^ "Vassar Romance Now Revealed". Middletown Times Herald. 1924-05-06. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Kate Elderkin". Vallejo Times-Herald. 1962-02-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ via Associated Press. Mrs. George Elderkin", The Daily Home News, February 17, 1962. Accessed October 9, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Princeton - Kate McKnight Elderkin, former Vassar College instructor and trustee of Miss Fine's School here, died today at her home, 11 Hazlet Ave."
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