In Memoriam - Rachel Lloyd, Ph.D.
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Title
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In Memoriam - Rachel Lloyd, Ph.D.
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Date
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1900
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Transcription
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week ago today. She was for seven years professor of analytical chemistry in this university, having been electcd to the position in May, 1887, and resigned in June, 1894, because she was entirely broken down in health."
Chancellor Canfield in speaking of her resignation said: "This is another case of an instructor whose health was practically broken in the service of the state."
Mrs. Lloyd was a woman of rare refinement, coming from an old family in which wealth and refinement had been present for generations. At about thirty-five years of age she felt the need of turning to some employment to earn her livelihood[.] She became a teacher in a school for girls in Philadelphia. Here she labored for many years, teaching during the year and spending her vacations in Harvard University in the chemical laboratory. I hcard her say that she was drawn to chemistry because her husband was a chemist and bccause he was interested in that kind of work[.]
She continued to study at Harvard, taking the work one summer at a time, and at last she was able to go abroad. She studied for two years at the University of Zurich, and in thc spring of 1887 this old university gave her the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for the work she had done. Immediately after receiving the degree she came to us. I shall never forget the occasion when Professor Nicholson called me into his office in the chemical laboratory in the spring of 1887. The regents had made provision for an additional professor of chemistry and he wished to confer with me in regard to the matter. Said he, "I am thinking of nominating a woman for the place." He said it timidly, and I shrugged my shoulders, because there are not many women chemists, and there were fewer then than now. Then he told me all about her, and read letters from eminent men in Harvard and elsewhere showing that she was a woman not only of high attainments in chemistry, but a woman of rare attainments otherwise. She came to us and remained with us, working as probably no other professor has worked here; she worked herself to death in our service.
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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Is Format Of
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520100-00113.jpg
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Identifier
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520100-00113
