Dorothy Canfield Fisher: Author and Social Activist

Dorothy Canfield Fisher was born in Laurence, Kansas on February 17, 1879. Her birth name was Dorothea Frances Canfield. Her father was James Hulme Canfield who was a college professor at the Universities of Kansas and Nebraska and was the president of Ohio State University. Dorothy's mother was Flavia Camp, a writer and artist.

Even though Dorothy was born in Kansas, she is closely associated with Vermont where she spent most of her adult life; Vermont served as the setting for several of her books. Her best known book is Understanding Betsy which is about an orphan girl who is living with her cousins in Vermont. In the book, there is a schoolhouse run in the style of the Montessori Method*. Dorothy was one of the first and very vocal advocates for this method of education.

Eleanor Roosevelt said Dorothy to be one of the ten most influential women in the United States. Dorothy managed the country's first ever adult education program, and served from 1925 to 1951 as a member of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Dorothy received a Bachelor's of Arts from Ohio State University in 1899 and went on to Columbia University to study Romance languages. She was one of the few women to receive a doctoral degree in 1904. She went on to become the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Dartmouth College, University of Nebraska, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Smith, Williams, Ohio State University and the University of Vermont. In the end, Canfield fluently spoke five languages. She also wrote memoirs, short stories, novels, and educational works and even worked with literary criticism and translation.

She married John Redwood Fisher in 1907 and had two children, a son and a daughter.

Canfield went to France during the First World War, and worked with blind soldiers. She established a convalescent home for refugee French children there. Dorothy's books are written largely from her own experiences and observations.

There is even a children's book award named after Dorothy and given to new American children's books. The winner is chosen by the votes of children readers.

There is a dormitory in Plainfield, Vermont at Goddard College that is named for Dorothy Fisher.

Dorothy died in 1958.

List of Dorothy's published works:

NOVELS:

The Bent Twig (1915)

The Deepening Stream (1930)

Seasoned Timber (1939)

Foursquare (1949)

SHORT STORIES:

Vermont Tradition (1953)

personal views of Vermont life

Understood Betsy (1916)

Something Old, Something New (1949)

The Brimming Cup

Hillsboro People

The Squirrel-Cage

The Sturdy Oak: A composite Novel of American Politics by fourteen American authors

* The Montessori Method is a method of education where the child emphasizes self-directed activity and the teacher observes.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Canfield_Fisher

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0818773.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori