Description

Photograph of an article about Katharine Blunt cut out from a newspaper. The article shows a small picture of Katharine Blunt, and the text of the article reads:

"Dr. Blunt Dies, First Woman President of College, Civic Leader"

Dr. Katharine Blunt, 78, of 38 Glenwood avenue, president emeritus of Connecticut college and for many years active in local civic organizations and functions, died suddenly at 7:27 a.m. today at Lawrence Memorial hospital.

She was found dead in bed by a nurse, and Assistant Medical Examiner Harold H. Irwin attributed death to pulmonary embolism.

Dr. Blunt, who was Connecticut college president from 1929-43 and again from 1945-46, entered the hospital July 16 after breaking her hip in a fall in her front yard.

Dr. Blunt was an educator who believed a college should imbue its students with the richest spirit possible and at the same time advance their contributions to the world in which they live; a citizen whose basic philosophy was that if one moves steadfastly in the direction of one's dreams, those dreams are likely to be realized.

Native of Philadelphia

A New Englander by descent, Miss Blunt was born at Philadelphia May 28, 1876, daughter of Col. Stanhope E. Blunt, USA, and Fanny Smyth Blunt. She received her preparatory school education at Springfield, Mass., where her father was stationed. She later attended Vassar college where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received her bachelor of arts degree. She obtained her doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Chicago for studies in organic chemistry. Her special interest was in biological chemistry, because of the intellectual satisfaction it afforded and because of its human application. Her training in this field was the basis of her research in nutrition in which she did much important work.

After experience as an instructor in chemistry at Vassar and at Pratt institute, Brooklyn, N.Y., Miss Blunt was appointed to the chemistry staff at the University of Chicago where she rose to the rank of professor.

Appointed to the chairmanship of the department of home economics at the university, during her 16 years of service she developed in the university's graduate school one of the best departments of home economics in any American university.

During World War I, on leave from the University of Chicago, she cooperated with the federal government in its food conservation program as an expert in nutrition.

Inaugurated in 1930

In 1929 Dr. Blunt was invited to become president of Connecticut college. She was inaugurated as the third president and first woman president of the college May 16, 1930. Clear-headed and courageous, with an abundance of initiative and drive, President Blunt set out to build up the college's faculty and its physical equipment.

During the 14 years of her administration the character of the college was molded in large part by her forceful emphasis on the great potentialities of women, in scholarly pursuits, in the professions, in public life, in business and in the home, and her effort to develop a curriculum and stimulate extra-curricular activities which would lead to the greatest possible realization of these potentialities.

In that relatively brief period she made Connecticut college one of the outstanding colleges of New England, scholastically among the first rank of colleges for women in America.

While throughout her lifetime she earnestly disclaimed it, credit for the magnificent expansion of the college plant between 1933 and 1944, is accorded to President Blunt..." [see image for full text] The date "Thurs. July 29, 1954" has been written in pencil near the bottom of the article.