Clara Eliot (1896 – January 17, 1976) was an economist known for her work in consumer economics. She taught economics at Barnard College for many years.[1]

Biography edit

Eliot was born in 1896,[2][3] the granddaughter of Thomas Lamb Eliot and part of a prominent Unitarian branch of the Eliot family.[3] She did her undergraduate studies at Reed College, which her grandfather had founded, graduating in 1917. She taught at Mills College from 1917 to 1918, and then worked as an assistant to Yale economist Irving Fisher from 1918 to 1920.[1] She also worked as an elementary school teacher; one of her students from this time, Margaret E. Martin, grew up to become a noted economist.[4]

As a graduate student in economics at Columbia University, Eliot met educational psychologist Robert Bruce Raup; they married in 1924,[2] but Eliot continued to use her maiden name for professional purposes. She completed her doctorate in 1926, and became a faculty member at Barnard College.[1] When her daughter Joan was born in 1926, she became the first woman at Barnard to obtain a maternity leave.[2][5]

Eliot is the author of the book The Farmer's Campaign for Credit (1927),[6][A] "a study of basic issues in credit theory as they were involved in United States agricultural policies early in this century".[1] In the 1950s she tackled feminist issues with publications about the economic situation of widows (increasingly common after reductions in the rate of pregnancy-related deaths)[B] and about the economics of marriage.[C]

Eliot's daughter Joan R. Rosenblatt became a noted statistician.[2] Another daughter, Charlotte, married Columbia University historian Lawrence A. Cremin.[7]

Selected publications edit

A.
Eliot, Clara (1927), The Farmer's Campaign for Credit, New York: D. Appleton and Company.[6]
B.
Eliot, Clara (March 1958), "Widows in the American Economy", Challenge, 6 (6): 72–76, doi:10.1080/05775132.1958.11468663.
C.
Eliot, Clara (March 1959), "The Economics of Marriage", Challenge, 7 (6): 24–28, doi:10.1080/05775132.1959.11468864.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Prof. Clara Eliot, Barnard Economist", The New York Times, January 19, 1976
  2. ^ a b c d Murray, Margaret A. M. (2001), Women Becoming Mathematicians: Creating a Professional Identity in Post-World War II America, MIT Press, pp. 50, 243, ISBN 9780262632461
  3. ^ a b Tucker, Cynthia (May 2010), No Silent Witness: The Eliot Parsonage Women and Their Unitarian World, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390209.001.0001, ISBN 9780195390209
  4. ^ Muko, Melissa (September 1, 2011), "Margaret Martin: A Leader in the Federal Statistical System", Statisticians in History, Amstat News, American Statistical Association
  5. ^ Bart, Jody (2000), Women Succeeding in the Sciences: Theories and Practices Across Disciplines, Purdue University Press, p. 50, ISBN 9781557531223
  6. ^ a b Reviews of The Farmer's Campaign for Credit:
    • Benner, Claude L. (April 1927), Journal of Farm Economics, 9 (2): 248–250, doi:10.2307/1230057, JSTOR 1230057{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • The Journal of Business of the University of Chicago, 1 (2): 272, April 1928, JSTOR 2349248{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • v. Bülow, F. (1928), "Review", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift (in Danish), 3 (28): 307–309
  7. ^ Lawrence A. Cremin Papers, 1932–2007, Columbia University Libraries, retrieved 2017-11-25