Elsie Clews Parsons (1875-1941)

Mrs Elsie Worthington (Clews) Parsons

She was born in New York City, the daughter of one of Wall Street's most successful stockbrokers and the sister of the eccentric artist, Henry Clews Jr. She graduated from Barnard College in 1896, received her Masters in 1897, and completed her Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1899. She was an American anthropologist, sociologist, folklorist, and feminist who studied Native American tribes (notably the Tewa and Hopi) in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. She was President of the American Folklore Society, President of the American Ethnological Society, and the first female President of the American Anthropological Association. She helped found The New School and every other year the American Ethnological Society awards the "Elsie Clews Parsons Prize". After her husband's death she lived at 320 East 72nd Street, New York.

She was married at Newport in 1900 to Herbert Parsons, U.S. Representative from New York, a close friend and political ally of Theodore Roosevelt. They had four children: (1) Elsie, Mrs John Drummond Kennedy (2) John, married Fanny Wickes (3) Herbert Jr., (4) Henry McIlvaine Parsons, noted Behavioral Psychologist, married Marjorie Thorson.

Parents (2)

Henry Clews

Henry Clews Sr., Stockbroker, of Henry Clews & Co., New York

1834-1923

Lucy Madison Worthington

Mrs Lucy Madison (Worthington) Clews, of New York City

1851-1945

Spouse (1)

Herbert Parsons

Herbert Parsons, U.S, Representative from New York

1869-1925

Children (4)

Elsie (Parsons) Kennedy

Mrs Elsie (Parsons), Patterson, Kennedy

1901-1966

John Edward Parsons

John Edward Parsons

b.1903

Herbert Parsons Jr.

Herbert Parsons Jr.

1909-1995

Henry McIlvaine Parsons

H. McIlvaine Parsons, Behavioral Psychologist

1911-2004

Associated Houses (1)

The Rocks

Newport, Rhode Island