University of Wisconsin Oshkosh - Quiver Yearbook (Oshkosh, WI)

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DR. HILDA TAYLOR Member oi Faculty from 1928 to 1914 Because of having known her, we are kinder in our judgments; we have greater understanding of the infinite detail of research; we have a clearer understanding of the complexities about us; we are more cpiiet in our courage; we are more helpful to our fellowman, and walk more humbly before God.

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In Memoriam Dr. Hilda Taylor, whose death on May 4, 1944. brought us a great sense of loss, came to Oshkosh State Teachers College in 1928, bringing to her work here the benefits of a fine background of educational experience and training. A graduate of Lenox College, in Iowa, she received her master's degree from the University of Iowa and her doctorate from the University of Chicago. Prior to coming to Oshkosh, she had taught at Jamestown College, in North Dakota, and for ten years in the department of English at the University of Iowa. Upon her arrival at Oshkosh, Dr. Taylor showed an active interest in the social life of the college. She served as adviser to Kappa Gamma for six years and for five years as adviser to Delta Phi. In 1932 she established the Wilton Club, to promote interest in literature and creative writing. For fourteen years prior to her death, she served as literary adviser to The Quiver, the college yearbook; and for many years was a faculty member of the Inter-Society Council. The interests and services of Miss Taylor extended beyond the classroom and the campus. She was for a period president of the local branch of the American Association of University Women. She likewise served as president of the local unit of the Association of Wisconsin Teachers Colleges. On several occasions she attended national conferences of the National Association of Teachers of English and the American Philological Society, organizations of which she was a member. On three occasions during her life. Miss Taylor made literary pilgrimages to England. In recent years she studied at the Huntington Library, famous for its Shakespeare collection, and at the Bread Loaf School for creative writing, in Vermont. She knew that the scholarly life means constant quests. And her many academic quests brought valuable information and insights to her classes. Despite much contact with literary history and the thought of early periods. Dr. Taylor never lost touch with the life of the frontier America from which she sprang. Her earliest teaching, as she was fond of recalling, was in small Iowa. Minnesota, and Dakota communities. Her father was for years a vigorous teacher in Jamestown College while it was very close to the Dakota frontier tradition. No restrictions or discouragements were too great while able young people were eager to learn, even amidst many hardships. Something of this spirit of her father. Hilda Taylor always sustained. Though she believed strongly in the traditions of the culture of Western Civilization stemming from Greece, she had historical sense enough to know that culture cannot be borrowed, that it can never be bought, that it must always be built by believers in men in response to their deepest needs. As a teacher of English, Dr. Hilda Taylor will be remembered as wishing to see manifested in work the discipline of finished details, a valuable discipline in a high-tempo period in which, in life as in literature, quick effects have been more often prized than the inevitably slow growth of human powers. She will be remembered, moreover, for her historical overview of the whole stream of English and American literature. She knew many periods and trends well, and this range of contacts lent catholicity and poise to her literary judgments.

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FORREST R. POLK PRESIDENT