Agnes Claypole Moody

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Agnes Mary Claypole Moody
Born
Agnes Mary Claypole

(1870-01-01)January 1, 1870
Bristol, England
DiedAugust 29, 1954(1954-08-29) (aged 84)
NationalityEnglish
Alma materBuchtel College (1892), Cornell University (M.S., 1894)
SpouseDr. Robert O. Moody
Parent(s)Edward Waller Claypole
Jane Trotter
RelativesEdith Claypole (sister)
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
Theses

Agnes Mary Claypole Moody (January 1, 1870 – August 29, 1954) was an American zoologist and professor of natural science.

Early life and education[edit]

Agnes Mary Claypole Moody was born in Bristol, England to Jane (Trotter) and Edward Waller Claypole. She had a twin sister, Edith Jane Claypole (1870–1915), who was also a biologist.[1] She attended Buchtel College, and in 1894 she attended Cornell University for her master's degree. She completed doctoral work at the University of Chicago in 1896.[2]

For her Master of Science thesis, Moody studied the digestive tract of eels.[3] Her 1896 doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago was titled "The Embryology and Oögenesis of Anurida maritima."[4] Following completion of her doctorate, Moody served as an assistant at Cornell University despite her PhD, as women were relegated to the lowest ranks of faculty at the time.[5]

Career[edit]

Moody was the first woman appointed to a teaching position in the Medical Department of Cornell University.[6]

She worked in various positions at Throop College, (now California Institute of Technology), including as instructor in Zoology, and as Professor of Natural Science and Curator (1903-4).[3] Moody was a longtime member of the city council in Berkeley, California, from 1923 to 1932.[7] She was also elected to Berkeley's school board,[8] served as chair of the Berkeley Girl Scout Council,[9] and was a member of Berkeley's League of Women Voters.[10] She served a term as president of the Berkeley Civic League, and was appointed to the Berkeley Charities Commission.[11] Of her community work, a local historian in 1928 commented that "No woman of Alameda County has made a deeper impression on the educational and civil life of the community than Mrs. Agnes Claypole Moody."[12]

There was a Girl Scout camp near Berkeley named Camp Agnes Moody, after Dr. Moody, in the 1930s.[13]

Personal life[edit]

Agnes Mary Claypole married Robert Orton Moody (an anatomy professor who was the son of Mary Blair Moody[12]) in 1903 in Pasadena.[14] She was widowed when he died in 1948.[15] Agnes Claypole Moody died on August 29, 1954.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Agnes Mary Claypole Moody (1870-1954) Smithsonian Biography". Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  2. ^ Joy Harvey; Marilyn Ogilvie, eds. (27 July 2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives ..., Volume 1. Taylor & Francis US. p. 266. ISBN 9780203801451. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b Kiser, Cynthia N. (23 November 2004). "The Prehistory of Biology at the Institute". California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  4. ^ Jane Maienschein, "Whitman at Chicago: Establishing a Chicago Style of Biology?" in Ronald Rainger and Keith R. Benson, The American Development of Biology (Rutgers University Press 1991): 175. ISBN 9780813517025
  5. ^ Rossiter, Margaret (1980). ""Women's Work" in Science, 1880-1910". Isis. 71 (3): 381–398. doi:10.1086/352540. JSTOR 230118. S2CID 143706974.
  6. ^ "Obituary". The British Medical Journal. 2 (1974): 1375. 29 October 1898. PMC 2434529.
  7. ^ "Mrs. Moody Will Leave City Council" Oakland Tribune (March 30, 1932): 19. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  8. ^ "Berkeley, Calif., Turns Down the Socialists" Topeka Daily Capital (April 7, 1913): 1. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  9. ^ "Course for Leaders of Girls Scheduled" Oakland Tribune (March 14, 1935): 20. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  10. ^ Emma Lue Kopp, "A Brief History of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville" LWVBAE.org (May 13, 1995).
  11. ^ "Mrs. Agnes Moody Appointed to Office" Oakland Tribune (January 11, 1921): 1. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  12. ^ a b Frank Clinton Merritt, History of Alameda County, California, Vol. 2 (S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1928): 247-248.
  13. ^ "Camp Agnes Moody" Archived 2016-07-25 at the Wayback Machine Vintage Girl Scout website.
  14. ^ Untitled social note, Covina Argus (August 1, 1903): 4. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  15. ^ "Robert Orton Moody, Anatomy: Berkeley" University of California: In Memoriam, 1948 (UC History Digital Archives).
  16. ^ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, via FamilySearch Agnes Claypole Moody, 29 Aug 1954; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
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