.jpg)
Recent from talks
Katharine Coman
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Katharine Coman
Katharine Ellis Coman (November 23, 1857 – January 11, 1915) was an American social activist and professor. She was based at the women-only Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she created new courses in political economy, in line with her personal belief in social change. As dean, she established a new department of economics and sociology.
Among other admired works, Coman wrote The Industrial History of the United States and Economic Beginnings of the Far West: How We Won the Land Beyond the Mississippi. She was the first female statistics professor in the US, the only woman co-founder of the American Economics Association, and author of the first paper published in The American Economic Review. A believer in trades unionism, social insurance and the settlement movement, Coman travelled widely to conduct her research, and took her students on field trips to factories and tenements. She shared a home with poet Katharine Lee Bates.
Coman was born in 1857 to Martha Ann Seymour Coman (1826–1911) and Levi Parsons Coman (1826–1889) in Newark, Ohio. Her mother had graduated from an Ohio female seminary, and her father had been educated at Hamilton College, and thus Coman received much of her early education at home. She attended the University of Michigan for two years, left college to teach in Ottawa, Illinois for two years, and then returned to university. She earned a Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) degree in 1880, one of only a handful of women to do so. She was influenced by the work of John Stuart Mill, which is evident in her later work as economist and historian. Coman attended lectures about socialism while traveling in London. Later in her career, she was influenced by Alfred Marshall (1890), Francis Amasa Walker (1883), and social Darwinism. While at the University of Michigan, Coman studied under Professors Charles Kendall Adams of the German Historical School; James Burrill Angell, then president of the university; and Henry Carter Adams, a renowned statistician.
After earning her PhB, she joined the faculty at Wellesley College, a newly established private college for women in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Angell recommended her for the position, noting her talent for teaching. She first taught English rhetoric, and in 1881 became an instructor in history. In 1883, she was promoted to full professor of history. Because Coman believed that economics could address social problems, she urged the Wellesley administration to offer courses on the subject, and in 1883, she taught the college's first political economy class. Coman was the first American woman to teach statistics and Wellesley became the only American women's college to offer statistics courses before 1900.
Coman developed and taught several new courses in economics, history, and rhetoric, including Statistical Study of Economic Problems, Industrial History of the United States, and Conservation of Our Natural Resources, all framed by sociological insights related to social justice. To teach students about the practicality of applying economic theory to real world economic and social problems, Coman escorted her students on field trips to Boston's tenement houses, labor union meetings, factories, and sweatshops. In 1885, at the age of 28, she became professor of history and economics. That same year, she turned down the offer of a position as dean of women at the University of Michigan, stating that she preferred to remain at Wellesley and continue teaching. She was acting dean from 1899 to 1900, during which time she established a new department of economics and sociology, becoming its head in 1900.
According to historian Melinda Ponder, Coman was a popular teacher. Two of her students, Helen Frances Page Bates and Helen Laura Sumner Woodbury, were among the first American women to earn PhDs in economics. Woodbury is recognized as an important historian of labor and a noted economist, while Helen Bates became a noted social worker.
She retired from full-time teaching at Wellesley in 1913, becoming professor emeritus. In writing about the farewell dinner held in her honor, the New York Times said: "Miss Coman has been so closely associated with the history and development of Wellesley for so long a time that her loss is felt very deeply by the whole college." Coman continued to research and write until her death in 1915.
Coman's papers are held by the Wellesley College Archives. In 1921, the college established the Katharine Coman Professorship of Industrial History to honor her service.
Hub AI
Katharine Coman AI simulator
(@Katharine Coman_simulator)
Katharine Coman
Katharine Ellis Coman (November 23, 1857 – January 11, 1915) was an American social activist and professor. She was based at the women-only Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she created new courses in political economy, in line with her personal belief in social change. As dean, she established a new department of economics and sociology.
Among other admired works, Coman wrote The Industrial History of the United States and Economic Beginnings of the Far West: How We Won the Land Beyond the Mississippi. She was the first female statistics professor in the US, the only woman co-founder of the American Economics Association, and author of the first paper published in The American Economic Review. A believer in trades unionism, social insurance and the settlement movement, Coman travelled widely to conduct her research, and took her students on field trips to factories and tenements. She shared a home with poet Katharine Lee Bates.
Coman was born in 1857 to Martha Ann Seymour Coman (1826–1911) and Levi Parsons Coman (1826–1889) in Newark, Ohio. Her mother had graduated from an Ohio female seminary, and her father had been educated at Hamilton College, and thus Coman received much of her early education at home. She attended the University of Michigan for two years, left college to teach in Ottawa, Illinois for two years, and then returned to university. She earned a Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) degree in 1880, one of only a handful of women to do so. She was influenced by the work of John Stuart Mill, which is evident in her later work as economist and historian. Coman attended lectures about socialism while traveling in London. Later in her career, she was influenced by Alfred Marshall (1890), Francis Amasa Walker (1883), and social Darwinism. While at the University of Michigan, Coman studied under Professors Charles Kendall Adams of the German Historical School; James Burrill Angell, then president of the university; and Henry Carter Adams, a renowned statistician.
After earning her PhB, she joined the faculty at Wellesley College, a newly established private college for women in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Angell recommended her for the position, noting her talent for teaching. She first taught English rhetoric, and in 1881 became an instructor in history. In 1883, she was promoted to full professor of history. Because Coman believed that economics could address social problems, she urged the Wellesley administration to offer courses on the subject, and in 1883, she taught the college's first political economy class. Coman was the first American woman to teach statistics and Wellesley became the only American women's college to offer statistics courses before 1900.
Coman developed and taught several new courses in economics, history, and rhetoric, including Statistical Study of Economic Problems, Industrial History of the United States, and Conservation of Our Natural Resources, all framed by sociological insights related to social justice. To teach students about the practicality of applying economic theory to real world economic and social problems, Coman escorted her students on field trips to Boston's tenement houses, labor union meetings, factories, and sweatshops. In 1885, at the age of 28, she became professor of history and economics. That same year, she turned down the offer of a position as dean of women at the University of Michigan, stating that she preferred to remain at Wellesley and continue teaching. She was acting dean from 1899 to 1900, during which time she established a new department of economics and sociology, becoming its head in 1900.
According to historian Melinda Ponder, Coman was a popular teacher. Two of her students, Helen Frances Page Bates and Helen Laura Sumner Woodbury, were among the first American women to earn PhDs in economics. Woodbury is recognized as an important historian of labor and a noted economist, while Helen Bates became a noted social worker.
She retired from full-time teaching at Wellesley in 1913, becoming professor emeritus. In writing about the farewell dinner held in her honor, the New York Times said: "Miss Coman has been so closely associated with the history and development of Wellesley for so long a time that her loss is felt very deeply by the whole college." Coman continued to research and write until her death in 1915.
Coman's papers are held by the Wellesley College Archives. In 1921, the college established the Katharine Coman Professorship of Industrial History to honor her service.
Recent media