Queer Places:
Bryn Mawr College (Seven Sisters), 101 N Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Vassar College (Seven Sisters), 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Hilltop Cemetery
Edgartown, Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA
Leila Cook Barber (January 4, 1903 – December 4, 1984)[1] was an American art historian and professor, specializing in the Renaissance art and Medieval studies. She was a Professor Emeritus at Vassar College, where she taught from 1931 until 1968.[2][3]
Leila Cook Barber was born January 4, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois to parents Leila Cook and Courtenay Barber (1877–1951).[4] Her father Courtenay Barber was active in many of the churches in Chicago including the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and served as a trustee of the Seabury Western Seminary.[5] Barber had two siblings.[5] She received a B.A. degree in Art History in 1925 from Bryn Mawr College, studying under Georgiana Goddard King.[2][6] She received a M.A. degree from Radcliffe College in 1928.[2][7] In 1931, Barber joined the Vassar College Art Department as their third art historian, where she remained until her retirement in 1968.[2] She served as the Chair of the Art Department from 1965 until 1968.[4] During her time at Vassar starting in 1935, she lived in Josselyn House, serving as the Head Resident and later as a House Fellow.[4][3] Barber was a member of the College Art Association of America, The Renaissance Society of America, and the Friends of Vassar Art Gallery.[3] She died December 4, 1984 at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York, at the age of 81.[3]
Professor Leila Cook Barber, c. 1935 by
George Platt Lynes (photo: estate of
Pamela Askew)
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