Alice Mary Baldwin

Alice Mary Baldwin (January 24, 1879 – October 12, 1960) was an American historian and educator, noted as the Dean of the Woman's College of Duke University from 1923 until her retirement in 1947.

Background and education Baldwin was born in 1879 in Lewiston, Maine, the eldest of five children of a Congregationist minister. She moved with her family at the age of nine to East Orange, New Jersey, where she was educated in private school before entering Bates College in 1896.

Career as a historian Baldwin remained at Cornell to receive her master's degree in history in 1902, and then went to Europe on a fellowship to study at the Sorbonne and research in Sweden. (The subject of her master's thesis had been "Gustavus III of Sweden: A Study in Enlightened Despotism.")

Writings As an historian, Baldwin is best remembered for her doctoral dissertation The influence of the New England clergy on the constitutional doctrines of the American Revolution. Her other writings include:

Legacy Baldwin has been held up as an example of the key issues in the intellectual life of women in the early twentieth century.

Baldwin remains a much-beloved figure at Duke University and is credited with advancing the prestige of the Woman's College at Duke and the education of young women. One of the most prominent buildings on Duke's East Campus, the auditorium anchoring the campus, is named in her honor in recognition of her dedication to the institution.