Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan

Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan (September 22, 1880 – January 10, 1964) was an American university professor, author, speaker, poet, and social activist. For more than four decades she taught English and creative writing at the University of Minnesota, with a specialty in short stories, before retiring in 1949 as assistant professor emerita of English. Phelan was the author of The Indebtedness of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to August Wilhelm von Schlegel (1907; originally presented as the author's M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1905), The Social Ideals of William Morris (originally presented as the author's Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1908), "The Staging of the Court Drama to 1595", and The Social Philosophy of William Morris (1927). A collection of her poetry was published in The Crystal Cup (1949), the royalties of which established the Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan Award for Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota.

Early life and education Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz was born at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on September 22, 1880. She was the daughter of Otto Wilhelm and Albertine Henriette von Helmholtz and a grand-niece of the distinguished physicist Hermann von Helmholtz.

Phelan attended Sturgeon Bay High School before enrolling at the University of Wisconsin, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year. At Madison she received her A. B. degree with honors in 1905; an A. M. in 1906 as a Mary M. Adams Fellow in English literature; and a Ph.D. in 1908 while serving as an assistant instructor.

Phelan was active in the suffrage movement, the promotion of dramatics, and social betterment. In politics, she was a Republican.

Selected works The Indebtedness of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to August Wilhelm von Schlegel (Madison, M.A. thesis, 1907) The Social Ideals of William Morris (Madison, Ph.D. thesis, 1908) "The Staging of the Court Drama to 1595", PMLA vol. 24, no. 2 (1909), pp. 185–206. The Social Philosophy of William Morris (Durham: Duke University Press, 1927) The Crystal Cup (Minneapolis: Delta Phi Lambda, 1949)