Estella Weeks
A young white woman with hair in a bouffant updo, wearing a high-collared dress with lace embellishments
Estella T. Weeks, from the 1906 yearbook of Teachers College, Columbia University
Born
Estella Terry Weeks

September 6, 1886
Brooklyn, New York
DiedOctober 17, 1969
Staunton, Virginia
Occupation(s)Researcher, statistician, educator

Estella Terry Weeks (September 6, 1886 – October 17, 1969) was an American educator, statistician, and researcher, who studied reconstruction efforts after World War I, and the Shakers religious sect, among other subjects.

Early life and education

Weeks was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of William H. Weeks and Lydia Elizabeth Kelsey Weeks. Her father was a salesman for Brooks Brothers for over fifty years.[1] She graduated from Long Island City High School in Queens,[2] and studied social science at Teachers College, Columbia University.[3]

Career

Weeks taught school in New York City as a young woman.[4] She directed a summer school in Bernardsville, New Jersey in 1915.[3] In 1918, she was working in Washington, D.C. as assistant director of a division at the Committee on Public Information.[5]

A white woman with short wavy hair, wearing eyeglasses and a dark blouse with a high lace-trimmed collar
Estella T. Weeks, from a 1921 publication

Weeks was head of the research and statistics department at Hoggson Brothers, an architectural firm in New York City. She traveled to France after World War I with the American Committee for Devastated France. During World War II, she worked as a research assistant at the headquarters of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Washington, D.C.[6]

Weeks moved to the Berkshires with her mother for health reasons, and there became acquainted with the United Believers or "Shakers", an American religious sect. For over forty years, she studied Shaker lore, especially their music,[7] dances, and liturgical practices.[8] She presented a paper on this work at the National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C. in 1941,[9][10] received a grant from the American Philosophical Society in 1942 to support her research,[11] and spoke to the Hymn Society of America about her findings in 1946.[12] She died before she finished her intended book on the subject.[13]

Publications

  • A study of Long Island City, New York (1913)[14]
  • An Industrial Notebook (1919, edited by Weeks for YWCA workers)[15]
  • Reconstruction Programs: A Comparative Study Of Their Content And Of The Viewpoints Of The Issuing Organizations (1920)[16]
  • "What Construction has Meant and What it Means Today" (1921)[17]
  • Basic Project Reports of Near East Foundation Projects (1932)[18]
  • "Shakerism: Shakerism in Indiana; Notes on Shaker Life, Customs, and Music" (1945, with Ernest W. Baughman)[19]
  • "A Sketch Showing Location of the First Settlers in Hood River, Oregon" (1948, map, with Nora Ann Rumbaugh)[20]

Personal life and legacy

Weeks died in 1969, in Staunton, Virginia, at the age of 83. There is a folder of correspondence related to Weeks in the Manuscripts and Folklife Archives of Western Kentucky University.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary for William K. Weeks". The Herald Statesman. 1928-08-27. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-03-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "High School Prize Winners". The New York Times. 1903-06-21. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-03-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 "Vacation School is Big Success; Enrollment is Now Over One Hundred--Good Training for Children". Bernardsville News. 1915-07-15. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Many Teachers Ill". Times Union. 1911-01-18. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-03-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Recent Alumni Appointments" Teachers College Record 19(3)(May 1918): 318; via Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ "Personal". Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals. 28 (125): 92. November 1944 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ Lassiter, William Lawrence (1978). Shaker recipes for cooks and homemakers. Internet Archive. New York, Greenwich Book Publishers. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-517-26388-4.
  8. ↑ French, Harriet (1955-04-17). "Long Study of Shakers Made by Estella Weeks". Evening Star. pp. D-5, D-21. Retrieved 2023-03-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "500 Entertainers Open Eighth Annual Folk Festival Here". Evening Star. 1941-05-02. p. 47. Retrieved 2023-03-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Folk Festival Hailed as Spur to Scholars". The Washington Post. May 4, 1941. p. 10. Retrieved December 13, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ "Report of Committee on Research". American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1941: 83. 1942 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ↑ McAll, Reginald L. (February 1, 1946). "The Hymn Society of America Inc". The Diapason. 37 (3): 19 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ Stein, Stephen J. (1992-01-01). The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers. Yale University Press. pp. 510, note 44. ISBN 978-0-300-05139-1.
  14. ↑ Weeks, Estella T. (1913). A study of Long Island City, New York. Columbia University Libraries.
  15. ↑ "Book Reviews". Religious Education. 15 (2): 127. April 1920 – via Internet Archive.
  16. ↑ Weeks, Estella T. (1920). Reconstruction Programs: A Comparative Study of Their Content and of the Viewpoints of the Issuing Organizations... Woman's Press.
  17. ↑ Weeks, Estella T. "What Construction Has Meant and What it Means Today" National Brick Manufacturers Association Annual Convention Official Report (1921): 36-42.
  18. ↑ Weeks, Estella T., Basic Project Reports of Near East Foundation Projects (Near East Foundation 1932), referenced in National Technical Information Service, DTIC AD0763423: Military Civic Action. Volume 1. Evaluation of Civilian Techniques in International Development Assistance (September 1972): 127, 212.
  19. ↑ Weeks, Estella T.; Baughman, Ernest W. (1945). "Shakerism: Shakerism in Indiana; Notes on Shaker Life, Customs, and Music". Hoosier Folklore Bulletin. 4 (4): 59–86. ISSN 0441-2060. JSTOR 27655533.
  20. ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1948). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. p. 167.
  21. ↑ "Weeks, Estella T. (SC 670)". MSS Finding Aids, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, Western Kentucky University. 2013-03-05.
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