Lucy Maynard Salmon

Lucy Maynard Salmon (July 27, 1853 – February 14, 1927) was an American historian whose work was foundational in the establishment of the field of public history. Salmon was a professor of history at Vassar College from 1889 until her death. Salmon was the first woman to serve on the Executive Committee of the American Historical Association. Salmon published widely in historical journals and general magazines, and was highly active in civic affairs, supporting civil service reform and world and women's suffrage.

Education and early career

Salmon was born in 1853 in Fulton, Oswego County, New York, to George and Maria Clara Maynard Salmon. Salmon's mother, Maria Clara Maynard, was the first principal of the Fulton Female Seminary. Salmon attended Falley Seminary, in Fulton. Salmon moved to Ann Arbor in 1871, and graduated from Ann Arbor High School in 1872. Salmon entered the University of Michigan in 1872, one year after it began to admit women, and received her Bachelor's degree in History in 1876.

Salmon served as assistant principal and later principal of McGregor High School in McGregor, Iowa, from 1876-1881. Salmon returned to the University of Michigan and received her History M.A. from the University of Michigan's School of Political Science in 1883. A version of her master's thesis, "History of the Appointing Power of the President," was published in the first volume of the Papers of the American Historical Association in 1886. In 1886 Salmon attended Bryn Mawr where she studied with Woodrow Wilson. The following year, Vassar College hired Salmon to establish its history department and serve as Associate Professor of History. She was appointed a full professor at the end of her second year, in 1889.