MARY GERTRUDE MASON
1900 — 1951
Mary Gertrude Mason, one of a family of teachers,
fulfilled in her career many of the best qualities
of the teaching tradition in our country. Dedi-
cated to the pursuit of learning, she became an
able scholar and a teacher beloved by her students.
Her colleagues respected her comand of her field,
her intelligence, her disinterestedness, and her
devotion to her profession.
Born in Kentucky and prepared for college in the
schools of her native state, she attended the
University of Chicago, graduating in 1923. For
seven years, thereafter, she served as teacher
in school and college in Kentucky, except for a
year's interlude during which she secured the
M.A. degree at Columbia. Desiring, however, to
engage in advanced study, she turned to Far-Eastern
history, studying first at the University of Michi-
gan and later at Columbia University which granted
her the doctor’s degree in history in 1939. Her
dissertation dealt with Western Concepts of China
and the Chinese l800-1876. From this she was led
on to further studies of the contact of East and
West and even during her final illness prepared a
review of work on the Chinese in Peru which she
did not live to see in print.
Mary Mason came to Vassar in l9hh after terms of
service at Brooklyn College and Michigan State
College. The increasing importance of her field
of specialization and the recognition by her
departmental colleagues of her broad and sound
scholarship led to her reappointment and later to
her promotion to the assistant professorship.
Throughout her years of service in the department
of history no one outdid her in conscientious
dedication to teaching, or in the generosity with which
she shared departmental tasks. She distinguished her-
self by her careful and systematic instruction in the
freshman course in European history and communicated
enthusiasm to many of her students in Far-Eastern
history.
Active in research, she was engaged at the time of
her death on a bibliographical study in which she
had been assisted by Vassar through the award of
MARY GERTRUDE MASON (Continued)
a Faculty Fellowship for the year l949-50. The
significance of this work has been attested by
a leading specialist who referred to Mary
Mason's death as a distinct loss to Far-Eastern
studies in the United States as well as to Vas-
sar College. Several scholars, also, have since
expressed the hope that the study which she had
almost cmpleted can be posthumously published.
As a teacher, Mary Mason won the respect and
affection of her students by her informed pre-
sentation of material and her regard for both
the lively potentialities and due weaknesses of
young minds. with humor and judgment she led
them to an awareness of the stringent demands
and intellectual rewards of the study of history.
As a Resident, she brought her scholarship and
qualities as a teacher into her relations with
students in the House. With gentle friendliness
she established easy companionship. Her amused
understanding of the wayward won their confidence.
She had great patience and kindliness for the
slow, as well as insight into the needs and
ambitions of superior students. Those who knew
her as counsellor or teacher continued to seek
her as a valued friend.
This capacity for lasting friendship was one of
the touchstones of Mary Mason's character. She
was a fountain of good sense. Her friends loved
her shy, warm smile and enjoyed her quiet humor.
They valued her intellectual integrity and felt
in her the gentle firmness that came from a sense
of proportion. When illness came to her, they were
not gurprised by her clear courage in the face of
death.
Genieve Lamson
Susan Turner
Charles Griffin
XIII - 244-245