Guide to the Katharine Brownell Collier Papers, 1890-1977 (bulk 1904-1934)

Collection Summary

Biographical Note

Katharine Brownell Collier was born on March, 7 1887, in Lakeview, New Jersey. Her mother, Laura Brownell Collier, was a member of a prominent New England family and her father, John Austin Collier, was a scientist. While she was still a baby, the family moved to Brooklyn, where Laura Collier taught at Packer Collegiate Institute, a private, all-girls academy. Both Katharine and her older sister Elizabeth attended Packer, and then followed in their mother's footsteps and went to Vassar College.

While at Vassar, Katharine seems to have thrown herself into a number of different organizations. The Vassarions from 1905 to 1908 list her as a member of everything from the Wake Robin Club to the Christian Association to the Society of Granddaughters to the Athletic Association. She did well at Vassar and was chosen as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the honor list for the class of 1908.

After graduating from Vassar College in 1908, Katharine moved to Bay Shore, Long Island, where she taught English and History at Bay Shore High School. In 1911 she moved back to Brooklyn, where she found a job teaching Latin and English at an annex of Bushwick High School.

Once she had returned to Brooklyn, Katharine began taking courses at Columbia University with the intention of receiving her Ph.D. However, having taken only the required history class during her sophomore year at Vassar, plus having a career, she had her work cut out for her. She was awarded her Ph.D. by Columbia in 1933. While at Columbia, her faculty advisor was Lynn Thorndike, a noted medievalist who was interested in the history of scientific thought.

Katharine Collier's Ph.D. dissertation was published by Columbia University in 1934 as part of a series of studies in history, economics, and public law edited by the faculty of the Department of Political Science. It was titled Cosmogonies of Our Fathers: Some Theories of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Critics referred to it as "a very thorough piece of investigation" of the clash between scientific and religious beliefs. It is still used in classrooms today. Katharine donated a copy of her work to the Vassar College Library shortly after its publication, inscribed "To my Alma Mater."

Always an admirer of the New England countryside, during the summer of 1933, Katharine built a home on some family property in Burlington, Vermont. Originally it was used as a summer home, but after her retirement in 1942 she moved there year round. Katharine never married, once referring to her state as "single blessedness." However, it appears that at least two men during her lifetime competed for her affections, Charles Harlow Harris and Raymond L. Lunt. During her final years she lived a "peaceful and unexciting life," surrounded by family and friends. She remained active, volunteering at a local hospital and participating in various organizations, from the Green Mountain Club to the League of Women Voters. She was also instrumental in bringing about the Vermont Vassar Club. In addition, she read 350 books each year, from favorite classics to detective stories. Katharine Brownell Collier died peacefully in her sleep on July 3, 1977, at the age of 90 years.

Scope and Content Note

The Katharine Brownell Collier Papers range in period from her turn-of-the-century childhood and years at Vassar College through her career as a schoolteacher and her eventual retirement. The collection's strength lies in the amount of personal correspondence she saved over the years, especially correspondence from Packer friends and her mother, Laura Brownell Collier. The section of miscellaneous correspondence to Katherine Collier includes items such as wedding invitations, greeting cards, postcards, and letters. However, any group of two or more letters was separated by the author's last name and placed with the personal correspondence to Katharine Collier. The letters in miscellaneous correspondence are from people who wrote to Collier only once, such as former pupils, colleagues, or friends of the family. The section of miscellaneous programs and pamphlets in the memorabilia series includes programs from concerts and theatrical productions that Collier apparently attended.

Different researchers may be attracted to these papers for different reasons. For example, the advertisements that each Vassar student received from the Poughkeepsie area may give some clue as to how Vassar was perceived by the citizens of Poughkeepsie. The Vassar College material is interesting because it provides a snapshot of Vassar at the turn-of-the-century, during President Taylor's administration and before the modernization program launched by President MacCracken.

The researcher should be warned, however, that these papers are weak on substance in areas, and tend to contain superficial information. The aspect of Katharine Collier's life in which this is most noticeable is her book, Cosmogonies of Our Fathers. Very little information is available concerning her research notes, data, or any preliminary manuscripts. A few notes or papers from her classes at Columbia University are there, but little else. Wherever possible, cross-references have been added to the manuscript register so the researcher is made aware of certain connections between people and organizations.

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Encoded by Madeleine Amodio, June 2011. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, June 2025.

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