Elga Meta Shearer

American educator
Elga Meta Shearer
A white woman with dark curly hair
Elga M. Shearer, from a 1921 newspaper
BornFebruary 19, 1883
Kenosha, Wisconsin
DiedOctober 11, 1967 (age 84)
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Occupation(s)Educator, school administrator, textbook author
RelativesConrad Shearer (brother)

Elga Meta Shearer (February 19, 1883 – October 11, 1967) was an American educator, school administrator, and textbook author.

Early life and education

Shearer was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the daughter of Peter Tait Shearer and Margaret Brotchie Shearer. Her parents were both born in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. Her older brother Conrad Shearer became a United States senator representing Wisconsin. She graduated from Kenosha High School in 1900.[1] She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1922, and completed a master's degree in 1923 at Columbia University.[2]

Career

Shearer began teaching in her hometown during her teens.[3] She was a founding member of the executive committee of the Columbia County Teachers' Association in 1912.[4] In 1914, she began teaching at a normal school in Superior, Wisconsin.[5][6]

Shearer left Wisconsin to be assistant superintendent of schools in Butte, Montana from 1917 until she resigned to protest school board policies in 1921.[7][8] In 1922, she moved again, to Long Beach, California, where she was supervisor of kindergarten and elementary teachers in the public schools.[2][9] She also taught at summer teacher training programs in Utah,[10][11] and at UCLA.[1]

Shearer took a leave from Long Beach schools in 1928 to work on a textbook about reading.[12] In the mid-1940s she was first vice-president of the California School Supervisors Association.[13][14] She was president of the University Women's Club of Long Beach,[15] and represented the club in 1947 at the national conference of the AAUW, held in Texas.[16] In 1949 she was chair of an interracial women's public affairs committee at the YWCA in Long Beach.[17][18]

Publications

  • "The Cafeteria as an Integrating Activity" (1930, with Blenda Butts)[19]
  • "Reading Made a Vital Activity" (1931, with Ruth Berry)[20]
  • "The Environment: A Contributing Factor to Growth in Concepts and Skills" (1939)[21]
  • Wings for Reading (1942, with Carol Hovious)

Personal life

Shearer died in 1967, at the age of 84, in Kenosha.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b "K.H.S Graduate Highly Honored in California". Kenosha News. 1926-03-01. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b University of California (1927). Register of the University of California. D.W. Gelwicks, State printer. p. 15.
  3. ^ "Kenosha County school teachers". Kenosha Historical Society, via University of Wisconsin Madison Libraries. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  4. ^ Jones, J. E., History of Columbia County, Wisconsin (Lewis Publishing Company 1914): 154.
  5. ^ "News from Wisconsin Normal Schools" Wisconsin Journal of Education 46(October 1914): 225.
  6. ^ "Elect Kenoshan to High Place; Miss Elga Shearer Accepts Supervisory Position at Long Beach". Kenosha News. 1922-07-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Butte Schools are Without an Executive Head; Miss Shearer Hands Resignation to Trustees". The Anaconda Standard. 1921-05-18. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Kenosha Woman Leads in Fight; Miss Elga Shearer is Center of School Storm in Butte, Montana". Kenosha News. 1921-05-24. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Miss Elga Meta Shearer is Made Kindergarten Leader; Lounsbury Heads Burnett". The Long Beach Telegram and The Long Beach Daily News. 1922-07-12. p. 11. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Two Added to Summer School Faculty List". Student Life. 1924-02-27. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Who's Who at the National Summer School of the Utah Agricultural College: Prof. Elga M. Shearer". The Journal. 1924-05-22. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Butte Teacher is Text Book Author; Miss Elga M. Shearer, Well-Known Here, Aids Dr. Bruner". The Butte Daily Post. 1928-10-29. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Re-elect Officers at Confab". Santa Cruz Sentinel. 1946-02-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Personal Items of Local News Interest". Kenosha News. 1944-11-27. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Miss Elga Shearer". Independent. 1946-05-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Is Delegate to A.A.U.W. Parley". Press-Telegram. 1947-04-06. p. 18. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Y. W. C. A. Forms New Committee". Press-Telegram. 1949-01-26. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Public Affairs". Press-Telegram. 1949-01-31. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Shearer, Elga M.; Butts, Blenda (October 1930). "The Cafeteria as an Integrating Activity". Childhood Education. 7 (2): 81–84. doi:10.1080/00094056.1930.10725258. ISSN 0009-4056.
  20. ^ Shearer, Elga M., and Ruth Berry. "Reading Made a Vital Activity" Childhood Education 7(January 1931): 293. via ProQuest
  21. ^ Shearer, Elga M. (January 1939). "The Environment—A Contributing Factor to Growth in Concepts and Skills". Childhood Education. 15 (5): 202–206. doi:10.1080/00094056.1939.10724314. ISSN 0009-4056.
  22. ^ "Shearer, Elga M." Kenosha News. 1967-10-12. p. 31. Retrieved 2024-01-17 – via Newspapers.com.