Margaret Eliza Maltby: Difference between revisions

| caption = A photograph of Margaret Eliza Maltby, circa 1908.

In the summer of 1906, while Maltby was chair of the physics department, [[Harriet Brooks]] announced that she planned to marry. Although Brooks assumed she would be able to keep her position, Laura Gill, the Dean of Barnard College at the time, was strongly opposed. In the early 1900s it was very common for female academics to leave their employment at women's colleges upon marriage. Maltby spoke up on behalf of Brooks, arguing to Gill that Brooks was a talented teacher and researcher and would be able to keep up with her duties. However, Maltby was not able to convince Gill, and Brooks left the college later that year.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Rossiter |first=Margaret W. |title=Women scientists in America: struggles and strategies to 1940 |date=1992 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-2509-5 |edition=Paperbacks ed., 3. printing |location=Baltimore |pages=16, 25, 43, 366}}</ref> Gill argued to Maltby that marriage would be too great a drain on a female professor's time, despite knowing that Maltby had adopted a child. Gill likely viewed marriage as a form of disloyalty by a female instructor to the college, in contrast to motherhood which was an appoved role.<ref name="personal" /> [[File:Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860-1944) (12483529573).jpg|thumb|Margaret Maltby at the time of her retirement.<ref name=":1" />|alt=An older woman with silver grey hair pulled back in a bun and round glasses sits in 3/4 profile, looking at the camera. She wears a light-colored blouse and a necklace.]]Maltby volunteered with the [[American Association of University Women|American Association of University Women (AAUW)]], working especially on behalf of the Committee on Fellowships. As a member, and chair, of the committee, Maltby distributed fellowships to women to enable them to conduct research. At that time, women were not eligible for many other grants or fellowships due to their gender, so the AAUW Fellowships were an important support for female academics in the United States. In recognition of her work, the Margaret E. Maltby Fellowship was established by the American Association of University Women in 1926.<ref name="cwpucla" /><ref name="smithsonian" /> In 1929 Maltby wrote a history of the first forty years of fellowships administered by the AAUW.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maltby |first=Margaret |title=History of Fellowships Awarded by the American Association of University Women, 1888-1929 |date=1929 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |lccn=30018979}}</ref>

[[File:Margaret Maltby and Philip Meyer-2.jpg|thumb|alt=Margaret Maltby sits drinking tea at a table with Philip Randolph Meyer. The interior is decorated with fine objects. in the background is a wardrobe. Maltby has her hair back in a bun and leans on to one side, resting her head on her hand while gazing at the camera. Meyer is young and dressed in a World War I army uniform. He gazes downward at an open book as if reading.|Margaret Maltby with her son Philip Randolph Meyer, home from flight training at [[Kelly Field]], circa 1918.|left]]