Nancy Elnora Scott, Ph.D.

Miss Nancy Elnora Scott taught history and economics, and she chaired the history and economics department at Wilson College for nine years from 1909 until 1918 during the tenures of three presidents: Matthew Reaser, Dr. Anna J. McKeag, and Dr. Ethelbert Warfield. Having received her A.B. in 1902 and her A.M. in 1907 from the University of Indiana and in 1909 her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, she came to the college at age thirty with multipl sterling recommendations.

Before she came to Wilson, her work experience with one exception was in the public schools in Indiana. For one year, she was principle of Washington Township High School in Fort Wayne, for one year taught eighth grade English in Indianapolis, and for three years taught history in English in Fort Wayne High School. In 1906-1907, she was an assistant in history at Indiana University.

At Wilson, she was active in developing the department and adding new courses. She was willing to teach a course in economics in addition to her usual hours of teaching. She was persistent in her ambition to add new courses such as sociology to the curriculum. When she left the college in May 1918, she wrote to President Warfield and the Board of Trustees that her department had grown from one of the smallest in the college to one of the largest. She reminded them that "classes in advanced elective subjects have increased in size from a membership of five or six to thirty-eight, as large as any in the college."

At the same time, she guarded her time as she was interested in writing and felt that writing was essential to her work and to advancement in her career. She was not reluctant to ask periodically for a raise in salary. She needed quiet in order to accomplish her work. Before the beginning of her second year at Wilson, she wrote to President Reaser to say that last year she had lived in room eight, but as a first-year teacher did not want to complain. She states that she could not "spare the time which the almost constant sound of piano playing then compelled me to lose." She also stated that she did not want to live in room eight and a half that had been assigned to her for the coming year and added that she objected to the "monotonous chug of engines and the weekly beheading of seventy chickens" with the implication that she would hear those sounds in room eight and a half. With her concern for quiet and time, she was also aware of salary. Her salary as a first-year teacher at Wilson was $700 with housing. In 1910, it was increased to $800 and then increased again to $900, and it remained at that level until she left the college. In her May 8, 1918 letter to President Warfield and the Board of Trustees, she emphasized that she was leaving the college because she needed more writing time and felt that she should have a higher salary.

In the last communication in the Wilson files, Dr. Warfield wrote on July 2, 1918, a very gracious letter addressed to Miss Scott at Hunter College in New York City in which he said that Miss Catherine Lewis, who had earned her Ph.D. from Cornell University, would be her successor. He said that he would be appreciative if she would write to Miss Lewis and give her the names of the textbooks she has used and any information that might help her. He concluded: "We all wish you every happiness in your new work and hope you will be as much esteemed and beloved there as you were in Wilson."