Alice Louise Reynolds diaries and notes
Alice Louise Reynolds (1873-1938, http://www.byhigh.org/)
In honor of all the female faculty and graduates at BYU, L. Tom Perry Special Collections is pleased to announce the availability of a new digitized collection: Alice Louise Reynolds diaries and notes (MSS 120, Series 1). This series of her collection contains diaries, lecture notes, correspondence, and autobiographical materials produced by Reynolds. Includes information on her teaching at Brigham Young Academy and University, as well as her travels, including trips to Europe and the Middle East. Also includes some information on her political activities with the women’s progressive movements, and her service in the YWMIA and the General Relief Society Board. Materials date from between 1894 and 1937.
Alice Louise Reynolds was born on April 1, 1873 to George Reynolds and Mary Ann Tuddenhaum Reynolds. At age 12, she was sent to study at Brigham Young Academy after the death of her mother, where she studied under Karl G. Maeser. She graduated from the Academy in 1890, and went on to pursue a Bachelor of Pedagogy degree from the University of Michigan, from which she graduated in 1895.
Reynolds returned to Brigham Young Academy to teach college-level courses, becoming the first woman to do so. She was awarded two other degrees, a Bachelor of Didactics from the Church Board of Education in 1897, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University 1910. She was the first woman to be a full professor at Brigham Young University.
Besides teaching, Reynolds was a national Democratic committee member and convention delegate. She was active and served in the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the National American Women Suffrage Conventions, and the League of Women Votes. Along with her political and social service, she continued studying at such universities as Cornell, Berkely, Columbia, and the University of Chicago, along with study in London and Paris. She also became the committee chair of the Brigham Young University library.
Reynolds served on the board for the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association for 20 years, and was also called to the General Board of the Relief Society. In this calling, she edited the Relief Society Magazine and made contributions to the literary lessons of the Relief Society curriculum.
Reynolds died of cancer on December 5, 1938.