Alice Louise Reynolds

Alice Louise Reynolds
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Personal details
Born	(1873-04-01)April 1, 1873 Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Died	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Cause of death	cancer
Resting place	Salt Lake City Cemetery
Alma mater	University of Michigan Brigham Young Academy
Notable works	Relief Society Magazine editor
Parents	George Reynolds Mary A. T. Reynolds

Alice Louise Reynolds (April 1, 1873 – December 5, 1938) was a Brigham Young University professor who is rated among the top 10 BYU professors of the 20th century. She was the second woman in Utah to be named a full professor.

Childhood and Education

Reynolds was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States to George Reynolds and Mary Ann Tuddenham Reynolds. Her father, George Reynolds, was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a longtime secretary to the First Presidency of the church. When Alice was six years old, George was incarcerated for two years because he practiced plural marriage.

George believed that Alice should attend preschool, and at the age of four she attended a private school taught by Izzie Calder, daughter of David O. Calder. George's sister Julia Reynolds helped look after Alice during her childhood. Alice enjoyed reading and the company of other grownups. At age 12, Alice's mother died in childbirth. Her teacher at the Twentieth Ward school, T.B. Lewis, left to become the principal of Ogden High School. The combination of these two events led George to send Alice and her younger sister Florence to the Brigham Young Academy for high school. She was greatly motivated by the teachings of one of her instructors, Academy Principal Karl G. Maeser. She graduated from Brigham Young Academy in 1890.

After teaching for two years, the president of Brigham Young Academy, Benjamin Cluff, suggested that she establish a literature department at Brigham Young Academy after furthering her studies. Reynolds studied literature at the University of Michigan from 1892 to 1894. In 1894, she received the promised faculty appointment at Brigham Young Academy.

She received a Bachelor of Pedagogy degree in 1895. Reynolds was awarded Bachelor of Didactics by the Church Board of Education in 1897. She also later received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University in 1910. As part of Reynolds's commitment to learn from the best teachers, she later pursued advanced study at Chicago, Cornell, Berkeley and Columbia. Reynolds also loved to travel and made four trips to Europe in 1906, 1910, 1924, and 1937.

Career

Teaching

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Alice Reynolds in 1914

Reynolds began her teaching career after graduating from Brigham Young Academy. She taught for a year at the Salt Lake 14th Ward Seminary and at Juab Stake Academy. She was 21 when she accepted a position at Brigham Young Academy.

Reynolds was a Professor of English from 1894-1938. She was the first female at Brigham Young Academy to teach college-level classes. She taught literature there until 1903 when the school was replaced by Brigham Young High School and Brigham Young University. She became the first female to be a full professor at Brigham Young University. She taught approximately 5,000 students in 20 different English courses.

Reynolds's absent-mindedness was legendary at Brigham Young University where she was a literature professor for forty-four years. According to her students, she once walked through a herd of cows while reading a book and brought a teakettle to work instead of her purse. Despite her reputation for absent-mindedness Reynolds exuded confidence and self-respect. Her memory for lectures, books, people and places was excellent. She kept up an attractive home despite having little desire to do housework or handicrafts. To her students and friends she was sympathetic, loving, and kind.

Relief Society Magazine

Reynolds was an editor for the Relief Society Magazine from 1923 to 1930. She also wrote for the Young Woman's Journal, the Improvement Era, and The Instructor.

Reynolds was also called to the General Board of the Relief Society for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1923. She served for 7 years. During this time, she wrote lessons for Sunday School and the Mutual Improvement Association, as well as fifteen literary lessons for Relief Society.

Contributions to Library

At Brigham Young Academy, Reynolds served as a member of a faculty committee to establish the library. The committee formed in 1906, and Reynolds served as its chairperson for 19 years. Part of her work on the committee included a large fund-raiser to obtain 1,200 books to add to the school's library. Over the course of her life, she organized several other campaigns to help the library grow to 100,000 volumes.

At a book shower in 1922, women of the state honored Reynolds by donating books to the Brigham Young University Library. In 1932, fans of Alice Louise Reynolds held a birthday celebration for Reynolds, where she commented on her love for her friends: "To some of you the sweetest word in the English language is 'husband,' to some of you 'child,' but to me the sweetest word in the English language is 'friend.'" On February 19, 1933, the Alice Louise Reynolds Club was formally established with a written constitution and by-laws established by a central committee. Through the efforts of the club, over 10,000 volumes were donated to the BYU library. Members of the Alice Louise Reynolds club also sponsored an English student scholarship.

When a new library at BYU was built in 1924, Reynolds' associates believed it should have been named after her, since she helped greatly to bring the project for a new library building to fruition. A lecture hall in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University is named after her.

Involvement in Politics

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Alice Louise Reynolds in 1920

In politics, Reynolds was an active Democrat, serving on the national party's committee and as a delegate to the party's national convention. She was also a women's activist and delegate to the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the National American Women Suffrage Conventions, and the League of Women Voters at the Pan American Convention. At the General Federation of Women's Clubs, in response to accusations that the Mormon church dictates how members must vote, Reynolds stated that her religion did not interfere with her voting as a democrat. In 1920, as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention, she made a speech seconding the nomination for William Gibbs McAdoo for President, which was so well-received that the governor of Montana, running for Vice President, requested that she second his nomination as well.

Reynolds died of cancer at the age of 65.

Legacy

A conference room in the Harold B. Lee library is named after Reynolds. Starting in 1978, women in Provo revived the Alice Louise Reynolds club in the form of the Alice Louise Reynolds forum, which discussed issues related to Mormon feminism, including their support for the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1984 they changed their name to the Aligie Baliff forum.

External links

• Alice Louise Reynolds papers, MSS 120 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University
• Alice Louise Reynolds digitized diaries at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University
• Alice Louise Reynolds Women-in-Scholarship Lecture Series

Relief Society Magazine titles Preceded by Susa Young Gates  Editor 1923–1930 Succeeded by Mary Connelly Kimball