Guide to the Davida Catherine French Papers
Daniel Hartwig
Stanford University. Libraries.
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
October 2010
Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Note
This encoded finding aid is compliant with Stanford EAD Best Practice Guidelines, Version 1.0.
Overview
Call Number: SC0201
Creator:
French, Davida Catherine.
Title: Davida Catherine French papers
Dates: 1906-1974
Bulk Dates: 1906-1907
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear feet
Summary: Class notes, exams, essays, and creative writing assignments from English classes at Stanford University, 1906-07; several
of the creative writing assignments pertain to Japan, where she taught before attending Stanford University; and notes and
exam from a philosophy course with William James, 1906. Collection also includes a copy of NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN: STANFORD
STORIES (1907), which she co-authored with Esther Stevens and Laura Wells.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Administrative Information
Information about Access
This collection is open for research.
Ownership & Copyright
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Cite As
Davida Catherine French Papers (SC0201). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Davida ("Vida") Catherine French was born in 1880 in San Francisco, the daughter of Dr. Hayes Clifton French, one of San Francisco's
first opthalmologists. After graduation from Lowell High School in San Francisco, she attended Mills College in Oakland. She
transferred from Mills to Stanford, graduating in 1908 from Stanford with an A.B. in history.
Prior to her graduation form Stanford, Ms. French spent some time in Japan, where she taught Latin and Greek in the Japanese
school system. While in the Orient, Ms. French met Charles William Ure, a Scotsman engaged in business in Shanghai; they were
married in London in 1913. After Mr. Ure's death in Shanghai in 1923, Mrs. Ure returned to England. For many years, she alternated
residences between Malaga, Spain, Tunbridge Wells, England, and Palo Alto.
While at Stanford, Mrs. Ure had been a member of the Cap and Gown scholastic honor society and a member of Alpha Phi sorority.
She was also a member of the Palo Alto Women's Club and the American Association of University Women.
Mrs. Ure died in Palo Alto in 1974 at the age of 94. In her will, Mrs. Ure established a medical scholarship at Stanford in
her father's name.
Description of the Collection
Class notes, exams, essays, and creative writing assignments from English classes at Stanford University, 1906-07; several
of the creative writing assignments pertain to Japan, where she taught before attending Stanford University; and notes and
exam from a philosophy course with William James, 1906. Collection also includes a copy of NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN: STANFORD
STORIES (1907), which she co-authored with Esther Stevens and Laura Wells.
Access Terms
French, Davida Catherine.
James, William, 1842-1910
Stanford University. Department of English.
Stevens, Esther.
Wells, Laura.
English literature
Japan in literature.
Box 1, Folder 1
English 22: Class assignments
1906-1907
Box 1, Folder 1
"The Tragic Five Acts of Byron's Life"
Box 1, Folder 1
"Keat's Ode to a Nightingale and Ode to a Grecian Man"
Box 1, Folder 1
"The Romanticism of Coleridge"
Box 1, Folder 1
"Women in 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
Box 1, Folder 1
"A Comparison of Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' and the "Prometheus Bound' of Aeschylus"
Box 1, Folder 1
"Aspects of the Doctrine of Immortality in Wordsworth"
Box 1, Folder 2
English 22: creative writing assignments, 1907
Box 1, Folder 2
"The Manuscript of Monsieur"
Box 1, Folder 2
"The Treasure of the Humble"
Box 1, Folder 2
"A Strength in the By-Ways"
Box 1, Folder 3
English 19: class notes and exams
1907
Box 1, Folder 3
First lecture, January 9th
Box 1, Folder 3
"A Comparison of Arudd's Tristan and Iseult and Tennyson's Last Tournament"
Box 1, Folder 3
"Childhood in Swinbourne's Poems"
Box 1, Folder 3
"The Philosophy of Empedocles on Etna"
Box 1, Folder 3
Exam questions handout
May 13, 1907
Box 1, Folder 4
Not Included in a Sheepskin: Stanford Stories by Davida French, Esther Stevens, Laura Well. Stanford: Stanford Book Store
1907
Box 1, Folder 5
Notes and an exam from philosophy course taught by William James
Spring 1906