Kate_Everest_Levi
Kate Asaphine Everest Levi (January 4, 1859 – October 19, 1938) was an American educator, writer, and social worker. She was the first director of Kingsley House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a settlement house, and the first woman Ph.D. recipient from the University of Wisconsin.[1] Although both Syracuse University (1880, 1884) and the College of Wooster (1889) had granted doctorates in history to women in the 1880s,[2] Everest Levi is considered the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in history from an organized graduate school in the United States.[3] She wrote on topics such as education and German immigration to the Midwest.[4][5]
Kate Everest was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin,[1] to parents Asaph and Mary (Abercrombie) Everest. After attending Fond du Lac High School, she entered the University of Wisconsin in 1879, earning a BA in 1882. After graduation, she taught at Markham's Academy, Milwaukee from 1882 to 1883; at La Crosse High School from 1883 to 1884; and was teacher of history and languages at Lawrence University from 1884 to 1890. She then earned an MA in 1892 and a PhD in 1893 from the University of Wisconsin.[6]
She worked with Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago[7] before moving to Pittsburgh, where she was appointed head of Kingsley House social settlement from 1896.[1] She published several articles and books on history and education. Her papers are held at the Wisconsin Historical Society.[8]
She married Ernest Reese Levi on April 21, 1896, and had two children.[4]
She died October 19, 1938, in Madison, Wisconsin, at the age of 79.[1][5]