Laura Bennett Sumner (née Voelkel; September 5, 1921 – June 18, 1993) was an American classical numismatist and poet, who was a professor at the University of Mary Washington.
Laura Sumner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Laura Bennett Voelkel September 5, 1921 Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Died | June 18, 1993 (aged 71) |
| Occupation(s) | Numismatist Classical scholar |
| Spouse | Raiford Eve Sumner (m. 1953) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University |
| Thesis | The Coins of the Emperor Domitian (1945) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Mary Washington |
Biography
editLaura Bennett Voelkel was born in 1921 in Brooklyn, New York to John and Laura (Bennett) Voelkel.[1] She studied for her undergraduate degree at Vassar College and graduated in 1942.[1] She then studied for her MA at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1943.[1] Sumner continued to study there for her PhD, which she was awarded in 1945 for a thesis entitled “The Coin Types of the Emperor Domitian”.[2]
In 1945 Sumner was appointed as Assistant Professor of History of Art at Wesleyan College in Georgia, where she taught for two years.[1] In 1947 she was appointed Assistant Professor at Mary Washington College, where she was to teach for the subsequent thirty-two years.[1] Sumner was dedicated to teaching and pedagogy, with many students remembering her with enthusiasm.[3] This meant that she did not publish widely.
However, she did work on both the excavations in 1963 and the subsequent catalogue of the coins from Kenchreai.[4] She was passionate about the ability that numismatics had to "make the past come alive for students".[5] Other publications included a commentary on the Lusiads.[6] She was also involved with Mary Washington's archaeology society.[7]
Sumner also held multiple Visiting Fellowships at universities in the USA, including: University of Wisconsin, University of Iowa, and Humanities Institute, Fairfax.[1]
Awards and fellowships
edit- Overseas Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society.[8] She was first elected in 1945.[9]
- President (1970–71), Vice-President (1958-60) - Southern Section of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.[10]
Personal life
editIn addition to her classical scholarship, Sumner also wrote and published poetry.[11] She married Raiford Eve Sumner on December 20, 1953.[1] She died on June 18, 1993, aged 71, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h "SUMNER, Laura Bennett Voelkel". dbcs.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
- ^ Voelkel, Laura Bennett. The coin types of the Emperor Domitian... Diss. Johns Hopkins University, 1945.
- ^ "1961". Mary Washington Magazine | Fall/Winter 2017 Mary Washington Magazine. 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
- ^ Chicago, University of; Bloomington, Indiana University; Athens, American School of Classical Studies at (1976). The Coins. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-05729-6.
- ^ Arbuthnot, Mabel F. (1957). "The Latin Institute—1957: An Open Letter". The Classical Outlook. 35 (1): 3–5. ISSN 0009-8361. JSTOR 43930328.
- ^ Sumner, Laura Voelkel; Abel, D. Herbert; Beede, Grace L. (1955). "The Teacher's Scrapbook". The Classical Journal. 50 (7): 291–294. ISSN 0009-8353. JSTOR 3292992.
- ^ Alvey, Edward (1974). History of Mary Washington College; 1908-1972. University Press of Virginia. ISBN 978-0-8139-0528-0.
- ^ Carson, R A G (1986). A History of the Royal Numismatic Society, 1836-1986 (PDF). Royal Numismatic Society.
- ^ "The Royal Numismatic Society: List of Fellows 1964". The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society. 4: xxxvii–lxvi. 1964. ISSN 0267-7504. JSTOR 42662624.
- ^ "Elected Officers of The Classical Association of the Middle West and South" (PDF).
- ^ Sumner, Laura Voelkel (1961). Sonnets. Priv. print. at the Holly Hill Press.