Katherine "Kate" Pickens Upson Clark (Class of 1869, Hon. LD 1919, Trustee)
biographical statement
Katherine “Kate” Pickens Upson of Milwaukee, WI, was born in 1851. She entered Wheaton Seminary in 1867 and graduated in 1869. She also studied at the Westfield Normal School and graduated in 1872. Kate taught at the Central High School in Cleveland, OH for eighteen months before marrying Edward P. Clark in 1874. In 1872 she married Edward P. Clark, managing editor of the Springfield Republican. Together they had three sons.
Kate was editor of the magazine Good Cheer (1883) and contributed to Harper’s Monthly, The Congregationalist, The Christian Union and The Epoch. She also published short stories, poems and books for children. She was a public speaker, lecturing on authors and their works, patriotism, and historical female figures, and was active in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Kate was one of the first women to serve on Wheaton’s Board of Trustees (1907 - 1935). In 1919, she received Wheaton’s first honorary degree, at her 50th class reunion. She died on February 17, 1935, and was succeeded on Wheaton’s Board of Trustees by her son John Kirkland Clark. Clark Residence Hall and the Clark Room in the Library were named for her in 1960.
Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:
Catherine Pickens Upson (Mrs. Edward P.) Clark Papers
Kate Upson Clark papers include: a composition by Kate entitled “Seniors Farewell to the Seminary Belles,” 1869, an article from The Ladies’ Home Journal (1890) written by Kate entitled “Admiring the Right Things,” a transcribed letter to Dr. Cole concerning a gift of $1, 000 to the Organ Fund, a poem "Prologue," as well as several biographies.
Clark, Kate Upson, 1911 - 1935
Collection consists of correspondence and supporting materials of Trustees of Wheaton College from its founding to the present.