All Scholars

For Mildred Franklin, the classics were not just a field for professional opportunity and scholarly achievement. They were a way of life. Her personal attitudes and her relations with other people were conditioned and influenced by the Greek and Roman concepts of sophrosyne and humanitas. To the classic ideals she added sincere Christian belief and practice, denying any dichotomy between Hellenism and Christianity. After her graduation from Wellesley College with a major in botany, she changed her field of interest to the classics.  Although interested in scholarship and travel in Mediterranean lands, she found her greatest satisfaction in teaching. A dedicated and stimulating teacher herself, she was instrumental in inspiring a number of her students to enter the teaching profession. Following a summer session at Teachers College, she introduced at Wilson College a course in the methods and techniques of teaching Latin in secondary schools. This course proved very popular and helped students to attain certification and to start their teaching careers well equipped. While her primary interest was in Greek and Latin literature, she was also excited by the new archaeological discoveries. At a time when philology and archaeology were too often considered separate and even antagonistic disciplines, she was starting the Wilson College Collection of Antiquities. In class, she often illustrated a reference in the works of a Latin or Greek writer with an object from the departmental collection. Many a student had her enthusiasm for the ancient world aroused by handling in class a coin or terracotta figurine.