North American Scholar

MARTIN, Gladys

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  • Date of Birth (YYYY-MM-DD): 1891-07-20
  • Born City: El Dorado Springs
  • Born State/Country: MO
  • Parents: William S., a bank cashier, and Eula Ann Logan M.
  • Date of Death (YYYY-MM-DD): 1979-02-07
  • Death City: Nevada
  • Death State/Country: MO
  • Education:

    A.B. U. Missouri, 1911; A.M., 1913; Ph.D. Cornell, 1917; study at AAR, 1925-6.
  • Professional Experience:

    Prof. anc. langs. Woman's Coll. of Alabama (now Huntington Coll.) (Montgomery, AL), 1917-22; dean, 1919-22; prof. anc. langs. North-Central Coll. (Naperville, IL), 1922-4; instr. Gk. U. Wisconsin, 1924-5; prof. & dept. head Mississippi State Coll. Women, 1926-46; prof. & head dept. anc. langs. & philos., 1946-57.
  • Dissertation:

    "Laus Pisonis" (Cornell, 1917); printed (Maca, 1920).
  • Publications:

    Fifty Latin Verbs: Their Compounds and Derivatives with Donnis Martin (Boston, 1927); "Another Theory," CJ 26 (1930-1) 461-2; "Claudian and the Pervigilium Veneris," CJ 30 (1934-5) 531-43; "Transposition of Verses in the Pervigilium Veneris," CP 30 (1935) 255-8; "The Roman Hymn," CV 34 (1938-9) 86-97; Latin Poetry of the Empire, ed. with Donnis Martin (Boston, 1940); "Golden Apples and Golden Boughs," Studies Robinson, 2:1191-7; "Claudian: An Intellectual Pagan of the Fourth Century," in Studies Ullman (1960), 69-80; Triumph and Defeat: The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism, the Loss of Rome to the Goths (novel), with Donnis Martin (North Quincy, MA, 1972).
  • Notes:

    Gladys Martin and her identical twin, Donnis, received identical educations at the University of Missouri and received their Ph.Ds. from Cornell. Throughout their careers the twins, known as Dr. Donnis and Dr. Gladys, studied together at the AAR, traveled throughout Europe, and collaborated on research projects. Donnis was head of the classics department at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC. When "Dr. Gladys" would lecture at meetings of Latin students, she would illustrate her points with her own pen drawings of ancient scenes and stories.Her work on Claudian is of value and her article "Golden Apples and Golden Boughs" casts new light on J. G. Frazer's treatment of the labors of Hercules in The Golden Bough. She and her sister worked for years to produce the notes to Latin Poetry of the Empire, a worthy contribution to the Allyn & Bacon College Latin Series. She maintained a rigorous summer schedule of research for a number of years until, as she put it in 1945, ' 'government taxation and the rise in the cost of living leave me no money for such study." Her clearest devotion was to spreading her love of the classics to her students. She taught over 11 different courses in language and culture and was active in classical associations at the state and regional level. She helped produce three Greek plays (in translation) at Mississippi College for Women. Upon her retirement, a faculty tribute said, "Few were those who could fall by the wayside in spite of the sparkling vitality she brought to her classes, for she had an abiding patience and a creative delight that were almost irresistible."
  • Sources:

    Donnis & Gladys Martin, Ozark Idyll: Life at the Turn of the Century in the Missouri Ozarks (Point Lookout, MO, 1972); WhAmW 1958:824.
  • Author: Ward W. Briggs, Jr.