Pauline Wyman Wilson

Pauline Dorthea Wyman Wilson was born on September 10, 1905 in Minnesota to Paul Wyman and Lillian Kennedy Wyman. Paul Wyman died a few months before Pauline's birth, and Pauline and her brother Donald were raised by Lillian in Pennsylvania. Pauline graduated from William Penn High School for Girls, Philadelphia in 1924, and Vassar College in 1928 where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She believed strongly in women's education.

Following her graduation from Vassar, Pauline Wyman Wilson worked as a substitute teacher in the Philadelphia School District for one year. She then pursued graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Chicago. She earned a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in 1929.

Pauline Wyman Wilson was Assistant Professor of Biology and Chemistry at Western Maryland College until 1936, then joined Northwestern University's personnel administration where she presided over the women's division of counselors. She left her job at Northwestern University when she married Edward Foss Wilson in 1940.

Pauline was a member of the Child Health Center Board at the Washington, D.C. Children's Hospital (now Children's National), and helped to organize several primary care clinics in Washington, D.C. She was also an active member of the Chevy Chase Club, and was a fundraiser for the construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Pauline Wyman Wilson died of Alzheimer's disease on October 1, 1985.

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Black-and-white formal photographic portrait of Pauline Wyman Wilson. She is a young white woman with dark marcelled hair. She is shown from the shoulders up, and is wearing a light-colored dress with a draped neckline.
Photographic portrait of Pauline Wyman Wilson, circa 1920s

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 24, Folder 19, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Black-and-white formal photographic portrait of Pauline Wyman Wilson as a baby and her older brother. Both are seated and shown from the waist up. Donald is a white boy with short dark hair. He is wearing a white shirt with a dark belt and is holding a teddy bear. Pauline is a white girl with short, dark, curly hair. She is wearing a white dress.
Photograph of Pauline Wyman Wilson at 15 months old, and brother Donald at three years old, 1906.

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 24, Folder 14, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Black-and-white snapshot of Pauline Wyman Wilson ice skating outdoors. She is a young white woman and is wearing a plaid skirt, a knit sweater, and a knit hat. She is smiling facing the camera, and there are evergreen trees behind her.
Snapshot of Pauline Wyman Wilson ice skating at Vassar, 1928

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 24, Folder 18, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Letter of admission from Vassar College to Pauline Wyman Wilson, dated July 22, 1924: "It gives me pleasure to inform you that you have been selected by the Committee on Admission as a member of the honor group entitled to admission to the freshman class in September of this year..."
Pauline Wyman Wilson's admission notice to Vassar College, 1924.

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 21, Folder 14, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Black-and-white formal photographic portrait of Pauline Wyman Wilson wearing an academic robe. She is a young white woman with dark hair that is pinned up. She is shown in three-quarters profile from the shoulders up.
Photographic portrait of Pauline Wyman Wilson, circa 1928

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 24, Folder 19, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Title page of Pauline Wyman Wilson's Master's thesis for the University of Pennsylvania.
Typescript of Pauline Wyman Wilson's University of Pennsylvania Master's thesis : "Experimental Studies on the Compound: Cysteine Mercuric Sulfate," 1929

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 23, Folder 15, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Black-and-white snapshot of a group of twenty young, white men and women. Most are wearing coats and hats, and are shown outdoors with pine trees behind them.
Photograph of Pauline Wyman Wilson with a group from the University of Chicago at the start of a climb up Longs Peak in Colorado, 1931.

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 25, Folder 7, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Pauline Wyman Wilson is in the back row, second from right.
Black-and-white photograph of Pauline Wyman Wilson standing next to a horse. Pauline is a young white woman with short, dark, curly hair. She is smiling and holding the reigns of a white horse. Pauline is wearing a white shirt and dark trousers. They are standing in a fenced pasture with a mountain in the background.
Pauline Wyman Wilson with horse, circa 1930s

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 25, Folder 10, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
Black-and-white photograph of Pauline Wyman Wilson and Edward Foss Wilson standing on the deck of a cruise ship. Pauline is a young white woman wearing a dark skirt and coat with a hat and holding a purse. Edward Foss Wilson is a young white man and is standing next to Pauline wearing a dark suit. Behind them can be seen ship rigging, deck chairs and an umbrella, and a shuffleboard.
Pauline Wyman Wilson and Edward Foss Wilson on board the Santa Paula, February 1950

Thomas E. Wilson Family Collection, Box 17, Folder 17, Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.