Caroline Ruutz-Rees

Ruutz-Rees was born in London on August 16, 1865.{{Cite news |date=February 16, 1954 |title=Miss Ruutz-Reese, Rosemary Hall Founder, Dies |pages=11 |work=Record-Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115479361/record-journal/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite journal |last=Slaga-Metivier |first=Susan J. |title=Biographical Sketch of Caroline Ruutz-Rees |url=https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1010111766 |journal=Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890–1920 |via=Alexander Street}} She attended private schools in London.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OwLAQAAMAAJ&dq=caroline+%22ruutz-rees%22&pg=PA180 |title=The Biographical Cyclopaedia of American Women |date=1924 |publisher=Halvord Publishing Company, Incorporated |pages=180–181 |language=en}} Ruutz-Rees came to the United States around 1882 or 1883, eventually becoming a naturalized citizen.{{Cite news |last=Armes |first=Ethel |date=February 15, 1914 |title=Women of Great Prominence Will Make Visit to Birmingham in March |pages=40 |work=The Birmingham News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115478979/the-birmingham-news/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite web |title=Suffragists in Greenwich |url=https://greenwichhistory.org/suffragists-in-greenwich/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=Greenwich Historical Society |language=en-US}} The next year, she started teaching at the St. John the Baptist School in New York and later, at the St. Mary's School in Burlington, New Jersey. In the years of 1898 and 1899, she studied advanced Greek courses at Yale's graduate school.

In 1890, she started working as headmistress of Rosemary Hall, in Wallingford. The curriculum of Rosemary Hall was strong in the humanities, with Ruutz-Rees working "to empower young women to pursue a wide variety of intellectual studies."{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Tony |date=March 29, 2019 |title=From Greenwich to Wallingford: RememberIng Life at Rosemary Hall |url=https://thechoatenews.choate.edu/2019/03/29/greenwich-wallingford-remembering-life-rosemary-hall/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=The Choate News |language=en-US}} The school, under her direction, was one of the first American girls' schools to require Uniforms.{{Cite web |title=Asolando – Caroline Ruutz Rees |url=https://booklives.ca/islandora/object/booklives:1135 |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=Book Lives}} Ruutz-Rees' method of teaching and administrating the school was based on English girls' schools.{{Cite journal |date=November 1940 |title=75-Year-Old Londoner Honored by Her Girls of Rosemary Hall |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_newsweek-us_1940-11-04_16_19/page/48/mode/2up?q=%22caroline+ruutz+rees%22 |journal=Newsweek |volume=16 |issue=19 |pages=48 |via=Internet Archive}} In 1900, the school was moved to Greenwich. She went to Scotland to study at St. Andrew's University, earning her degree in 1904. She studied French literature in Grenoble and in Paris. Ruutz-Rees earned her master's degree in 1909 and her doctorate in 1910 from Columbia University.{{Cite journal |last=Baughman |first=Roland |date=May 1956 |title=Our Growing Collections |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6309312_053/page/34/mode/2up?q=%22caroline+ruutz+rees%22 |journal=Columbia Library Columns |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=32 |via=Internet Archive}} She wrote articles about French Literature for the Modern Language Association and wrote for Modern Language Notes, Romantic Review and the Yale Review. In 1910, she published a book about Charles de Sainte-Marthe, Charles de Sainte-Marthe: A Study in French Renaissance.

Ruutz-Rees was very involved in the women's suffrage movement in Connecticut. She was part of the executive board of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA), served as vice president of the American Woman Suffrage Association, and was a founding member of the Greenwich Equal Franchise League. Ruutz-Rees also founded the National Junior Suffrage Corps around 1914.{{Cite book |last=NAWSA |url=https://htext.stanford.edu/dd-ill/womansuffrage.pdf |title=The Hand Book of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Annual Convention Held at Nashville, Tennessee |publisher=N. W. S. Publishing Co., Inc. |year=1914 |location=New York |pages=43–44}} Ruutz-Rees participated in a large women's suffrage parade in Hartford in 1919.{{Cite journal |last=Lemay |first=Kate |date=Fall 2019 |title=Caroline and Her Convictions |url=https://issuu.com/choaterosemaryhall/docs/204366_f19_bulletin_hr/s/156905 |journal=Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin |via=Issuu}} The suffragists presented a 27,000 signature petition in support of the women's vote to the Connecticut state legislature. During World War I, Ruutz-Rees served as the chair of the Woman's Committee of Connecticut's Council of Defense.{{Cite journal |date=July 1918 |title=Contributors to this Number of the Yale Review |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_yale-review_1918-07_7_4/page/n233/mode/2up?q=%22caroline+ruutz+rees%22 |journal=The Yale Review |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=x |via=Internet Archive}} She held the chair for more than a year, and resigned due to her other commitments.{{Cite news |date=July 11, 1918 |title=Miss Ruutz-Rees Resigns as Chairman of Women's Division |pages=2 |work=Hartford Courant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115983376/hartford-courant/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was also a supporter of the Woman's Land Army.{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Kathleen Eagen |date=Winter 2015 |title=Greenwich Women Face the Great War |url=https://www.ctexplored.org/greenwich-women-face-the-great-war/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=Connecticut Explored |language=en-US}} At Rosemary Hall, Ruutz-Rees had students plant and care for community war gardens.

Ruutz-Rees continued to participate in civic life after women won the vote. In 1920, she was appointed to the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee.{{Cite news |date=March 31, 1920 |title=Women Share Honors With Men on Executive Committee of Democratic National Committee |pages=3 |work=The Palm Beach Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115983575/the-palm-beach-post/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1922, she was considered a possible Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.{{Cite news |date=July 15, 1922 |title=Miss Ruutz-Rees May Be Candidate for U.S. Senate |pages=1 |work=The Bridgeport Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115983038/the-bridgeport-telegram/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Ruutz-Rees turned over the full-time administration of the school to Eugenia Baker Jessup in 1938 and continued to work with the school after her retirement.{{Cite journal |date=May 1950 |title=Rosemary's Girls |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_newsweek-us_1950-05-15_35_20/page/80/mode/2up?q=%22caroline+ruutz+rees%22 |journal=Newsweek |volume=35 |issue=20 |pages=80–81 |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite news |date=February 16, 1954 |title=Miss Caroline Ruutz-Rees, Founder of Rosemary Hall in Greenwich |pages=67 |work=Newsday (Nassau Edition) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115479847/newsday-nassau-edition/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |via=Newspapers.com}} During her life, she adopted two children. Ruutz-Rees died in her home in Greenwich on February 15, 1954.

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• [https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/omeka/items/show/5973?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ruutz-Rees%2C+Caroline%2C+1865-&sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CCreator "Why I am a Democrat" from an address by Caroline Ruutz-Rees]

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Category:1865 births

Category:1954 deaths

Category:Academics from London

Category:Activists from London

Category:People from Greenwich, Connecticut

Category:American women academics

Category:American women educators

Category:Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:British emigrants to the United States

Category:Suffragists from Connecticut