Julia Anna Norris
{{short description|American physician}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Julia Anna Norris
| image = J. Anna Norris (1919).png
| alt = A white woman in an oval frame; she is wearing a simple white shirt with a long pointed collar, and a string of white beads or pearls
| caption = J. Anna Norris, from a 1919 publication
| other_names = J. Anna Norris
| birth_name =
| birth_date = November 29, 1874
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts
| death_date = September 18, 1958
| death_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota
| occupation = Physician, college professor
| years_active =
| known_for = Taught physical education at the University of Minnesota from 1912 to 1941
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Julia Anna Norris (November 29, 1874 – September 18, 1958), often known as J. Anna Norris, was an American physician and college professor, based in Minneapolis.
Early life and education
Julia Anna Norris was born in Boston, the daughter of Edward L. Norris and Sarah E. Hoyt Norris. She studied physical education at the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, and completed a medical degree at Northwestern University in 1900.{{Cite web|last=Hunt|first=Sophie|title=From the Magazine: Edifices for Educators|url=https://hennepinhistory.org/edifices-for-educators/|access-date=2021-06-25|website=Hennepin History Museum|date=2 April 2021 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2015-03-02|title=Women's History Month: UMN Faculty|url=https://mnwomenscenter.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/womens-history-month-umn-faculty/|access-date=2021-06-25|website=University of Minnesota Women's Center Blog|language=en}}
Career
From 1900 to 1911, Norris taught physical education at Cortland Normal School, where she introduced women's basketball to campus.{{Cite journal|last=State University of New York College at Cortland|date=1897-01-01|title=Team Photograph, Women's Basketball|url=https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/womenbasketball_images/47|journal=Women's Basketball Images}} While teaching at the University of Chicago, she also served as "assistant school physician",{{Cite book|last=University of Chicago|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myoXAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Anna+Norris%22+%22physical+education%22&pg=PA65|title=Annual Register|date=1911|publisher=|pages=65|language=en}} and published a series of academic articles on physical education, titled "A Graded Course in Schoolroom Gymnastics" (1911).{{Cite journal|last=Norris|first=Julia Anna|date=1911|title=A Graded Course in Schoolroom Gymnastics. V|journal=The Elementary School Teacher|volume=11|issue=10|pages=505–516|doi=10.1086/454069|jstor=992580|s2cid=222328253|issn=1545-5858|doi-access=free}}
In 1912 she joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota,{{Cite news|date=1912-09-11|title='U' Girls Director to Promote Dancing|pages=3|work=Star Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80227899/u-girls-director-to-promote-dancing/|access-date=2021-06-25|via=Newspapers.com}} where she taught physical education and was director of Physical Education for Women until she retired in 1941.{{Cite journal|last=Norris|first=J. Anna|date=1941|title=The Challenge of the Field of Health and Physical Education|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42915707|journal=Pi Lambda Theta Journal|volume=20|issue=2|pages=45–47|jstor=42915707|issn=2374-3093}}{{Cite book|last=Brady|first=Tim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HejHPrsZXeQC&q=%22Anna+Norris%22+%22physical+education%22&pg=PA80|title=Gopher Gold: Legendary Figures, Brilliant Blunders, and Amazing Feats at the University of Minnesota|date=2007|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|isbn=978-0-87351-601-3|pages=80|language=en}} Under her tenure, the physical education department added a pool, two gymnasiums, and classroom space, and launched a teacher training program.{{Cite book|last=University of Minnesota|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWEiKQasWh0C&q=%22Anna+Norris%22+%22physical+education%22&pg=PA25|title=A Sketch of the University of Minnesota During a Quarter Century, 1900-1925 ...|date=1925|pages=25|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=1923-07-22|title=Demand for Physical Educators in Schools Declared Increasing|pages=61|work=Star Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80228187/demand-for-physical-educators-in/|access-date=2021-06-25}} She worked for the establishment of the college's student health service, and women's sports.{{Cite book|last=Verbrugge|first=Martha H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phfoCwAAQBAJ&q=%22Anna+Norris%22+%22physical+education%22&pg=PA181|title=Able-bodied Womanhood: Personal Health and Social Change in Nineteenth-century Boston|date=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-505124-7|pages=181–182|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}} "The gymnasium and its apparatus is all very well while it lasts," she told a newspaper in 1912, "but I want the girls to wake up to the possibilities of fun and exercise that can go on after they leave college."
Beyond the university, Norris wrote a pamphlet, "Physical Education as a Profession" (1923), for the Woman's Occupational Bureau.{{Cite book|last=Norris|first=Julia Anna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7nnnQEACAAJ&q=%22Anna+Norris%22+%22physical+education%22|title=Physical Education as a Profession|date=1923|publisher=Woman's Occupational Bureau|language=en}} She also wrote the introduction for a textbook, Leonora Anderson's An Athletic Program for Elementary Schools, Arranged According to Seasons (1927).{{Cite journal|date=1927|title=Review of 'An Athletic Program for Elementary Schools. Arranged According to Seasons'|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42836008|journal=The Journal of Education|volume=106|issue=24|pages=647–648|doi=10.1177/002205742710602421|jstor=42836008|s2cid=220805225|issn=0022-0574}} In 1921, Norris debunked a published claim that "athletic girls made the worst mothers", pointing out that there was no evidence to support the claim and citing the physical activity of pioneer women in the US.{{Cite news |date=June 26, 1921 |title=Attacks on Athletics for Women are Discounted Here |work=Minnepolis Sunday Tribune}}
Norris was vice president of the national council of the American Physical Education Association, and president of the Mid-West Association of Directors of Physical Education for Women in Colleges and Universities.{{Cite journal|last=Bell|first=Margaret|date=May 1932|title=Mid-West Association of Directors of Physical Education for Women in Colleges and Universities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxdMAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Anna+Norris%22+%22physical+education%22&pg=RA4-PA6|journal=The Journal of Health and Physical Education|volume=3|issue=5|pages=6–7|doi=10.1080/23267240.1932.10626468}}{{Cite news|date=1926-02-28|title=Dr. Norris Announces M.P.E. Convention Plans|pages=42|work=Star Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80228508/dr-norris-announces-mpe-convention/|access-date=2021-06-25|via=Newspapers.com}} She was president of the Minneapolis Women's Rotary Club.{{Cite news|date=1929-05-26|title=Dr. J. Anna Norris Heads Rotary Women|pages=52|work=Star Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80228611/dr-j-anna-norris-heads-rotary-women/|access-date=2021-06-25|via=Newspapers.com}}
Personal life and legacy
Norris was blind in her later years, and learned to type and use Braille. She died at her Minneapolis home in 1958, aged 83 years.{{Cite news|date=1958-09-19|title=Dr. Anna Norris Dies; 'Phy Ed' Pioneer at 'U'|pages=36|work=The Minneapolis Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46236763/the-minneapolis-star/|access-date=2021-06-25|via=Newspapers.com}} She donated her 40 acres of land at Anoka, Minnesota to the University of Minnesota.{{Cite news|date=1941-07-01|title=Dr. J. Anna Norris Leaving 'U' Post After 3 Decades|pages=28|work=The Minneapolis Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80228297/dr-j-anna-norris-leaving-u-post/|access-date=2021-06-25|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|last=Dolan|first=Phyllis|date=1941-10-26|title=Retirement Brings Playtime for Dr. Norris, 'U' Sports Director|pages=37|work=The Minneapolis Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80228753/retirement-brings-playtime-for-dr/|access-date=2021-06-25|via=Newspapers.com}} This land with her cabin is part of the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. A gymnasium at the university was named for Norris,{{Cite web|last=Olson|first=Amy|title=Long-awaited St. Paul Gym|url=https://mndaily.com/202038/uncategorized/long-awaited-st-paul-gym/|access-date=2021-06-25|website=The Minnesota Daily}} as is a scholarship fund.{{Cite web|title=J Anna Norris Scholarship Fund [0496]|url=https://www.cehd.umn.edu/|access-date=2021-06-25|website=College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota|language=en}} Norris Field House and Gymnasium was demolished in 2011.{{Cite web|last=Johnson|first=Brian|date=2011-08-16|title=University of Minnesota advances plans to demolish Norris Hall|url=https://finance-commerce.com/2011/08/university-of-minnesota-advances-plans-to-demolish-norris-hall/|access-date=2021-06-25|website=Finance & Commerce|language=en-US}} In 1928, she was elected a Charter Fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology (née American Academy of Physical Education).{{cite journal |last1=Cardinal |first1=Bradley J. |title=The National Academy of Kinesiology: Its founding, focus, and future |journal=Kinesiology Review |date=2022 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=6–25 |doi=10.1123/kr.2021-0064}}
References
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Category:Physicians from Boston