{{short description|American art historian}} {{Infobox person | name = Kate Elderkin | image = KateDennyMcKnight1919.png | alt = A young white woman with short hair | caption = Kate Denny McKnight, later Elderkin, from the 1919 yearbook of Vassar College | birth_name = Kate Denny McKnight | birth_date = February 14, 1897 | birth_place = San Diego, California, U.S. | death_date = February 16, 1962 (aged 65) | death_place = Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Art historian, archaeologist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = Elizabeth Pierce Blegen (cousin) }}
'''Kate Denny McKnight Elderkin''' (February 14, 1897<ref name=":4">Birth date and father's name from Kate Denny McKnight's 1920 application for a United States passport; historian Ida Thallon Hill, her cousin's partner, vouched for McKnight's citizenship on the same form; via Ancestry.</ref> – February 16, 1962) was an American art historian and archaeologist. She taught at Vassar College and was an editor of the ''American Journal of Archaeology'' with her husband, George W. Elderkin.
==Early life and education== Kate Denny McKnight was born in San Diego and raised in Riverside, California, the daughter of Woodruff McKnight<ref name=":4" /> and Cora Burdon McKnight. Her father died when she was very young;<ref>{{Cite news |date=1898-06-04 |title=Woodruff McKnight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-woodruff-mcknigh/156828439/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009175149/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-woodruff-mcknigh/156828439/ |url-status=live }}</ref> her mother remarried, to Arthur Robinson Ocheltree.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1927-02-08 |title=$200,000 Estate Left by Mrs. M'Knight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/reno-gazette-journal-200000-estate-lef/156820173/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155331/https://www.newspapers.com/article/reno-gazette-journal-200000-estate-lef/156820173/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1927-02-03 |title=Death Follows Long Illness |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/reno-gazette-journal-death-follows-long/156821145/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Reno Gazette-Journal |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155333/https://www.newspapers.com/article/reno-gazette-journal-death-follows-long/156821145/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Both her father and her stepfather owned orange orchards in California. Her younger brother Arthur Ocheltree became an opera singer in the 1930s, and younger brother John Ocheltree was a Rhodes Scholar and a diplomat.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1936-04-30 |title=Singer Returns to Native Town; Arthur Ocheltree Has Become Famous Since He Left Riverside |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/riverside-daily-press-singer-returns-to/156821409/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Riverside Daily Press |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155337/https://www.newspapers.com/article/riverside-daily-press-singer-returns-to/156821409/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She graduated from Vassar College in 1919,<ref>Vassar College, ''Vassarion'' (1919 yearbook): 88. via Internet Archive.</ref> and earned a master's degree in 1920.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 17, 1920 |title=Vassar Confers Degrees on 1920 |url=https://news.hrvh.org/veridian/?a=d&d=vcmisc19200617-01.2.7&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |work=Miscellany News |pages=1, 5}}</ref> She completed doctoral studies at Radcliffe College in 1922.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1924-05-07 |title=Kate M'Knight Weds Professor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/riverside-daily-press-kate-mknight-weds/156819329/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Riverside Daily Press |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155337/https://www.newspapers.com/article/riverside-daily-press-kate-mknight-weds/156819329/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Her cousin Elizabeth Denny Pierce Blegen was an archaeologist.<ref name="Noti">{{cite web |last1=Langridge-Noti |first1=Elizabeth |title=Elizabeth Pierce Blegen (1888–1966) |url=https://www.brown.edu/Research/Breaking_Ground/bios/Blegen_Elizabeth%20Pierce.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060520102750/http://www.brown.edu/Research/Breaking_Ground/bios/Blegen_Elizabeth%20Pierce.pdf |archive-date=May 20, 2006 |access-date=March 24, 2017 |website=Breaking Ground: Women in Old World Archeology |publisher=Brown University}}</ref>
==Career== McKnight taught art at Vassar College,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1919-02-27 |title=Kate M'Knight is Highly Honored |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/riverside-daily-press-kate-mknight-is-h/156819643/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Riverside Daily Press |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155335/https://www.newspapers.com/article/riverside-daily-press-kate-mknight-is-h/156819643/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and participated in excavations in North Africa and in the Greek Islands as a young woman. From 1925 to 1931, she edited the book review section of the ''American Journal of Archaeology'', while her husband was editor in chief.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Elderkin, Kate |url=https://arthistorians.info/elderkink/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=Dictionary of Art Historians |language=en |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155332/https://arthistorians.info/elderkink/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She spoke about archaeological topics to women's clubs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1925-01-10 |title=Ancient Aegean Homes is Subject of Lecture; Dr. Kate Elderkin Speaker at Woman's Club Yesterday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-advance-ancient-aegean-home/156819903/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=The News and Advance |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155332/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-advance-ancient-aegean-home/156819903/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Her studies of everyday objects in antiquity, including jointed dolls and buttons, drew attention beyond her academic field.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1931-03-09 |title=Children's Graves Tell Story of Jointed Doll |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-grand-rapids-press-childrens-graves/156820433/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=The Grand Rapids Press |pages=16 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155334/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-grand-rapids-press-childrens-graves/156820433/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1928-10-04 |title=Greeks Used Buttons on Armor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stanton-register-greeks-used-buttons-on/156820635/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Stanton Register |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155336/https://www.newspapers.com/article/stanton-register-greeks-used-buttons-on/156820635/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1944 she published a travel memoir, ''From Tripoli to Marrakesh''.<ref name=":3" />
==Publications== * "Chachrylion and His Vases" (1924)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elderkin |first=Kate McKnight |date=1924 |title=Chachrylion and His Vases |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/310710 |journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology |volume=35 |pages=75–136 |doi=10.2307/310710 |jstor=310710 |issn=0073-0688 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=2024-10-09 |access-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155331/https://www.jstor.org/stable/310710 |url-status=live }}</ref> * "The Ulysses Panels by Piero di Cosimo at Vassar College" (1924)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McKnight |first=Kate Denny |date=June 1924 |title=The Ulysses Panels by Piero di Cosimo at Vassar College |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00043079.1924.11409430 |journal=The Art Bulletin |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=99–102 |doi=10.1080/00043079.1924.11409430 |issn=0004-3079|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * "Aphrodite Worship on a Minoan Gem" (1925)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elderkin |first=Kate McK. |date=1925 |title=Aphrodite Worship on a Minoan Gem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/497722 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=53–58 |doi=10.2307/497722 |jstor=497722 |issn=0002-9114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * "An Alexandrian Carved Casket of the Fourth Century" (1926)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elderkin |first=Kate McK. |date=1926-04-01 |title=An Alexandrian Carved Casket of the Fourth Century |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/497432 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |language=en |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=150–157 |doi=10.2307/497432 |jstor=497432 |issn=0002-9114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * "Buttons and their use on Greek Garments" (1928)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elderkin |first=Kate McK. |date=1928-07-01 |title=Buttons and Their Use on Greek Garments |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/497471 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |language=en |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=333–345 |doi=10.2307/497471 |jstor=497471 |issn=0002-9114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * "Jointed Dolls in Antiquity" (1930)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elderkin |first=Kate McK |date=1930-10-01 |title=Jointed Dolls in Antiquity |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/498710 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |language=en |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=455–479 |doi=10.2307/498710 |jstor=498710 |issn=0002-9114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * "The Contribution of Women to Ornament in Antiquity" (1936) * ''From Tripoli to Marrakech'' (1944)<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kate Denny McKnight Elderkin |url=https://archive.org/details/fromtripolitomar0000kate/mode/2up |title=From Tripoli to Marrakesh |date=1944-01-01 |publisher=The Pond-Ekberg company |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
==Personal life== McKnight married archaeologist George Wicker Elderkin in 1924, at Union Theological Seminary, with Harry Emerson Fosdick performing the ceremony.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1924-05-06 |title=Vassar Romance Now Revealed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/middletown-times-herald-vassar-romance-n/156819205/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Middletown Times Herald |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2024-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009155332/https://www.newspapers.com/article/middletown-times-herald-vassar-romance-n/156819205/ |url-status=live }}</ref> They had three children. In 1936 she made a roadtrip from New Jersey to California with her brother Arthur and his colleague, Emanuel Marti-Folgado.<ref name=":0" /> She died in 1965, at the age of 62, at her home in Princeton, New Jersey.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1962-02-18 |title=Kate Elderkin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/vallejo-times-herald-obituary-for-kate-m/156819826/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |work=Vallejo Times-Herald |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>via Associated Press. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-central-new-jersey-home-news-obituar/156848898/ Mrs. George Elderkin"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009234131/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-central-new-jersey-home-news-obituar/156848898/ |date=2024-10-09 }}, ''The Daily Home News'', February 17, 1962. Accessed October 9, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Princeton - Kate McKnight Elderkin, former Vassar College instructor and trustee of Miss Fine's School here, died today at her home, 11 Hazlet Ave."</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elderkin, Kate}} Category:1897 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Historians from New Jersey Category:People from Princeton, New Jersey Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Radcliffe College alumni Category:American art historians Category:American editors Category:American women art historians Category:20th-century American women Category:Academics from San Diego Category:20th-century American historians