The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 443

Book Reviews

Apostle of Democracy: The Life of Lucy Maynard Salmon.
By Louise Fargo Brown. New York (Harper and Broth-
ers), 1943. Pp. 306. Illustrations and appendix. $3.50.
Professor Louise Fargo Brown has chosen accurately the
title "Apostle of Democracy" for this biography of Lucy May-
nard Salmon. Miss Salmon taught and practiced democracy.
Though intensely shy, she was ever ready to fight for a better
world. Her original studies, as the History of the Appointing
Power of the President, Domestic Service, and the two vol-
umes, The Newspaper and Authority and The Newspaper and
the Historian, have stimulated movements for democratic
reforms.
In the light of current political and educational trends, Miss
Salmon's creed of democracy is of interest. Miss Salmon be-
lieved "' . . . progress is made only through co-operation,
. . . ' " and that " ' .. . the organization becomes effective
only as the individual as such disappears and works with others
for the good of all.' " Her democratic way was to work with
others, in organized groups and federations, for higher stand-
ards but not for recognition of any individual or group. She
worked with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae in order
to obtain higher standards in education for women as well
as men. As Professor of History at Vassar College, Miss
Salmon worked with students and faculty for higher standards
on the campus. With radical, though now commonplace, ideas
in teaching history, she gave her students rich adventures in
research. Former students and friends co-operated with her
in securing historical collections for a research library and
instituted the Lucy Maynard Salmon Fund for Faculty Re-
search at Vassar College. Deploring the undemocratic govern-
ment of the American college, Miss Salmon courageously pro-
posed faculty discussions of educational problems and suggested
for Vassar a faculty reorganization with a new committee
system and a faculty and student committee arrangement. Both
have been established at Vassar.
Miss Salmon has been called a stormy petrel in the field
of education. Her proposal for a College Entrance Examination
Board materialized in 1901. In educational articles, she urged
higher standards for the training and selection of teachers
for the public schools. She believed that educational progress
may come only through closer co-operation among colleges and

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