Bessie Louise Pierce | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 20, 1886 Caro, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | October 3, 1974 (aged 88) Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Occupation | Historian |
Bessie Louise Pierce (April 20, 1886 – October 3, 1974) was an American historian[1] known for her three-volume work, A History of Chicago.[2]
Pierce was born in Caro, Michigan,[2] and grew up in Waverly, Iowa.[3] She earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Iowa and obtained a master's degree at the University of Chicago in 1918.[3] She joined the faculty of the University of Iowa history department under Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., who urged her to get a doctorate.[4]
In 1929, she returned to the University of Chicago at the request of Charles Edward Merriam to oversee the History of Chicago project.[3] For the Century of Progress in 1933, she wrote As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673–1933.[4] She then began her most notable work, A History of Chicago. The first two volumes were published in 1937 and 1940. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955.[5] She completed the third volume in 1957, three years after she retired[2] and became a professor emeritus.[6] Pierce began work on a fourth volume, which was to cover the years 1894 to 1915,[6] but it was never completed. She returned to Iowa in 1973 and died the following year.[2]