Background
Anna Lane Lingelbach was born on October 10, 1873 in Shelbyville, Illinois, United States, the daughter of Oscar F. Lane, a farmer and Disciples of Christ minister, and Mary F. Welding Lane.
Anna Lane Lingelbach was born on October 10, 1873 in Shelbyville, Illinois, United States, the daughter of Oscar F. Lane, a farmer and Disciples of Christ minister, and Mary F. Welding Lane.
Lingelbach attended private schools, then entered the University of Indiana, having effectively coerced her father with the threat that she would work her way through if he did not send her. She majored in history and received the Bachelor of Arts in 1895 and the Master of Arts the following year. From 1896 to 1898 she continued her historical studies at the University of Chicago. She attended the Sorbonne during 1910-1911. She received the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1916, with a dissertation entitled "Application of the British Navigation Acts to Intercourse with America, 1783-1815. "
In 1918 Lingelbach took her first college teaching position, a one-year temporary appointment in modern European history at Bryn Mawr. In 1922 she accepted an appointment as professor of history at Temple University, where she remained until her retirement in 1952. Lingelbach's academic career coincided with a considerable one in public service. From 1917 to 1920 she was an officer of the United Service Club, which served approximately 250, 000 enlisted men. She was also the only female member of the Pennsylvania Crime Prevention Association, and for a number of years served on the executive board of the Republican Women's Club of Pennsylvania.
From 1923 to 1929 she was president of the New Century Club, a group devoted to social service and cultural activities, including the sponsorship of an adult education program for working women. In 1923, too, Lingelbach joined the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, which she served as vice-president from 1943 to 1948. She was, in addition, president, from 1934 to 1938, of the Philadelphia Federation of Women's Clubs and, from 1935 to 1945, chairman of the West Philadelphia Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Lingelbach also worked on the Philadelphia Board of Education from 1920 to 1950, serving as its vice-president from 1938 to 1948.
These activities did not interrupt Lingelbach's career as a historian. Among her publications were two articles in the American Historical Review, "Inception of the British Board of Trade" (July 1925) and "William Huskisson as President of the Board of Trade" (July 1938). She also wrote nineteen biographical sketches for the Dictionary of American Biography, most of them of relatively obscure Philadelphian subjects, eight of whom were women. (Her best-known subject was the novelist Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur. ) During World War II, she wrote articles for Current History on the contemporary situation in Spain and Italy, succeeding her husband, who had handled the same topics during the 1930's. (It is interesting to note that although their interests were closely linked, the Lingelbachs never published jointly.)
She also wrote "The Board of Public Education, " Home-School-Community, April 1939; "Save Our Schools" (1938) and "William Penn as Seen in Excerpts from His Writings" (1932). She died in Philadelphia.
Lingelbach may be regarded as an outstanding example of a woman who combined, with remarkable success, a career as a feminist, wife, mother, and historian with extensive civic contributions. She was the first woman to serve on the Philadelphia Board of Education. During her tenure the board faced such issues as whether teachers should be allowed to bob their hair (1922), the necessity of religious education in the high schools, and accusations of Communistic teaching. She also brought a strong feminist commitment to her service on the board, fighting for equal pay for women teachers and defending their right to marry and have children while employed.
Lingelbach advocated courses in civics, since she believed that the schools represented the best training ground for good government. She also believed that women made better mothers if they worked outside the home.
On May 31, 1902, Anna married William Ezra Lingelbach, who taught modern European history at the University of Pennsylvania. They had three children.
