Ruth Elizabeth Spence

Ruth Elizabeth Spence (née, Spence; after marriage, Arndt; 1890–1982) was a Canadian teacher and historian of Prohibition.[1] She was the co-founder of South Africa's nursery school movement,[2] and served as President of the South African Nursery School Association.[3]

Early life and education

Ruth Elizabeth Spence was born in Toronto, Canada, on June 2, 1890. Spence came from a family of temperance workers. Her father was Francis Stephens Spence, who was one of the pioneer leaders in the Prohibition movement in Canada.[1] Her mother was Sarah Violet (née Norris).[3]

She was educated in the Jarvis Collegiate Institute, the Harbord Collegiate Institute, Toronto, and the University of Toronto (B.A., 1913).[2][1] She received her Ph.D. (1924)[2] from Columbia University where she studied under John Dewey.[4] The title of her Ph.D. dissertation was, Education as Growth: Its Significance for the Secondary Schools of Ontario.[5]

Career

She was a teacher in the Collingwood Collegiate Institute, Collingwood, Ontario (1914–15); in Jarvis St. Collegiate Institute, Toronto (1915–19), and served as secretary of the Student Christian Movement of Canada, University of Toronto (1919–21).[1]

She was the author of Prohibition in Canada: A Memorial to Francis Stephens Spence, a comprehensive history of the Prohibition moveement in the Dominion, wvritten as a memorial to her father, and published by the Dominion Alliance (Toronto, 1919). She was a delegate of the Alliance to the Fifteenth International Congress Against Alcoholism, held at Washington, D.C., in 1920, and she addressed that body on "The Movement Against Alcoholism in the Dominion of Canada".[1]

In 1975, she received an honorary degree from the University of South Africa.[2]

Personal life

While she was a student at Columbia University, she met Ernst Arndt, economist and Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank. His father was Rev. J. Arndt of Bloemfontein, South Africa. They married on August 6, 1926, in South Africa.[2][3]

The couple had a son and a daughter.[3]

Death and legacy

Ruby Elizabeth Spence Arndt died in Pretoria, South Africa, on September 8, 1982.[2]

The Ruth Arndt Early Learning Centre in Pretoria is named in her honour.[2]

Selected works

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Cherrington, Ernest Hurst, ed. (1930). "SPENCE, RUTH ELIZABETH.". Standard encyclopedia of the alcohol problem. Vol. VI Simons-Zythos (Public domain ed.). Westerville, Ohio: American Issue Publishing Co. p. 2507. Retrieved 24 February 2026 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Obituaries. Ruth Arndt, fought for nursery schools". The Toronto Star. 16 September 1982. p. 9. Retrieved 24 February 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d "OBITUARY. Ruth Elizabeth Spence ARNDT, in Pretoria, South Africa, September 8, 1982; 92 years old". The Toronto Star. 17 September 1982. p. 33. Retrieved 24 February 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Dagg, Anne Innis (1 January 2006). The Feminine Gaze: A Canadian Compendium of Non-Fiction Women Authors and Their Books, 1836-1945. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-88920-845-2. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  5. ^ University of Toronto Monthly (Public domain ed.). 1925. p. 452. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.