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Separate Lives: Uncovering the Hidden Family of Victorian Professor Mary Rippon
A pioneer woman educator in the male-dominated world of nineteenth-century academia, Mary Rippon was the first female professor at the University of Colorado and is believed to have been the first woman in the United States to teach at a state university. Mary received wide acclaim for her teaching, but Victorian society forced her to lead two very separate lives. "Miss Rippon," as she was always known, was both a professional woman and a mother in an era when these two roles could not be combined. To keep her job and provide for her family, she hid her husband and child behind a Victorian veil of secrecy that spanned two continents. Separate Lives reveals the full story of the conflicts between this extraordinary woman’s public and private lives.
In January 1878, after several years of education in Germany, France, and Switzerland, the soft-spoken twenty-seven-year-old was welcomed at the newly opened University of Colorado in the then-small frontier town of Boulder. The growth of her lengthy career paralleled the early growth of the university, where she worked her way up from first female faculty member to the university's first female professor, eventually chairing the Department of German Language and Literature.
The truth of Mary’s separate lives was not disclosed until nearly a century later, in 1976, when her elderly grandson revealed to a university librarian that he was Mary’s descendant. In 2006, Mary received a posthumous honorary degree from the University of Colorado, and in 2020 a scholarship was endowed in her name. Silvia Pettem’s carefully researched biography weaves together the story of Mary’s private life with her professional career—not to tarnish Mary's well-deserved reputation, but rather to uncover the human side of a woman whose circumstances clashed with the mores of her times.
In January 1878, after several years of education in Germany, France, and Switzerland, the soft-spoken twenty-seven-year-old was welcomed at the newly opened University of Colorado in the then-small frontier town of Boulder. The growth of her lengthy career paralleled the early growth of the university, where she worked her way up from first female faculty member to the university's first female professor, eventually chairing the Department of German Language and Literature.
The truth of Mary’s separate lives was not disclosed until nearly a century later, in 1976, when her elderly grandson revealed to a university librarian that he was Mary’s descendant. In 2006, Mary received a posthumous honorary degree from the University of Colorado, and in 2020 a scholarship was endowed in her name. Silvia Pettem’s carefully researched biography weaves together the story of Mary’s private life with her professional career—not to tarnish Mary's well-deserved reputation, but rather to uncover the human side of a woman whose circumstances clashed with the mores of her times.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2024
6 people want to read
About the author
Silvia Pettem
34 books6 followersSilvia Pettem (www.silviapettem.com) is a longtime historical researcher, newspaper columnist, and author of more than twenty books. Just released is IN SEARCH OF THE BLONDE TIGRESS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ELEANOR JARMAN.
After decades of work for individuals and governments, her life took a new turn in 1996, when she stumbled upon the gravestone of a Jane Doe –– a murder victim from 1954. Pettem then applied her research skills to both old-fashioned detective work and the power of the internet by entering into a partnership with her local sheriff and with forensic experts of the Vidocq Society to successfully determine the young woman's identity. Pettem chronicled their work in "Someone's Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe," recently republished as an "Updated Edition."
After decades of work for individuals and governments, her life took a new turn in 1996, when she stumbled upon the gravestone of a Jane Doe –– a murder victim from 1954. Pettem then applied her research skills to both old-fashioned detective work and the power of the internet by entering into a partnership with her local sheriff and with forensic experts of the Vidocq Society to successfully determine the young woman's identity. Pettem chronicled their work in "Someone's Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe," recently republished as an "Updated Edition."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 1, 2025
Not at all what I was expecting, and I’m so glad it wasn’t.
Mary Rippon supported her deadbeat husband through thick and thin. They divorced and she still paid for and supported his new family as well as her daughter. All while she taught and inspired hundreds of students at Colorado University.
I loved the investigative narrative, the simplicity of the writing style, and the passion the author clearly felt about this project.
Mary Rippon supported her deadbeat husband through thick and thin. They divorced and she still paid for and supported his new family as well as her daughter. All while she taught and inspired hundreds of students at Colorado University.
I loved the investigative narrative, the simplicity of the writing style, and the passion the author clearly felt about this project.
Displaying 1 of 1 review