Eleanor Blair papers

Eleanor Blair was a teacher, freelance editor, photographer, and active Wellesley alumna. She was born in Montour Falls, Schuyler County, New York on August 8, 1894 and attended Cook Academy in Montour Falls, graduating in 1913. In 1917 she graduated from Wellesley College and earned a master’s degree in English from Columbia University in 1920. She took classes at the New School for Social Research in 1927 and spent two summers taking classes in Ornithology and English at Cornell University. She taught at private schools throughout the country: Salem College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Ferry Hall, Lake Forest, Illinois; Masters School, Dobbs Ferry, New York; Bancroft, Worcester; and Dana Hall, Wellesley, Massachusetts.

During World War II Blair worked on editing publications at the MIT Radiation Laboratory for the National Defense Research Committee office for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She did freelance editorial work for publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, D.C. Heath, and Ginn and Company specializing as a style consultant and in the indexing of textbooks. Upon retiring, she renewed a lifelong interest in photography. She learned to develop and print her own works. This led to the publishing of her book Wellesley College and Community in 1974.

In 1917, Blair witnessed the fire that destroyed College Hall at Wellesley College. Years later, after locating the broken and charred pillars from the building, she organized her class to restore them. Dedicated in 1972, the memorial, located on the edge of Lake Waban, was given to the college by the Class of 1917. A longtime resident of Wellesley, she was involved in both historical preservation and environmental issues of the Wellesley area. Blair lived for many years on Cottage St. in Wellesley with Cécile De Banke. Eleanor Blair died on May 8, 1992 and is buried in Montour Falls, Schuyler County, New York.