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Louise Frederick Hays

Louise Frederick Hays (or Louese Frederick Hays;[a] April 18, 1881 – October 14, 1951) was an American activist and archivist.

Louise Frederick Hays
Born
Louese Caroline Frederick

(1881-04-18)April 18, 1881
Marshallville, Georgia
United States
DiedOctober 14, 1951(1951-10-14) (aged 70)
Montezuma, Georgia, US
Alma materWesleyan College (1900, A.B.; valedictorian)
University of Georgia (1924, Litt.D.; honorary)
SpouseJames Elijah Hays (1902–1929)
Director of the Georgia Department of Archives and History
In office
January 1, 1937 (1937-01-01) – October 14, 1951 (1951-10-14)
Preceded byRuth Blair
Succeeded byMary Givens Bryan

Biography

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Louese Caroline Frederick was born in Marshallville, Macon County, Georgia on April 18, 1881.[1] In 1897, Hays enrolled at Wesleyan College as a sophomore, where she was president of Wesleyan's Philomathean Society; she was also editor-in-chief of the group's yearbook, Philomathean (1900). She graduated as valedictorian of her class in 1900. She chaired the first Phi Mu annual convention in Norfolk, Virginia in 1907.[2] As an alumnus, she was secretary of her class through 1950, when she organized its golden reunion.[3]

She married James Elijah Hays in 1902.[3][4] They had two children. The family operated a peach farm. James Hays died on February 23, 1929.

Hays was a member of many organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Colonial Dames of America, the General Federation of Women's Clubs,[5] the Macon County Democratic Women's Club, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, for which she was state registrar from 1916 to 1919.[6][3] She was the first woman trustee of the University of Georgia and a trustee at Tallulah Falls School.[2]

Hays received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Georgia in 1924.[3] From 1925 to 1935, she was the postmaster of Montezuma. She was appointed in 1930 to write a history of Macon, which sparked an interest in history.[7] Georgia secretary of state John B. Wilson named her as director of the Georgia Division of Archives and History in 1937, following Ruth Blair, and she held the role until her death, when Mary Givens Bryan took over as director.[8][9][10][11][12]

During the 1930s, Hays lived in the National Register of Historic Places-listed Jones-Peterson House, now known as the Alma Fruit Farm.[13]

In 1946, she published Hero of Hornet's Nest, a biography of Elijah Clarke.[14] She was honored by the Atlanta branch of the National League of American Pen Women.[15] In 1950, she edited and wrote and introduction for Eliza A. Bowen's The Story of Wilkes County, Georgia.[16]

Hays died on October 14, 1951 in Montezuma at the age of 70.

In 2004, Hays was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement.[3]

Selected works

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  • Hays, Louise Frederick (1933). History of Macon County. Atlanta: Stein Printing Co.
  • Hays, Louise Frederick (May 1942). "Benjamin Franklin Keene: Founder of the California Medical Association". California and Western Medicine. 56 (5): 297–300. PMC 1634399. PMID 18746201.
  • Hays, Louise Frederick (1946). Hero of Hornet's Nest: A Biography of Elijah Clark. New York: The Hobson Book Press.

Notes

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  1. ^ Hays wrote her own name as "Louese" in a 1900 yearbook; it is spelled "Louise" elsewhere, even in the same publication.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Frederick, Louese Caroline, ed. (1901). Philomathean, 1900. Chicago: The Philomathean Society of Wesleyan College. p. 18.
  2. ^ a b "Class Notes - 1900s". Wesleyan Magazine. 31 (1): 23. Summer 2001.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Louise Frederick Hays". Georgia Women of Achievement. 2004. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Greetings to Georgia Club Women From State and National Leaders". The Atlanta Constitution. December 25, 1921. p. 4.
  5. ^ Montgomery, Rebecca (2000). "Lost Cause Mythology in New South Reform: Gender, Class, Race, and the Politics of Patriotic Citizenship in Georgia, 1890-1925". In Coryell, Janet L. (ed.). Negotiating Boundaries of Southern Womanhood: Dealing with the Powers That Be. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0826212956.
  6. ^ "Daughters of the Confederacy - State Registrar". The Atlanta Constitution. Vol. 52, no. 77. August 31, 1919.
  7. ^ "Alumnae Publications". Wesleyan Alumnae. 10 (1): 11. February 1934.
  8. ^ "Mrs. Hays Names to Head Archives, History Bureau". The Atlanta Constitution. November 15, 1936.
  9. ^ Engerrand, Steven W. (April 2022). "Georgia Women of Achievement: Mary Givens Bryan 2021" (PDF). From the Vaults. 7 (1): 9.
  10. ^ "Stephen Heard Miniature Found". The Atlanta Constitution. Vol. 80, no. 340. May 20, 1948. p. 14.
  11. ^ Davis Jr., Robert S. (January 1990). "Short Subjects: Georgia Ghosts, or Where Are They Now?: One Researcher's Catalog of Georgia's Missing Historical Records". Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists. 8 (2): 41.
  12. ^ Engerrand, Steven (February 2017). "The Georgia Archives Building" (PDF). From the Vaults. 2 (1).
  13. ^ Kirkland, Irene. "Jones-Peterson House Inventory Form".
  14. ^ Jones, Ralph T. (December 10, 1947). "Some Fascinating History of Georgia". The Atlanta Constitution. Vol. 80, no. 178. p. 10.
  15. ^ "Pen Women Plan to Give Breakfast for Celebrities". The Atlanta Constitution. Vol. 79, no. 236. February 6, 1947. p. 19.
  16. ^ "On the Bookshelf". Everton's Genealogical Helper. 52 (2): 168. March–April 1998.

Further reading

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  • Gaston, J. Harper (2009). A Heritage Lived Up To and Beyond: A Tribute to the Life of Louise Frederick Hays and Her Family. Greenville, Georgia: Gaston Enterprises.
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