Merrill, Ellen C. 1935–

views updated

Merrill, Ellen C. 1935–

PERSONAL:

Born September 17, 1935, in Oak Park, IL; daughter of Dana Noyes and Ruth Emerson Merrill; married first husband, December 30, 1961 (divorced March 15, 1979); married Raymond N. Calvert, October 18, 1986; children: three. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Attended William and Mary College, 1953-55; H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute, B.A., 1957; University of Heidelberg, diploma, 1960; Tulane University, Ph.D., 1965. Politics: Republican. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Portrait painting, gardening.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—New Orleans, LA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Loyola University in New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, instructor, 1965-67; University of New Orleans, New Orleans, instructor, 1967-69; Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, curator of education and director of German archive, 1977-85; Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA, adjunct professor, 1984-85; Dillard University, New Orleans, associate professor and chair of Department of World Languages, 1986-2001.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

ACTFL-National Textbook Company Award, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1989; grants from Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and National Park Service.

WRITINGS:

Self-Affirmation and Self-Abnegation in the Prose Works of Hermann Hesse, University of Cincinnati Press (Cincinnati, OH), 1975.

(Translator and editor) Helmut Blume, The German Coast during the Colonial Era, 1722-1803: The Evolution of a Distinct Cultural Landscape in the Lower Mississippi Delta during the Colonial Era with Special Reference to the Development of Louisiana's German Coast, German-Acadian Coast Historical and Genealogical Society (Destrehan, LA), 1990.

Germans of Louisiana, foreword by Don Heinrich Tolzmann, Pelican Publishing (Gretna, LA), 2005.

Contributor to Gulf Coast Historical Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

With her book Germans of Louisiana, Ellen C. Merrill produced "the most comprehensive examination to date of the German role in the Pelican State's history," according to Journal of Southern History contributor Reinhart Kondert. Tracing the presence and influence of German speakers from various nations from their arrival in 1721 to the end of World War II, Merrill includes detailed information about their activities in areas such as business, culture, religion, education, and architecture. A final chapter includes brief biographies of 167 notable Louisiana German-Americans. Writing in History, Martin Lorenz-Meyer acknowledged the "wealth of information" contained in the book but also remarked upon what he saw as "significant flaws," such as spelling errors, repetitions, and stereotypes. Still, he maintained that "the information provided in this book will be helpful to researchers." Kondert expressed concern that most of Merrill's sources were previously published German-language materials, but "even so," he concluded, "the author is to be commended for making a valuable contribution in her field," which would serve both scholars and laymen.