Episode 04: Elizabeth Bragg Cumming
Elizabeth Bragg Cumming arguably was the first woman to receive a degree in engineering from an American university. She was born to a wealthy family in San Francisco, California in 1858. Elizabeth was extremely good at math. She went to the preparatory high school that was attached to the University of California at Berkeley. And once she finished high school there, she went straight into civil engineering. She paid no mind to people that thought she didn’t belong there because she was a woman, and she graduated in 1876 from the College of Civil Engineering with her Senior Thesis “A Solution of a Peculiar Problem of Surveying.” After graduating she became a teacher until her marriage, at which point she retired from teaching and became a full-time mother and homemaker until 1929 when she passed away at 71 years of age.
Caryatid: Eleanor K. Baum
Eleanor K. Baum, is the first woman to become the Dean of an engineering school in the United States! In 1984, Eleanor was named Dean of Pratt Institute's School of Engineering in New York. Three years after that, she became Dean of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at Cooper Union and is now Dean Emeritus. She is also the first woman president of the American Society for Engineering Education, ASEE. In 1990, the Society of Women Engineers awarded her the Upward Mobility Award. In 2007, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
-
This transcript was prepared during the development of the episode.
Final recorded episode may deviate slightly from the content presented below as changes, edits, or improvements may be made during the recording and editing process.
Hey girl heyy
Norgerie: Before we start today’s episode we wanted to tell you a few things, first, we are going to mention a strongly worded news article headline of the day, that discusses a violent act resulting in death. I wanted to let you know in case you decide you rather skip that part from 19:10 fast forward 30 seconds, and it should be ok. All right, then on a happier note we want to say thank you so much for all the support you have giving us the past episodes, it means so much to us
Jessica: Yeah thank you so much. Y’all have been so amazing and we have received so much love and awesomeness that we have decided to end our season with a wrap up episode where we discuss our thoughts throughout the season, and more. Gotta a question about the ladies that we have talked about? Do you have questions for us? Wanna know what plans we have for future episodes? What do you wanna know???
Norgerie: Yeah what Jessica said, please keep sending us your questions and comments to our email shebuildspodcast@gmail.com and you might hear them at the end of this season.
Jessica: Stay tuned!
Cue intro music
Norgerie: Hi! Welcome to She Builds Podcast where we share stories about women in the design and construction field one lady at time. Today we’re gonna talk about Elizabeth Bragg Cumming who depending on who you ask, was the first woman to receive a degree in engineering from an American university. I’m Norgerie Rivas staying home, podcasting safe in Houston Texas.
Jessica: Hi, I’m Jessica Rogers sheltering in place out of Washington DC
Lizi: Hi, I’m Lizi Raar, on week 7 of quarantine in San Francisco.
Norgerie: Yeay! Now that you know us, quick disclaimer. The three of us are not historians, nor are we experts on this subject.
Jessica: Yeah, so if we get our facts a little mixed up, please forgive us, leave us a comment and we will all continue learning.
Norgerie: I'm so happy we are here recording this episode today. I almost decided not to do it.
Lizi: Really? Why?
Norgerie: There is just not a lot of information about Elizabeth on the internet. Almost everything about her fits in one paragraph. And that’s why I decided to make this episode because I don’t want Elizabeth’s story to just be that she was the first woman to graduate with an engineering degree.
Lizi: That’s fair, ok. How about you tell us where she is from?
Norgerie: Ok let's get to know Elizabeth Bragg, get acquainted, and become friends. The place was San Francisco, California. The time was 1854 or 1858
Jessica: Wait, what? That’s a big gap.
Norgerie: Well, according to some sources it was 1854 and others 1858. But actually her grave says 1858 so I guess we should go with that Ok, let’s start over. The time was 1858. Her parents were Robert and Mary Philbrook Bragg. And Elizabeth was the middle child of 10 children.
Jessica: WOW 10 kids! Well the tv wasn’t invented until 1927 so what else did they have to do for fun? hahaha
Norgerie: Elizabeth’s family was wealthy. Her dad was a San Francisco ship builder, and her family was listed in the city’s “blue book” of elites.
Lizi: what’s that?
Norgerie: it was a book with the names and address of the who’s who of San Francisco.
Lizi: ohhhh okay.
Norgerie: I spent a little bit of time looking through it to see if I would find more information on Elizabeth, but nope, it was really just addresses. Which is kinda strange like why would they want people to know where they live, sounds dangerous.
Jessica: hmmm well times were different back then - this was also around the era of phone books.
Lizi: Yeah that’s what I was going to say, we’re not too young to remember address and phone books. That was a common thing for a long time. I think the safety thing is a newer idea that people think about.
Norgerie: That’s true. I didn’t think about that. Well today the Blue Book as an address book does not exist. If you look for the San Francisco Blue Book you’ll find the web page for the Regulations for Working in San Francisco Streets.
Lizi: Is that like guidelines for streetwork?
Norgerie: Yeah like utilities, pavements, parking lots, bike lanes, traffic codes, I mean its a manual its kinda boring, please stop me.
Jessica: Oh what, that was so interesting, so fascinating, riveting. Well it's a Manual not a comic book.
Norgerie: Yeah we can’t ask for much entertainment from a manual. Well , anyway looking through the Blue Book, the original one, her family lived on Castro Street. Which I bet back then was not the big LGBTQ community it is today.
Lizi: Probably not. I think that developed more in the 1960s-70s. Until then it was more of a working-class neighborhood.
Norgerie: Check this out. Elizabeth was extremely good at math. Because she was so advanced she was bored in her school, so her father supported her to go to the prep high school that was attached to Berkeley University. And once she finished high school, she went straight into civil engineering. Doesn’t this remind you of every lady we have talked about?
Jessica: Yeah, Milka skipped a grade, Norma excelled in math and science
Lizi: Yeah and Julia really loved school too.
Norgerie: Tell me about it, I mean I liked school but this was another level. Good for them.
Jessica: Yeah
Norgerie: Something I found super interesting about Elizabeth was that she and her sisters earned college degrees in teaching, science, or engineering. It sounds like Elizabeth’s family was progressive and encouraged their daughters to get college degrees, and on science subjects. I mean even to this day STEM fields are mostly men, so I wonder if at the time it was a bit scandalous that these ladies dared get degrees in science and engineering.
Jessica: yeah that’s true. Architecture is a very male dominated profession but when you compare it to engineering and construction the numbers are even lower for women.
Lizi: Yeah and then in science they’re super low as well.
Norgerie: Right, so Elizabeth graduated in 1876 from the College of Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley 12 years before Julia Morgan, remember Julia Morgan?
Lizi: Of course, from our previous episode. So it was Elizabeth who paved the way for Julia?
Norgerie: Yes, she did. Fun Fact: Check out the show notes for a presentation from the Berkeley website about the beginning of the College of Civil Engineering. It was established in 1872, the first graduate was in 1873 and three years after him Elizabeth received her degree. Which I thought was pretty quick, they accepted women faster than I would have thought.
Lizi: Yeah, that’s really cool that they allowed women into the program so soon after it started. Especially if you compare it to the Ecole de Beaux Arts which took almost 250 years to accept women. But I suppose that has something to do with the fact that UC Berkeley as a whole was only founded in 1868, and the times were changing.
Jessica: I guess when you compare it to Europe- the US was more progressive? But maybe it was just Berkeley that was on to something
Norgerie: Who knows… Well back to Elizabeth, judging from Julia’s experience about studying at Berkeley I bet Elizabeth went through the same issues or worse.
Jessica: Yeah even physically going to school - like remember the time that Julia had to be escorted to class by her brother?
Lizi: You mean all the time?
Jessica: Yes, all the time, not just that one time.
Lizi: Yeah it was considered socially unacceptable for her to be out in public alone, so her brother had to go with her everywhere on campus. And the men in class weren’t that friendly to her either.
Norgerie: Seriously, I am so thankful we didn’t experience anything like that when we went to college. We can’t take the struggles of these women for granted.
Jessica: No way.
Norgerie: So according to Elizabeth her college professors gave no special considerations to women, they treated them as interlopers but the girls were like whatever man watch me do me, and they went about their business and did their work. Let me read you a quote from Elizabeth “My work was unusual, and possibly I had less friction than some of the other ‘co-eds.’ And then I was sort of a boy among boys, and so I managed to get along pretty comfortably.
Jessica: What does that mean? Was she like a tomboy?
Norgerie: I am really not sure, I just think in her own way she got used to the situation and learned to just make herself part of the group or at least she felt like she did. She also said that people looked at the women in college all weird and they thought it was out of place for women to want to be there but Elizabeth didn't care. She looked back on those days, and I quote, “with genuine pleasure.” When I read that I imagined her in a music video walking around college watching them haters and being like Get, that, dirt your shoulders
Jessica: Go on and brush your shoulders off” it didn’t phase homegirl and she kept it moving. The professor might not have paid her no mind but she was just going to do her thing and get hers.
Norgerie: Well, check this out: her senior thesis was called “A Solution of a Peculiar Problem of Surveying.” isn’t that a delightful name?
Lizi: Very charming
Jessica: It sounds riveting actually it sounds very boring but then again...
Lizi: Jessica!
Jessica: Come on, COME ON! Sounds boring.
Lizi: It’s a cute name!
Jessica: Yea sure, sounds like it came out of Mary Poppins or Something
Norgerie: exactly! I thought it sounded like something in the Sound of Music.
Lizi: But, what was the peculiar problem? And what was the solution?
Norgerie: I wish I could tell yeah from my research I could tell you what ship her ancestor arrived in to the United States of America, that she was a Daughter of the American Revolution. I can tell you where Elizabeth is buried and her parents, her husband, her children, and I could not find her thesis paper from Berkeley University. I called the University, left a message, emailed them, and we’re still waiting. Maybe in a future episode we’ll have an update “Berkeley gets back to Norgerie” if we get our hands on the thesis.
Lizi: I mean it is quarantine, so maybe we’ll cut them a little slack. Right?
Norgerie: Fine. I will update you guys if they return my call. Well, I looked in the International Archive of Women in Architecture, and I could find that they have a box with information about her but it seems I would have to go to Virginia Tech to read it.
jessica: You would have to schedule a visit and they would have the information you’re looking for ready for you to read when you arrive.
Norgerie: Yeah well, I am choosing to stay safe at home in Texas during these times. We will have to plan to visit another time.
Jessica: Good idea. Norgerie I’ve had a question since you began your story. Why do people argue if she was the first woman to receive a degree in engineering?
Norgerie: Well apparently in 1892, a lady named Elmina Wilson, future episode alert, was the first woman to receive a civil engineering degree from a 4-year program at Iowa State University. Which mean’s Elizabeth’s program was less than four years. But I mean Elizabeth was 18 years old when she became a civil engineer, and she did it in less than four years? If you ask me Elizabeth was a genius.
Jessica: a engineering prodigy more like it
Norgerie: Yeah, Elizabeth graduated in 1876 with her Solution of a Peculiar Problem of Surveying. And a few years later Elizabeth was a part of the American Association of University Women, which I didn’t know about until I started this research, have you guys heard of them?
Jessica: not a clue
Lizi: Nope. Is that still a thing?
Norgerie: I found early periodicals that mention that Elizabeth was a member so I looked into the Association. It was begun in 1881 by Marion Talbott and a group of women college graduates that got together to help and empower each other in their career advancement and to pursue higher education, and the association continues to do that today! They offer a few different fellowships and grants to women. In 1920, AAUW found a little scientist they wanted to support none other than Madame Marie Curie. Members helped raise $100,000 to purchase a gram of radium for Curie to use in her research. No big deal.
Jessica: $100,000 for a gram.
Lizi: Casual
Lizi: Wow. That’s really cool. I had no idea that was a thing.
Norgerie: Elizabeth graduated with a Ph B in Civil Engineering. With her hard work she won her professors over and they wanted her to continue into graduate studies at the university, so that they could recommend her to work as a drafter for the United States Coast Service. But Elizabeth decided to become a teacher instead.
Jessica: seems admirable
So even though the internet makes it seem like Elizabeth didn’t do much, she really did accomplish a lot by graduating engineering school. It might sound like nothing today, but back then she was super brave and amazing. And then she joined the pioneering American Association of University Women. So if you learn one thing about Elizabeth today, learn that she was a boss. I don’t know if you guys can tell but I am really impressed with Elizabeth.
Jessica: me too!
Lizi: Yeah it sounds like she was in that early group of pioneering women. Did you find anything else about what she did after graduating?
Norgerie: Well yes, she was a teacher until she got married and she stopped teaching after that. Elizabeth lived with her Bragg family until her marriage, which I am guessing is exactly what every other woman was doing at the time. She married George Cumming, a civil engineer with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. No records show that she practiced engineering but I mean her husband was a civil engineer, so I wonder if she would sometimes sneak in her thoughts on whatever he was working on.
Lizi: Yeah maybe. That reminds me of another female engineer, Emily Roebling. She became well known by having to pick up the work of her husband and father-in-law when they got sick. We’ll learn more about her at some point in a future episode.
Norgerie: George was a character actually. I found more information about him than I did about Elizabeth. He seemed to be a bit eccentric and a frustrated artist.
Jessica: oohh, what kind of artist?
Norgerie: a sculptor and a painter
Jessica: Oh, that’s cool
Lizi: Was sculpting and painting a side thing for him?
Norgerie: yeah, he was highly respected and looked up to as an engineer at the railroad company but his true passion was art. News clippings of his life I found mentioned he enjoyed living alone, which kinda fits the profile of an artist I guess?
Lizi: Wait did he and Elizabeth not live together? Did they divorce?
Norgerie: Yeah, they did not live together, not sure when he moved out but he did at some point move to a hotel. Actually in a sad grim turn of events. I was minding my own business trying to learn about Elizabeth and found a news article titled SP Engineer for 35 years kills himself.
Lizi: What?!
Norgerie: George M Cumming found in Room at Lankershim Hotel with his Throat Cut. and I was like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Lizi: That was the title of the article??
Norgerie: Yeah, not only is it super long
Lizi: Yes
Norgerie: but, how is that the title of a news article? What if some family member didn’t know and that’s how they found out!
Jessica: I guess in the 1900s anything goes.
Norgerie: The article mentioned he had been living in that hotel for months, so that’s how I know they weren’t living together.
Lizi: Oh I see.
Norgerie: But I mean poor Elizabeth having to live that tragedy as well.
Lizi: Yikes, that is rough. Poor Elizabeth and poor kids!
Norgerie: Elizabeth becomes a widow in 1916 and then she passes away 1929 at 71 years of age. May she rest in peace.
Jessica: What a way to end her story.
Norgerie: Yep. The End. Well it's time to talk about her notable works. Since there is no record she practiced, we will mention another type of notable work, first but not least, George Bragg Cumming
Jessica: David Bragg Cumming
Lizi: Alan Bragg Cumming
Norgerie: Robert Bragg Cumming. That’s right she had four boys, no girls for her.
Lizi: Four boys is so many. Sounds like she had her work cut out for her.
Norgerie: Lizi you grew up with two brothers right?
Lizi:Yep, and they were a handful so can’t imagine four.
Jessica: Yeah, it seems like she had a lot to handle.
Norgerie: And with that it's time for our caryatid! Lizi, would you do the honor of introducing this section of our podcast please.
Lizi: Sure, a Caryatid is a stone carving of a woman, used as a column or a pillar to support the structure of a Greek or Greek-style building. In each episode we present a “caryatid” -- a woman who is working today, furthering the profession through their work, and who ties in to the historical woman of our episode.
Norgerie: Drum roll please… Eleanor K. Baum,
Lizi and Jessica: (applause) Yeay!
Norgerie: She is the first woman to become the dean of an engineering school in the United States! In 1984, Baum was named dean of Pratt Institute's School of Engineering in New York. Three years after that, she became dean of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at Cooper Union, and is now dean emeritus.
Jessica: wow that is so amazing.. Like for one both of these schools are very impressive… and I never knew that Pratt had an engineering department
Norgerie: She is also the first woman president of the American Society for Engineering Education ASEE. In 1990, the Society of Women Engineers awarded her the Upward Mobility Award which recognizes a woman with at least twenty (20) years of experience, who is a manager, leader, and influence in her field and has created a nurturing environment for other women in the workplace. Isn’t that super cool?
Lizi: Yeah, that is so great.
Jessica: yeah that's really cool
Norgerie: She’s also achieved a lot more but we will have to discuss that in a future episode all about her!
Jessica: Stay tuned!
Norgerie: Yep yep, until then, it's time to say goodbye we wanna thank CMYK for the music, check them out on Spotify. John W our technical producer. And most of all, you the listeners, thank you very much. We hope you enjoyed learning about Elizabeth and Eleanor, along with our banter, and that you are inspired to find out more about them and other amazing professional ladies. Again, thank you!
Jessica: Please let us know what you thought of our episode. We are excited to hear from you and for you to come back and keep learning about women bosses with us. You can email us your thoughts at shebuildspodcast@gmail.com, leave us a comment on our website shebuildspodcast.com or follow us on instagram and facebook @shebuildspodcast, or on twitter @shebuildspod. Until then, BYE!
Jessica: Norgerie do you mean PhD?
Norgerie: Nope, it said PhB
Jessica: What’s that?
Norgerie: it stands for Bachelor of Philosophy. For that degree you have to do a lot of research, a thesis or supervised research project. Even though it's called Bachelor of Philosophy, in a lot of universities today it's a postgraduate degree.
Jessica: interesting
History of UC Berkeley Engineering
“Milestones.” Berkeley Engineering, 2020 UC Regents, 26 Feb. 2020, https://engineering.berkeley.edu/about/milestones/
References
“10 Female Engineers Who Helped Pave the Way.” BachelorsDegreeOnline.Com, www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2012/10-female-engineers-who-helped-pave-the-way. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.
American Association of University Women. “Journal of the American Association of University Women.” Google Books, Sept. 1916, books.google.nl/books?id=aHlUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA89&dq=elizabeth+bragg+cummings&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=elizabeth%20bragg%20cummings&f=false.
“Baum, Eleanor K.” National Women’s Hall of Fame, www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/eleanor-k-baum. Accessed 22 July 2020.
Coltrane, Jenn Wilson. “Index of the Rolls of Honor (Ancestor’s Index) in the Lineage Books of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volumes 1 to 160.” Google Books, The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1920, books.google.nl/books?id=7NJKAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA27&lpg=RA1-PA27&dq=Mary+Philbrook+bragg+san+francisco&source=bl&ots=RqazlEHIDn&sig=ACfU3U15Sb18yBbqvYpah-pByXey-CtRvQ&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Mary%20Philbrook%20bragg%20san%20francisco&f=false.
d’Wylde, Marge . “150 Years and Counting: Co-Education and the College of Chemistry.” Catalyst Magazine, 16 June 2020, catalyst.berkeley.edu/2020/05/27/150-years-and-counting.
H. Dutton, Arthur. “San Francisco Call 8 December 1912 — California Digital Newspaper Collection.” CDN UCR, 8 Dec. 1912, cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19121208.1.6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1.
Hoag, Charles C. “San Francisco Blue Book; the Fashionable Private Address Directory, San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley-Alameda.” Google Books, Charles C Hoag, Editor and Publisher 225 Post Street, 1902, books.google.nl/books?id=Org1AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=robert+bragg+san+francisco+blue+book&source=bl&ots=dNpC7AyGcT&sig=ACfU3U2Vxol-7eQwG6ANEiw2TX_lK1VN-g&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=robert%20bragg%20san%20francisco%20blue%20book&f=false.
Humphreys, Sheila. “A Salute to Early Women in STEM at UC Berkeley.” Department Newsletter, Berkeley EECS, 2 Mar. 2020, newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/2019/03/a-salute-to-early-women-in-stem-at-uc-berkeley.
Lorentson, Callie. “Spotlight on Women in Electrical Engineering: Eleanor K. Baum | Powerstudies.Com.” Power Studies Inc, 27 Sept. 2017, www.powerstudies.com/blog/spotlight-women-electrical-engineering-eleanor-k-baum.
“Milestones.” Berkeley Engineering, 2020 UC Regents, 26 Feb. 2020, engineering.berkeley.edu/about/milestones.
San Francisco Chronicle. “George Marion Cummings.” Newspapers.Com, 24 Dec. 1916, www.newspapers.com/clip/14242107/george-marion-cummings.
Weingardt, Richard. “Engineering Legends.” Engineering Legends, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2005, pp. 192–93. ascelibrary, ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061/%28ASCE%29LM.1943-5630.0000082.
Wikipedia contributors. “Eleanor K. Baum.” Wikipedia, 18 June 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_K._Baum.
Image:
d’Wylde, Marge . Portrait of Elizabeth Bragg Cumming. Catalyst Magazine, 16 June 2020, catalyst.berkeley.edu/2020/05/27/150-years-and-counting. www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-8/cite-digital-image-mla-8/
