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Constance Mayfield Rourke
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Constance Mayfield Rourke

American historian
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Quick Facts
Born:
Nov. 14, 1885, Cleveland
Died:
March 23, 1941, Grand Rapids, Mich., U.S. (aged 55)
Subjects Of Study:
United States
culture
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Constance Mayfield Rourke (born Nov. 14, 1885, Cleveland—died March 23, 1941, Grand Rapids, Mich., U.S.) was a U.S. historian who pioneered in the study of American character and culture. After earning an A.B. from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., (1907) and studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, Rourke taught English at Vassar. In 1915 she resigned, thereafter working as a research historian and free-lance writer devoted to defining the historical aspects of the American character through the interpretation of popular culture. She is best known for American Humor: A Study of the National Character (1931). Considered a classic work of scholarship, ...(100 of 158 words)

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