Eleanor Joy Toll

Eleanor Joy Toll (July 9, 1869 — February 2, 1926) was an American educator and clubwoman based in Southern California. She taught at Los Angeles High School, helped found the Glendale Symphony Orchestra, and was the first woman appointed as trustee on the board at Scripps College.

Eleanor Joy Toll, in a 1922 publication.

Early life

Eleanor Margaret Joy was born in Winona, Minnesota, the daughter of William Henry Joy and Ruth Anna Morgan Joy. Her father served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The family moved to California in 1875.[1]

Career

Eleanor Joy taught at Los Angeles High School before she was married.[2] After her sons were in school, she became involved in the Parent-Teacher Federation of Glendale, serving as president, vice-president, and educational chair. In 1916 she founded the Mutual Benefit Reading Circle,[3] a weekly book group for mothers that soon grew too large to meet in her home, and had to relocate to the city library; the format was copied nationally.[4] In 1917, she was elected to the Glendale school board, and was president of the board for three years. In 1920, she was appointed a trustee of the California School for Girls in Ventura.[5] She was the first woman appointed to the board of trustees at Scripps College; however, she died before she was able to serve.[6]

As a clubwoman, Toll was a founding member of the Foothill Club, and president of the large and active Ebell Club of Los Angeles.[7] She was also the founder and first president of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Association.[8]

Personal life and legacy

Eleanor Joy was the first wife of Charles H. Toll, a banker;[9] they married in 1901,[2] and had four sons together.[1] She died in 1926, after a heart attack, aged 56 years.[10]

In 1927, the year after she died, the first dormitory at Scripps College opened, and was named Eleanor Joy Toll Hall in her memory.[11] Similarly, Eleanor J. Toll Middle School in Glendale was named for her, months after she died.[12] The Los Angeles headquarters of the California Federation of Women's Clubs was named the Eleanor Joy Toll Memorial Headquarters, also in 1927.[13]

Her son Maynard Toll was a tax attorney in Los Angeles, president of the city's school board and one of the founding trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.[14] Her Glendale home, built in 1913 and designed by architect Charles Edwin Shattuck, was added to the Glendale Register of Historic Places in 1977.[15]

References
  1. John Calvin Sherer, History of Glendale and Vicinity (Glendale Publishing 1922).
  2. "Events in Society" Los Angeles Times (September 5, 1901): 12.
  3. Myra Nye, "What Women are Doing: Memorial" Los Angeles Times (March 2, 1926): A6.
  4. A. A. Barton, "A Representative Reading Circle and Its Methods" Child-Welfare Magazine 17(11)(July 1923): 477-478.
  5. "Fourth Biennial Report of the California School for Girls" (California State Printing Office 1921): 4.
  6. "Mrs. C. H. Toll Passes; Wife of Banker Executive was Past President of Ebell Club and Active as Organizer" Los Angeles Times (February 3, 1926): A1.
  7. Louis Lyons and Josephine Wilson, eds., Who's Who Among the Women of California (Security Publishing Company 1922): 49.
  8. Blanche G. Bobbitt, The Glendale Symphony Orchestra, 1924-1980 (Glendale Symphony Orchestra Association 1980): 11, 52. ISBN
  9. "Charles Hobert Toll" The Annals of Iowa 29 (1949): 566.
  10. "Prominent Civic Leader, Formerly Here, Has Passed" Healdsburg Tribune (February 10, 1926): 1. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
  11. Eleanor Joy Toll Hall, Scripps College, campus map.
  12. "History of Eleanor J. Toll Middle School", Toll Middle School website.
  13. Untitled news item, Press-Courier (November 28, 1927): 3. via Newspapers.com
  14. Jack Jones, "Maynard Toll, Prominent L.A. Attorney, Ex-School Board Chief, Civic Leader, Dies" Los Angeles Times (October 15, 1988).
  15. City of Glendale, Reconnaissance Survey and Historic Context Statement Of Craftsman Style Architecture 2006-2007 (October 2007): 26.
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