Maria Brace Kimball

Her studies, preceded by practice in teaching and reading in the West, were followed by an engagement as teacher of elocution in Vassar College (1880–85).[2] During several years of residence there, a certain time was reserved every winter for work outside of the college community. In teaching as well as in reading, Kimball always associated the art of elocution with the interpretation of the best literature. Her annotated readings from the English classics and from more recent masterpieces of prose and poetry often formed a supplement to the course in English literature in schools.[3]

In 1883, Kimball made her first visit to Europe. Through the influence of Adolphe Regnier, the French actor and teacher, she was admitted to the daily sessions of the dramatic classes in the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Declamation, in Paris.[2] A close study of the French classics in the hands of the pupils and of their masters, the four leading actors of the Theatre Francais, proved a valuable lesson in dramatic reading and criticism. In addition to the daily rehearsals in the Conservatoire, there were talks with Regnier, who generously gave his criticism of her own work. The course in the Conservatoire was supplemented by frequent visits to the Theatre Francais, where the professors were often seen in their well-known roles as actors. Kimball's interest in the art of acting received a great impulse from that winter in Paris.[3]

Upon her return to New York City she read, in the Madison Square Theatre, an account of the methods of the Theatre Francais as taught in the National Conservatoire. The lecture attracted the attention of actors and critics who were present and was repeated many times in New York and elsewhere. During the spring of 1884, an effort was made to establish in New York a school for actors. Kimball became actively interested in the undertaking and was at once engaged as a teacher of dramatic elocution and lecturer upon dramatic literature. She also taught elocution in the Brearley School for Girls since its opening in New York, in 1884. Her lectures and readings became favorably known in Philadelphia and New York. The topics were "Francois Del Sarto in Paris," "Colloquial Elocution" and "Professional Elocution."

On February 3, 1892, in New York City, she married Dr. James Peleg Kimball (1840–1902), one of the most notable late 19th-century United States Army surgeons.[4][2] He changed his middle initial later in life from Peleg to Patterson, a family name.[5] They honeymooned at the Acropolis in Greece before making their way to his military post at Fort Clark, Texas.[6] They had one son, Philip Brace Kimball (b. Governors Island, New York Harbor, 1898).[2]

Kimball made occasional contributions to periodical literature upon various phases of her chosen subject, and she was constantly collecting material, both at home and abroad, for further essays and lectures, including a text-book of elocution. In addition to her active work in her profession, Kimball was interested in the social life of her contemporaries. She was a frequent contributor to the monthly conversations of The Meridian Club. She represented the alumnae of her own college on the governing board of the College Settlement. That home, in the slums of the East Side, represented the first organized effort of college-educated women to improve the condition of life among the poor. She was one of the founders and the first president of the Women's University Club of New York.[3]

In 1919, Vassar Quarterly reported that Kimball had sold her property at Onteora and bought a house at Nantucket, Massachusetts, for a summer home.[7]

Kimball opposed woman suffrage. In religion, she was Episcopalian. She was a member of the Association of College Alumnae, Associate Alumnae of Vassar College; Women's University Club, New York City; the Meridian Club, New York City; and the Onteora Club, Tannersville, New York.[2] She died in 1933.

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kimball, Mrs. Maria Porter Brace (1917). A Soldier-doctor of our army (Public domain ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Leonard, John William (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 (Public domain ed.). American Commonwealth Company. p. 456.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Library of Congress, Copyright Office. (1917). Catalog of copyright entries: Books. Part, group 1 (Public domain ed.). Library of Congress, Copyright Office.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Vassar College (1919). Vassar Quarterly. 5–6 (Public domain ed.). Vassar College.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 112.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

• DeWolf, James Madison (25 May 2017). A Surgeon with Custer at the Little Big Horn: James DeWolf's Diary and Letters, 1876. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-5813-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Eales, Anne Bruner (1996). Army Wives on the American Frontier: Living by the Bugles. Big Earth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55566-166-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)