Esperantist Couple Studied Law Together

That second period after "Mrs." isn't the only mistake

To anyone who has sweated their way to a law degree, it might be galling, that Edwin C. Reed and Ivy Kellerman-Reed took up law school as a recreation, obtaining their law degrees simultaneously on May 28, 1913. It would seem that after the end of the 1910 Universala Kongreso, and many months to come before their only child was conceived, they needed something to fill up the time. So they studied at the Washington College of Law.

In a way, the Reeds were the American Esperanto movement’s power couple. She was a noted linguist, and the author of one of the first American textbooks on Esperanto, A Complete Grammar of Esperanto (despite the title, it’s a textbook, not an analysis of the usage patterns of Esperanto), and an editor of Amerika Esperantisto. He was the secretary of the Esperanto Association for North America, but as the presidency was pretty much an ceremonial position during the first four years of the organization (during the presidencies of George Harvey and John Barrett), the secretary was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the EANA.


The Reed’s academic adventure was written up in two newspapers, the essentially the same information (probably provided by the law school) and some of the same text. The Washington Herald had the longest piece:

HUSBAND AND WIFE TO BE GRADUATED

Dr. and Mrs.. Edwin C. Reed to Get Diplomas from Washington School of Law.

The unusual spectacle of a man and wife graduating in the same class will be presented tonight when the members of the senior class of Washington School of Law step upon the platform at Memorial Continental Hall to receive their degrees.

The couple are Dr. Edwin C. Reed and Mrs. Ivy Keller-Reed. both being well known Esperantists, the former being secretary of the Esperanto Association of North America and the latter the editor of the magazine published here by the association. They have lived in Washington several years and there is only five weeks’ difference in their ages. Another interesting feature is that both hold degrees, the husband being an M. D. from the Harvard Medical School and the wife being entitled to write A. B., A. M. and Ph. D. after her name. She was formerly an instructor of Greek at Grinnell College, Iowa, and frequently contributes verse to the pages of the some of the best known magazines.

Dr. Reed and his wife are both ardent believers in woman suffrage. They studied law merely as a diversion, neither expecting to practice.

A few years before Kellerman-Reed was born, the Supreme Court upheld bans on admitting women to the bar associations. At the age of thirty-five, Kellerman-Reed could elect to either go into practice or not.

The Washington Evening Star had a shorter article.

STUDIED LAW TOGETHER

Husband and Wife to Receive Their Diplomas at Same Time.

When the degrees of bachelor of laws are conferred by Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, dean of the Washington College of Law, tonight at Continental Memorial Hall, the unusual spectacle of a man and wife graduating in the same class will be witnessed.

These graduates are Edwin C. Reed and his wife, Mrs. Ivy Kellerman-Reed. Mr. and Mrs. Reed decided as a recreation to study law and, accordingly, two years ago entered the law school. Another interesting feature is that both hold degrees, the husband being an M. D. from the Harvard Medical School and the wife being entitled to write A. B., A. M. and Ph. D. after her name. She was formerly an instructor of Greek at Grinnell College, Iowa. Mr. Reed is the secretary-treasurer of the Esperanto Association of North America.

Some of the same text, some of the same information, some of the same misinformation. This one gets her name right. Then there’s that bit about Edwin C. Reed’s degree. Really? This was not the first article the referred to him as “Dr. Reed,” however, when I wrote about a pair of 1910 articles on a dispute in the Esperanto movement, I simply noted that he was not an M.D.

He did go to Harvard Medical School. The 1910 Census lists him as a “student (medical),” but he doesn’t seem to have progressed any further than that. In 1904, the Cambridge City Directory lists him as a plasterer and tinter, no doubt working for his father, who was a contractor. More damning is that Harvard University Directory indicates that he left Harvard Medical School without a degree. His entry in the 1910 Harvard Directory runs as follows:

Reed, Edwin Clarence [m 1900–2. Ed.] Washington, D.C.

As printed, there’s a gap between “1900–02” and “Ed.,” because that's where the degree would go. If he had one. Let’s look at another Reed:

Reed, Charles Henry [dn 1902–05, D.M.D. Dent.] 7 Gifford’s Block, Attleboro, Mass.

Charles Henry Reed went to Harvard Dental School from 1902 to 1905, where he received a dental degree. He works as a dentist, then it gives his address. We can read Edwin Reed’s entry as:

Attended Harvard Medical School, 1900 to 1902, no degree, works as an editor, lives in Washington, D.C.

Ouch. When the Herald referred to the couple as “Dr. Edwin C. Reed and Mrs. Ivy Keller-Reed,” they made two mistakes, as they should have said “Mr. Edwin C. Reed and Dr. Ivy Kellerman-Reed.” Her Ph.D. was real. No word on their relative class rankings.