Meribeth Elliott Cameron records

Meribeth Elliott Cameron, an academic administrator and historian, was born in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada on May 22, 1905 to John Cameron (1872-circa 1904) and Margaret Elliott Cameron (1874-1963), a teacher. Cameron graduated from Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California in 1921 and entered Stanford University in Palo Alto, California to study Far East history. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she earned a B.A. degree from Stanford in 1925. Cameron remained at Stanford for the next year and served as a graduate assistant in history and she was awarded a M.A. degree in history in 1926. Cameron earned a second Master's degree in history at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1927. In late 1927, Cameron returned to Stanford, where she again served as a graduate assistant in history and completed her dissertation, "The Reform Movement in China, 1898-1912." She was awarded a Ph.D. in History and Political Science at Stanford in 1928. Cameron then worked as a history Instructor at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon from 1928-1934 and Flora Stone Mather College of Western Revere University in Cleveland, Ohio from 1934-1937. In 1937, Cameron was promoted to Assistant Professor of history at Flora Stone Mather. Cameron next held the position of Dean of the College and Professor of history at Milwaukee-Downer College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1941-1948. In 1948, Cameron became an Academic Dean and Professor of history at Mount Holyoke College and remained in this position until retiring in 1970 at the age of sixty-five. While at Mount Holyoke, Cameron served as acting president of the college in 1956, 1966 and 1968-69, while simultaneously teaching a full course load. Cameron held several positions with organizations including president of the International Federation of University Women from 1959-62 and board member and charwoman of the National Committee on International Relations of the American Association of University Women from 1953-59. She was an original editor of The Journal of Asian Studies and served as the book review editor from 1941-1951. During her academic career, Cameron published numerous journal articles, a book, "The Reform Movement in China, 1898-1912" and co-authored another book, "China, Japan and the Powers." Later in life, she also held several honorary degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Oberlin College, Wheaton College and the University of Western Australia. Cameron died at Holyoke (Mass.) Hospital on July 11, 1997 at the age of ninety-two.