Laura Bennett Sumner (née Voelkel; September 5, 1921 – June 18, 1993) was an American classical numismatist and poet, who was a professor at the University of Mary Washington.
Laura Sumner | |
---|---|
Born | Laura Bennett Voelkel September 5, 1921 Brooklyn, New York, USA |
Died | June 18, 1993 | (aged 71)
Occupation(s) | Numismatist Classical scholar |
Spouse | Raiford Eve Sumner (m. 1953) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University |
Thesis | The Coins of the Emperor Domitian (1945) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Mary Washington |
Laura Bennett Voelkel was born in 1921 in Brooklyn, New York to John and Laura (Bennett) Voelkel.[1] She studied for her undergraduate degree at Vassar College and graduated in 1942.[1] She then studied for her MA at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1943.[1] Sumner continued to study there for her PhD, which she was awarded in 1945 for a thesis entitled “The Coin Types of the Emperor Domitian”.[2]
In 1945 Sumner was appointed as Assistant Professor of History of Art at Wesleyan College in Georgia, where she taught for two years.[1] In 1947 she was appointed Assistant Professor at Mary Washington College, where she was to teach for the subsequent thirty-two years.[1] Sumner was dedicated to teaching and pedagogy, with many students remembering her with enthusiasm.[3] This meant that she did not publish widely.
However, she did work on both the excavations in 1963 and the subsequent catalogue of the coins from Kenchreai.[4] She was passionate about the ability that numismatics had to "make the past come alive for students".[5] Other publications included a commentary on the Lusiads.[6] She was also involved with Mary Washington's archaeology society.[7]
Sumner also held multiple Visiting Fellowships at universities in the USA, including: University of Wisconsin, University of Iowa, and Humanities Institute, Fairfax.[1]
In addition to her classical scholarship, Sumner also wrote and published poetry.[11] She married Raiford Eve Sumner on December 20, 1953.[1] She died on June 18, 1993, aged 71, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.[1]