MELVILLE, ANNABELLE MCCONNELL

Biographer, professor; b. Minotola, New Jersey, Feb. 3, 1910; d. Taunton, Massachusetts, May 17, 1991. Melville received the A.B. and M.A. degrees from Albany State Teachers College, New York. Having been converted to Catholicism in 1936, she pursued doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America and wrote a dissertation under the direction of John Tracy Ellis. Two years after she was awarded the Ph.D. degree, her work was published under the title Elizabeth Bayley Seton, 1774–1821 (New York 1951; reprinted 1960) and fostered devotion to the woman who was to be the first native-born American canonized a saint. Subsequently she published John Carroll of Baltimore, Founder of the American Catholic Hierarchy (New York 1955), Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, 1768–1836 (Milwaukee 1958); and Louis William DuBourg, Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, Bishop of Montauban, and Archbishop of Besançon, 1766–1833 (2 vols.; Chicago 1986). Melville was also a member of the original editorial committee for the John Carroll Papers and co-author with Ellin M. Kelly of Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings (New York 1987) in the series "Sources of American Spirituality." She won the John Gilmary Shea Prize of the American Catholic Historical Association for her biography of Carroll and the General L. Kemper Williams Prize of the Louisiana Historical Society for her biography of DuBourg. Her writings were distinguished by her reliance on manuscripts collected through extensive research in Europe as well as in the United States, for her keen analysis of the sources, and for her graceful style.

Melville was appointed to the faculty of Saint Joseph's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1947. From 1953 to 1975 she taught British and American history at Bridgewater State College, Massachusetts, and in 1963 she was given the title of Commonwealth Professor. After her retirement she was a visiting professor at the Catholic University of America. She established a fund for the publication of monographs in a series later named "Melville Studies in Church History."

Melville was recognized for her scholarship in several ways. After being elected second vice-president of the American Catholic Historical Association twice (1960 and 1985), she was the first woman to be elected first vice-president (1988) and to succeed to the presidency (1989, the bicentennial of the establishment of the American hierarchy). Known for her gracious charm, sparkling wit, and deep faith, she was widely respected, admired, and loved.

[r. trisco]