Esther Shephard papers, 1852-1972

Esther Maria Lofstrand, born 1891 at Minneapolis, attended public schools in Minnesota. In 1916, after her marriage to Richard T. Shepherd (d. 1915), she came to Washington and attended the State Normal School at Bellingham; afterwards teaching high school for a short time in Belgrade, Montana. Mrs. Shepherd returned to Washington and earned a B.A. in 1920, M.A. in 1921, and Ph.D. in 1938 from the University of Washington. In 1921 she married C. Ellis Shephard (d. 1938) and was known professionally as Esther Shephard for the rest of her career. Mrs. Shephard's master's thesis was, "Frontier Literature," published in 1921. In this and subsequent tall-tale writings, "Paul Bunyan," (self-published by Esther and C. Ellis Shephard in a limited edition in 1924 and republished, with illustrations by Rockwell Kent, in 1941) is Mrs. Shephard's masterwork. The tales, collected in West Coast logging camps by the Shephards, were retold in warm and witty prose by Mrs. Shephard. In the 1930's she began to concentrate on play-writing and Walt Whitman criticism, in addition to sporadically continue to write poetry. Her Ph.D. dissertation, "Walt Whitman Prose," was published in 1938. Her most important academic appointment was in the English Department at San Jose State College, where she taught ca. 1939-1959. During this period her poetic retelling of an ancient Chinese legend, "The Cowherd and the Sky Maiden," was published in 1950. It was produced as an opera in 1952, with music by John Verral and staged by John Ashby Conway, at the University of Washington. Several Whitman articles also date from Mrs. Shephard's San Jose years. Mrs. Shephard died in February, 1975.