Dr. William Oliver Stevens [Bronze]

Dr. William Oliver Stevens [Bronze]

Figure sculpture, American--20th century

Portrait of Dr. William Oliver Stevens, 1935
Bronze, cast 1935

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall M. Fredericks
1994.015

Stevens was the first headmaster of Cranbrook School and a noted educator. A graduate of Colby College with a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1903, he taught English at the U.S. Naval Academy for twenty years before his tenure at Cranbrook from 1927 to 1935. He was the author of many books, and a great conversationalist. Kate Bromley, a member of the Cranbrook community who chronicled its life in her unpublished journal, said he had "the gift to express himself in the most trenchant as well as subtle fashion."

Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998

1935

Use of this image requires permission from the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum

Sculpture

University Center (Mich.)

13" h

Bronze

1994.015

Main Exhibit Gallery

05/26/1994 gifted to MFSM

Author and educator who wrote on parapsychology. Stevens was born on October 7, 1878, in Rangoon, Burma. Stevens studied at Colby College, Waterville, Maine (B.A., 1899) and Yale University (Ph.D., 1903). He taught English for many years at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland (1905-24), and then successively was the headmaster of Roger Ascham School, White Plains, New York (1924-27); headmaster of Cranbrook School, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1927-35); and dean of the School of Literature and Journalism, Oglethorpe University (1936-37).

Out of his interest in parapsychology, Stevens joined the American Society for Psychosis Research. He wrote many books on naval history and other subjects, including psychic research. He died January 16, 1955.