Lelia Bascom, University of Wisconsin associate professor of English and a relative of
former University president John Bascom, was born March 31, 1875 in Bloomington, Illinois, a
daughter of William Russel Bascom and Abby Hovey Bascom. She attended public schools at
Bloomington, Dubuque, Iowa, and Chicago. In 1898 she entered the University of Wisconsin,
graduating in 1902 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation she taught English at
high schools at Escanaba, Michigan (1902-1904); Ft. Morgan, Colorado (1904-1906); Menomonie,
Wis. (1906-1908, including part-time at Stout Institute); and Madison Central High School
(1908-1909). She became an instructor of English at the University in 1909, completing her
M.A. in 1911. Bascom taught one year "on the hill" and then turned her attention full time
to correspondence instruction. She was promoted to associate professor in 1927. From 1912 to
1917 she lectured in evening classes at the YWCA on contemporary literature, and for two
years she taught English as a second language. During World War I she taught methods of
instruction to foreigners at the University Extension in Milwaukee and Racine. With Ward
Lyon of the U.S. Navy, she originated a series of lessons in English for Italian-speaking
immigrants. Her Elementary Lessons in English Idiom was
published in 1920. In 1925 Bascom taught English at the Bryn Mawr Summer School for
Industrial Women.
An active member of the Religious Society of Friends, Bascom also served many other civic
organizations including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the YWCA, the League of Women
Voters, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Congress of Racial
Equality, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was also
chair of the Madison Civics Club, president of the Century Club, first president of the
Madison Business and Professional Women's Club, president of the WILPF, and an appointive
member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors (1925-1926). Bascom retired in 1940 and died
at the Dane County Hospital and Home in 1968.
