Mary Tucker Thorp was a teacher, educator, and school principal at Rhode Island College. She chaired the committee that investigated and made recommendations for accreditation standards for preschool education, which were adopted in the State Board of Education Codes in 1954. She was the first Distinguished Professor of Rhode Island College, and both the first residence hall and a Professorship at the school are named in her honor.
Mary was born on September 14, 1899, in the Ottoman Empire to Hadla Dahood. Her family immigrated to New York in 1904, but soon after, her mother was widowed and placed Mary, her middle child, into an orphanage called Rock Nook Home for Children. During her teens, Florence and Job Thorp, prominent Westerly, Rhode Island citizens, became Mary’s guardians. The Thorps had three other children: Elliott, who would become a Brigadier General and was MacArthur’s chief of counterintelligence during World War II; Walter; and a daughter, Elsie. By 1917, Mary was teaching school in the Tomaquag Valley of Washington County, Rhode Island. Her mother, Hadla, who had been unsuccessful in annulling the Thorp’s guardianship, arrived at the school and tried to take Mary back to Brooklyn to work at the boardinghouse she operated. Hadla was arrested for attempted kidnapping but only charged with creating a disturbance. After the incident, the Thorps took measures to become Mary’s family permanently. They adopted her in 1920, and she took the name of Mary Tucker Thorp.
In 1926, Thorp accepted a teaching position at Rhode Island College of Education (RIC) and simultaneously worked on her education, earning her bachelor’s degree in education in 1929. She completed a Master of Education from Boston University in 1932, with a thesis entitled “Objective Studies Showing Need for Giving Instruction in Use of Geography Tools.” Thorp was promoted to president of the Henry Barnard School at RIC in 1936, and the following year, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Thorp earned her Doctor of Education in 1943 from Boston University, becoming the first distinguished professor at RIC.
In 1947, Thorp headed a committee establishing accreditation standards for nursery schools and institutions teaching young children. The report took two years to compile but became the basis for the code adopted by the State Board of Education for Rhode Island in 1954. She was a prominent speaker on education, child development, and health, speaking at women’s groups, nursing colleges, PTA meetings, and various civic organizations. In 1961, the first residence hall on the RIC campus was dedicated and named in her honor. Thorp retired from the college in 1962 but continued her community services. In 1963, she served as the vice president of the Rhode Island Tuberculosis and Health Association and the following year became president, a post she held through the end of the 1960s. Thorp also served as a representative to the White House Conference on Children and Youth. She received the Roger Williams Medal from the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and a commendation from Brown University for her community service involvement.
Thorp died on October 27, 1974. She bequeathed a trust to the Rhode Island College for the Mary Tucker Thorp College Professorship, which is an annual award honoring teaching or scholarship excellence.
Mary Tucker Thorp was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1969.
For additional reading:
• Thorp, Mary Tucker (1932). Objective Studies Showing Need for Giving Instruction in Use of Geography Tools (M.Ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Boston University.
• Thorp, Mary Tucker (1943). A program in social-civic education through middle-grade history (Ed.D.). Boston, Massachusetts: Boston University.
• Thorp, Mary Tucker Thorp; Wilcox, Edward F (1962). Gladly, may you teach the elementary school project. Providence, Rhode Island: State Department of Education.
• Thorp, Mary Tucker Thorp; Wilcox, Edward F (1963). Two issues: school admission age and promotion policies: the elementary school project. Providence, Rhode Island: State Department of Education.
• Thorp, Mary Tucker Thorp; Wilcox, Edward F (1963). The Rhode Island elementary school principal looks at his role: elementary school project. Providence, Rhode Island: State Department of Education.