Name Julia Grout | ||
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Julia Grout (1898-1984) served as Chairman of the Women's Department of Health and Physical Education at Duke University from 1924 to 1964. Grout's resume, letters related to Grout's professional career, retirement materials, tributes to her, and documents related to her funeral are housed at the Duke University Libraries.
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Life and career
Julia "Jerry" Grout was born April 1, 1898 in North Brookfield, Massachusetts to Edgar H. Grout and Laura M. Grout. Grout earned an A.B. degree at Wellesley College. She became a physical education director at Duke, in 1924. She held the post until she retired in 1964. She taught for two years at Wellesley College before coming to Duke University.
Grout produced many speeches, papers, and reports pertaining to the need for physical education for women, American physical education compared to that of Europe, and the history of physical education for women at Duke. In 1958, Grout traveled to Southern Africa, and participated in an exchange workshop of 60 physical education instructors in Sweden, visiting in 1938, where she studied the physical education programs of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway.
Upon her retirement, students and colleagues presented her with a large bound volume of letters written expressing their appreciation for her forty years of service at Duke. She also worked on the Dedication Committee of Baldwin Auditorium.
Duke University honored Grout in 1982 through the establishment of a biennial lecture in her name, being cited for her leadership in bringing national recognition to her department through the quality of its staff and programs.
Julia R. Grout, at age 86, a retired professor at Duke University who worked for 40 years, and the first director of the physical education department in Duke Women's college, died on a Sunday on April 23, 1984 in Chapel Hill after an extended illness.
Teaching
In the 1930s, the Women's Physical Education Department at Duke assessed entering students in posture, health status and their development of sports skills.