Born in Auburn,
Alabama, Lily Ross Taylor developed an interest in Roman studies at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning an A.B. in 1906. She went to
Bryn Mawr College as a graduate student that year, and received her
Ph.D. in Latin in 1912. Her dissertation advisor was
Tenney Frank. From 1912 until 1927, she taught at
Vassar, and, in 1917, she became the fourth female Fellow of the
American Academy in Rome. In 1927, Taylor became a professor of Latin and the chairman of that department at Bryn Mawr. She rose to become dean of the graduate school there in 1942. That same year, she served as
president of the American Philological Association, and in 1947 as first female scientist she was named
Sather Professor in the
University of California. From 1943 to 1944, during
World War II, she was the principal social science analyst in the
Office of Strategic Services. In 1945, she was elected as a member of the
American Philosophical Society. She was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1951. Retiring from Bryn Mawr in 1952, she remained active as professor-in-charge of the Classical School of the
American Academy in Rome, and as a member at the
Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton, New Jersey. That year, she received the Achievement Award from the
American Association of University Women. She trained numerous graduate students while at Bryn Mawr, notably Irene Rosenzweig (1931),
Berthe Marti (1934),
Agnes Kirsopp Lake Michels (1934), and
Beryl Rawson (1961). ==Bibliography==