Studio Teachers

A number of assistant teachers worked with Mabel Todd in her Boston and New York studios. Short remarks about their background, largely based on Barbara Clark’s recollections, are listed below. More detailed information about a few of these individuals appears in the biography portion of A Kinesthetic Legacy: The Life and Works of Barbara Clark. Relatively little is known about the other teachers. It is hoped that this brief listing of Todd’s assistant teachers will stimulate further research into their lives and teaching careers.

Boston Studio — 260 Clarendon Street

Barbara Clark R.N.
Miss Clark worked primarily with the children who came to the studio for lessons. Clark’s work is described elsewhere in the website.

Elizabeth W. Colwell M.A.
Miss Colwell was also a teacher of French at Radcliffe College. She assisted Todd in running the studio and trained the other assistant teachers.

Beatrice P. Galbraith R.N.
Miss Galbraith was a graduate of the nursing program at Massachusetts General.

Bertha P. Lawson
No information on Bertha Lawson was documented in Clark’s records.

Mary P. Sheehan
Miss Sheehan assisted Barbara Clark in working with children.

Priscilla White
Like Mabel Todd, Miss White was a graduate of Emerson College of Oratory.

New York Studio — At the Essex House and later the Roosevelt Hotel

Clarissa Bates R.N.
No information on Clarissa Bates was documented in Clark’s records.

Estelle Bertine
Estelle Bertine taught physical education in New York City schools. She worked primarily with pupils from Juilliard at Todd’s studio and later moved to Pennsylvania.

Mabel Eldred
Mabel Eldred had a background in physical education and enrolled in Todd’s posture course as a graduate student in the physical education department of Teachers College. Todd relied on Eldred’s teaching experience and administrative expertise when she was away from New York City. When the studio closed, Eldred moved to Oregon.

Cora Belle Hunter
Miss Hunter studied with Todd at Columbia University. Later, she became a teacher of children’s dance in Minneapolis. Joan Skinner was one of her students.

Mary Longley
No information on Mary Longley appeared in Clark’s records.

Ruth Mitchell
Miss Mitchell was the last teacher to be associated with the New York studio. When that studio closed, she moved to California and helped Todd with her teaching in Los Angeles.

—Pamela Matt, Revised 2024