Ruth Wedgwood Kennedy (1896–1968)

Ruth Wedgwood Kennedy, née Doggett, was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Her father was the president of Springfield College in Massachusetts. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, from 1915 to 1916, then earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Radcliffe College, graduating magna cum laude in 1919. At Oxford University, she received a diploma in economics with first-class honors in 1921. That same year, in London, she married Clarence Kennedy, an art historian and photographer at Smith College. She originally joined Smith College as an instructor in economics, but began assisting her husband with his courses and switched disciplines. They spent summers working in Greece and Italy together. She went on to become a distinguished and beloved teacher and historian of Italian Renaissance art for many years until her official retirement in 1961.