Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  Kassing, Edith Rhoda Force

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

KASSING, EDITH RHODA FORCE (1890–1966).

Scientist and ornithologist Edith Rhoda Force was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1890, to Estella and James Grant Force. From 1910 to 1912 she attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. In 1919 she received a bachelor's degree from Lewis Institute in Chicago and in 1931 a master's degree from the University of Michigan. After stints of teaching in Oak Park, Illinois, Beatrice, Nebraska, Denton, Texas, and Okmulgee, Oklahoma, she moved in 1926 to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and taught general science at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School until her retirement in 1956. In 1949 she married David Oscar Kassing.

Edith Kassing's enthusiasm for natural science was contagious and inspired many of her students to go into a science career. To her students she emphasized the study of animals in the field. She conducted research on the fauna and flora of northeastern Oklahoma, publishing on ornithology and herpetology, especially the three small snakes (the lined, flat-headed, and ground) of the Tulsa area. Kassing contributed her outstanding collection of these and other species to many major museums in the United States.

As a founding member of the Tulsa Audubon Society she was made an honorary life member in 1965. In 1937 she published Bibliography of Oklahoma Ornithology. She joined the Oklahoma Academy of Science in 1924 and later became a Fellow of that organization. As chair of the High School Relations Committee of the Oklahoma Academy of Science, she was instrumental in forming the Association of Science Students of the Academy, which became Oklahoma Junior Academy of Science. Kassing was also a research associate with the Oklahoma Biological Survey. She died on August 8, 1966, in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Charles C. Carpenter

Bibliography

Charles C. Carpenter, Early Oklahoma Naturalists and Collectors, Occasional Papers, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2000).

C. A. Levengood, "In Memoriam: Edith Force Kassing, 1890–1966," Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science 47 (1968).

J. T. Self, "A History of the Oklahoma Academy of Science," Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science 61 (1981).

John S. Tomer, "Edith Force Kassing: Scientist With a Gift for Teaching," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 63 (Winter 1985–86).


Browse By Topic

Education
Women

Explore

People
Educators
Women

Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Charles C. Carpenter, “Kassing, Edith Rhoda Force,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=KA007.

Published January 15, 2010

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.