DENTON, TX, January 10, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Edra Charlotte Bogle, PhD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Bogle celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Edra Charlotte Bogle grew up in Northwest Iowa, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa, in 1956. The following year, 1957, she received a Masters of Library Science from Columbia University, with the help of a P.E.O. Fellowship. She became an assistant librarian at the Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University) for two years, 1957-59; followed by one year at Frostburg State Teachers College in Maryland (now Frostburg State University). In 1961 she became Education Librarian at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and in a few years was promoted to Associate Librarian for Public Services there. In 1968 she added a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from that university.
Upon the retirement of the Head Librarian, Dr. Lewis Steig, she was advised by him to seek a teaching job somewhere, since she regularly attended the annual conferences of the Modern Language Association, usually reading a paper. From the four positions offered her, she choose North Texas State University in Denton, because there she could devote full time to teaching, research, and publishing. In late summer of 1970 she moved to Denton, purchasing a house there.
Although she continued to attend the annual conferences of the M.L.A. and the Science Fiction Research Association and often read papers there, two more bibliographic opportunities were offered to her, each irresistible. She was an indexer for the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature from 1972 to 1984, and an associate editor of the third edition of Halkett & Laing's Dictionary of Anonymous & Pseudonymous Literature in 1980, which required recruiting many other scholars to contribute their time and knowledge of the various authors to be included, as well as participating in the research herself.
Another interest had entered Dr. Bogle's life by then. Soon after moving to Denton, she had joined the local chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and took part in local and regional activities. As other Denton residents, both male and female, would occasionally do, a few NOW members would drive to Dallas or Fort Worth (each about thirty-five miles away) to attend meetings of the Dallas Gay Alliance and to visit gay bars. There she was recruited to run Denton County's first Jesse Jackson presidential campaign in Denton County.
In 1975, two women from Denton, who had met through the NOW chapter, attended the second Texas Gay Conference in Austin. From this time a varying number of Denton County citizens attended these conferences and became politically aware. In the 1975/76 school year student Ruben Salinas organized the Denton Gay Alliance at N.T.S.U., now call U. N. T. The college administration took various harsh methods to destroy the group, and when Salinas graduated, the D.G.A. died.
Dr. Bogle had long recognized such an interest in herself, beginning in the third grade when she developed a "crush" on her music teacher. For several years she entered in her daily diary a code meaning "thought of Thelma" commemorating the last time Edra had seen her, before she accepted a better job elsewhere.
She had partially chosen Greek as her required classical language for the Ph.D. because of reading novels by Mary Renault. She also followed the careers of James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, and others. Personally the topic she chose for her dissertation was The Life and Literary and Artistic Activities of Robert Baldwin Ross, 1869-1918. Ross had been Oscar Wilde's literary executor and had done much to restore his reputation and popularity after Wilde's death (at which Robbie had been present, also raising money for his tomb in Paris's cemetery Pere La Chaise).
Now, during her annual attendance at the MLA convention, she was asked to become newsletter editor for the Gay Caucus for the Modern Languages. After a brief period of thought she accepted. Upon returning home she listed it, along with the title of the paper on science fiction she had read, on the form for professional activities each faculty member filled out. The list was published in the N.T. Daily and the faculty newsletter. According to Dr. Howard Smith, long-time Vice President and occasional Acting President, the Board of Regents questioned this, but was told firmly it was a matter of academic freedom. Bogle was one of the first three faculty members in Texas to come out publicly, each in connection with academic activities. Joking afterwards, she said she was punished by being elected to the departmental Steering Committee and the Faculty Senate, each for the two terms allowed, and also secretary of the Faculty Senate.
Several more political activities followed. In the summer of 1978 the Denton Gay Alliance was revived. It helped the Dallas group with the first gay-sponsored hospitality group at a State Democratic Convention, where it was popular: it served less expensive drinks and sandwiches and stayed open later than similar rooms.
Obviously great progress was being made, and Dr. Bogle was concentrating more and more on politics. She became Democratic Precinct Chair for her own area, and after several years, was asked by the current Democratic County Chair to take over her position, since Karen Warwick Abernathy was currently Governor Ann Richards' scheduler and the position required residence in Austin. Bogle was elected with little opposition, and the next year elected on her own. She did not leave it until 2006 when asked to be the Democratic Candidate for the State Board of Education, a position which approved all state-wide school budgets, text-books, and rules. The nineteen-county district was badly gerrymandered and of course she lost, though proud to have won more votes in several areas than Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. About this time U.N.T. had acquired a new president and the English Dept. a new chairman, and Dr. Bogle decided to retire at age seventy-two.
For years G.L.A.D. ran an advertisement in the local newspaper, telling of a telephone help line for LGBTQ persons. When Edra's mother, in her eighties, died, Edra had rented out her room, preferably to a gay male so that male callers would feel more comfortable talking to him. Thomas M. Cain rented that room in order to attend U.N.T., since his father was ill and unable to maintain the bookkeeping business at which his son Tom had been employed. During several G.L.A.D.-sponsored visits to Austin, he had proved invaluable in speaking to many legislators and giving them informative literature which people from other areas later commented on its positive effect on their own legislators.
Meanwhile, Edra was working on creative writing of her own; on selling the antiquities and jewelry her mother had left, supplemented by purchases at garage sales and flea markets; and on assisting in creating a Denton Chapter of the Stonewall Democrats of which she was temporarily first president till an election could be held at the proper time. When, a few years later, Tom became seriously ill, they married so that Tom could share the excellent health plan that U.N.T. staff and faculty and their families enjoyed, even the retired ones. They continue to occupy the house there, and plan to leave the estate to the University of Northern Iowa.
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #