Kate Pinsdorf DePierri Political Collection

Kate Pinsdorf DePierri (16 April 1901 – 3 December 1975) was born in Brazil to immigrant parents (her father hailed from Austria, her mother, from Germany). She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Smith College in 1928, and then worked on her Master’s degree at Stanford University for two years. In 1930, she visited Berlin, Germany to do research on the German National People’s Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei) and on the National Socialist Party. She published an article about her findings in The American Political Science Review in May, 1931. Upon returning to the United States, she taught history at Vassar, where she met her first husband, Cyril Darlington. In the mid-1930s, she worked at the Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos (Brazil-United States Institute) as a teacher and secretary, and was involved in the foundation of the Brazilian Fellowship Program in 1938. It was around this time and place that she met her second husband, Gail Borden DePierri, and together they had two children, Anne (1935) and Kathleen (1936-1986).

In the early 1950s, Kate and Gail moved to Nashville and soon purchased “The Castle,” a mansion in Franklin. The couple hosted various events at their home, including a gathering of the Vanderbilt Woman’s Club in 1952 (of which Kate was not an official member until the 1959-1960 season). She was an active participant and lecturer in various salons and clubs, including the LePetit Salon and the Sunset Park Club. Around the 1950s or 1960s, she received another Master’s degree from the George Peabody College and worked at the Baptist Hospital School of Nursing. After Gail’s death on 2 May 1974, Kate continued to pursue her interest in international politics, as seen in her multiple Letters to the Editor in the Tennessean. She passed away on the 3rd of December, 1975.