LifeTimeline

Elizabeth Eisenstein

    • OCT 11

      Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein is Born in New York City

    1923
    • Elizabeth Graduates from Vassar College

    1946
    • MAY 30

      Elizabeth Marries Julian Calvert Eisenstein

    1948
    • Elizabeth and Julian Lose a Son in Childbirth

    1949
    • Elizabeth Earns a Doctorate Degree from Harvard in History

    1953
    • Elizabeth and Husband Julian Settle in Washington, DC

    1959
    • Elizabeth Competes in her First Senior Tennis Competition

    1973
    • DEC 21

      John Calvert Eisenstein, Elizabeth and Julian's Son, Dies

    1974
    • Elizabeth Becomes Chairwoman of the History Department at University of Michigan

    1975
    • "The Printing Press as an Agent of Change" is Published

    1979
    • Elizabeth Wins the Singles World Championship For Women in the 70 Year Old Category

    1988
    • Elizabeth is Inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Tennis Hall of Fame

    1999
    • "The Assassin"

    2005
    • MAY

      Elizabeth Plays her Last Competitive Tennis Match at Age 91

    2015
    • JAN 31

      Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein Passes Away at Home in Washington, DC

    2016
  • Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein is Born in New York City

    Elizabeth was the third of four daughters born to Sam A. Lewisohn and Margaret Seligman.
  • Elizabeth Graduates from Vassar College

  • Elizabeth Marries Julian Calvert Eisenstein

    Elizabeth and Julius met as graduate students at Harvard.
  • Elizabeth and Julian Lose a Son in Childbirth

  • Elizabeth Earns a Doctorate Degree from Harvard in History

    Elizabeth also earned a Masters in History at Harvard in 1947.
  • Elizabeth and Husband Julian Settle in Washington, DC

    From 1959 to 1974, Elizabeth is an adjunct professor at American University.
  • Elizabeth Competes in her First Senior Tennis Competition

    Shortly before her 50th birthday, Elizabeth, known as Betty on the court, enters her first senior women's tennis competition. She lost to Dorothy "Dodo" Cheney, who was the International Tennis Hall of Fame member, but that didn't stop her.
  • John Calvert Eisenstein, Elizabeth and Julian's Son, Dies

  • Elizabeth Becomes Chairwoman of the History Department at University of Michigan

    In 1975, Elizabeth's youngest son was starting college, and she took the position at University of Michigan, commuting from DC to Ann Arbor on the weekends until 1988, when she retired as a professor emerita. During this period, Elizabeth and her husband spent most of their summers in East Hampton.
  • Cambridge University Press

    "The Printing Press as an Agent of Change" is Published

    A two-volume masterwork about the cultural impact of the printing press. Eisenstein commented that the printing press was a "communications revolution," enabling books and pamphlets to be created en masse, inexpensively, enabling information and ideas to spread more quickly than anytime in history.
  • Elizabeth Wins the Singles World Championship For Women in the 70 Year Old Category

  • Elizabeth is Inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Tennis Hall of Fame

  • "The Assassin"

    Elizabeth was featured on the cover of Washington City Paper with the headline, "The Assassin." She was 82 years and stood 5'2" tall. The writer, Huan Hsu wrote that she was said to move "like a kid": "She makes her opponent work so hard and hit so many extra shots that all the body blows eventually catch up to her." Elizabeth got more accolades for her tennis than for her scholarly work.
  • Elizabeth Plays her Last Competitive Tennis Match at Age 91

    Elizabeth had been almost unbeatable in the 80 and over division. She won the 2003 national hard-court tournament without losing one game. All in all, she won 33 national tennis championships.
  • Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein Passes Away at Home in Washington, DC

    Her daughter, Margaret, said she had been playing tennis until very recently.