Stephen A. Caldwell

Stephen Adolphus Caldwell (March 1, 1889–April 16, 1956) was an American educator originally from the village of Bienville in Bienville Parish in North Louisiana,^[1] best known for A Banking History of Louisiana, originally published in 1935.^[2]

Caldwell's parents were J. D. Caldwell and the former Cordelia Whitney. He did not receive his Bachelor of Arts degree, from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, until 1925, when he was thirty-six years of age.^[1] He procured a Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1927 and 1934, respectively. In 1911, at the age of twenty-two and without a college degree, Caldwell became the principal of Ringgold High School in Ringgold, also in Bienville Parish.^[1] It appears that he had no classroom experience before becoming principal.^[1]

Caldwell was thereafter in the 1914-1915 school year the principal at Amite City High School in Tangipahoa Parish, one of the Louisiana Florida Parishes in southeastern portion of the state. Caldwell then served from 1915-1922 in Bastrop as school superintendent in Morehouse Parish north of Monroe in north Louisiana. He was an associate professor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston from 1922–1926, by which time he had received his bachelor's degree. From 1931-1934, he was an instructor at the University of Texas while engaged there in graduate studies. From 1936-1937, Caldwell became dean of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, then known as Northeast Center of LSU, not yet having attained four-year status. He was an assistant professor and then professor at his alma mater, LSU, from 1934 to 1944, including his stint at Monroe. Thereafter, he was named dean of the LSU Junior Division, having held his terminal position from 1944 until his death at the age of sixty-seven.^[1]

Caldwell's A Banking History of Louisiana examines five chronological periods from the 18th century until 1930. The work was reprinted by Louisiana State University Press in 1980 and is partly carried by Google Books.^[2] In his study, Caldwell examines the Reconstruction era under Governors Henry Clay Warmoth and William Pitt Kellogg and the repudiation of part of the inclusive state debt of then $24 million.^[3]

Caldwell also authored Economic Development of the Shreveport Trade Area (1943), a look at the economic growth about Shreveport, the largest city in North Louisiana. He also contributed articles to various legal, business, and social science journals. He was active in the administration of the Boy Scouts of America. He was a member and past president of the Baton Rouge Lions Club. On June 1, 1929, he married the former Grace Martin, and the couple had two children. Caldwell died in Baton Rouge and is interred there at Roselawn Memorial Park.^[1][4]

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