Priscilla Hiss
| Priscilla Hiss | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Priscilla Harriet Fansler October 13, 1903 Evanston, Illinois |
| Died | October 14, 1984 (aged 81) New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BA cum laude |
| Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College |
| Occupation | art teacher, book editor |
| Political party | Socialist, alleged Communist, later Village Independent Democrats |
| Spouse(s) | Thayer Hobson (first), Alger Hiss (second) |
| Children | Timothy Hobson, Tony Hiss |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Lafayette Fansler, Willa Roland Spruill |
Priscilla Hiss, born Priscilla Fansler and first married as Priscilla Hobson, was a 20th-century American teacher and book editor, best known as the wife of Alger Hiss, an alleged Communist and former State Department official whose innocence she supported with testimony throughout his two, highly publicized criminal trials in 1949.
Priscilla Harriet Fansler was born on October 13, 1903, in Evanston, Illinois. In 1924, she graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College. Her roommate Roberta Murray (of Murray Hill, Manhattan) became for a time her sister-in-law as Roberta Fansler. Later, she obtained an MA in English literature from Yale University.
In the mid-1920s, Priscilla Hiss was working as an "office manager" at TIME magazine. When the Hiss family moved to Washington, DC (where her husband would join the New Deal government), she taught English at the Potomac School.
For 1933–1934 and 1934–1935, her Bryn Mawr alumni records show that she engaged in "Research": for 1935–1936, she occupation is blank.
When they moved back to Manhattan in 1947, she worked the Dalton School, as the alumni record confirms.
After her husband was convicted and imprisoned in the early 1950s, she worked in a bookstore and then as a book editor for publishing houses. In 1966, her alumni details show her working as copy editor for Harcourt, Brace & World. In 1972, she was a senior editor for the Golden Press children's imprint of the Western Publishing Company.
Later in life, she worked with Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village, Village Independent Democrats, and the Democratic County Committee of New York County.
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