C. Dallett Hemphill, 56, Ursinus professor

C. Dallett Hemphill, 56, an American history professor at Ursinus College, an accomplished storyteller, and a scholar whose specialty was social history from colonial times to the 19th century, died at Jefferson Hospital on Friday, July 3, after a prolonged battle with breast cancer.

Ms. Hemphill's research topics included how the French government provided women for the settlers of Louisiana and the role of women in 18th-century Quaker meetings. She lived in Erdenheim, Montgomery County.

She lent her expertise on early-American families and women to "Philadelphia: The Great Experiment," Sam Katz's TV documentary series.

"She was just an outstanding scholar and mentor - and just a really wonderful person," Katz said Sunday.

During her 28 years at Ursinus, Ms. Hemphill taught an array of American history courses, as well as a class on civic engagement based on Philadelphia government and politics. Instead of focusing on the city's elected officials, Ms. Hemphill had students interview people who dealt regularly with the city from other perspectives, including neighborhood activists, ward leaders, political consultants, reporters, and City Hall lobbyists.

She was the author of two books published by Oxford University Press: Bowing to Necessities: A History of Manners in America, 1620-1860, and Siblings: Brothers and Sisters in American History.

Ms. Hemphill used manners as a lens to see the lines that society created to mark class, age, and gender.

While conducting the research for what would become Bowing to Necessities, Hemphill told Inquirer reporter Ralph Vigoda in 1995: "Historians are just now paying attention to these face-to-face interactions. What really intrigues me is that it enables you to read between the lines."

Etiquette was not just about where to place knives on a dining room table. After the book was published in 1999, Ms. Hemphill disconcerted some listeners of Marty Moss-Coan's WHYY radio show by saying: "Well, yes, a gentleman was supposed to stand up when a lady entered the room, but that didn't include the Irish washer-woman."

Ms. Hemphill's work on the importance of sibling relationships in a young nation was a natural outgrowth of her own life in a large family.

She grew up Chestnut Hill as one of eight children of the late Alexander Hemphill, Philadelphia's city controller from 1958 to 1967, and his wife, Jean.

Ms. Hemphill attended Philadelphia public schools and Ravenhill Academy in East Falls. After the private girls' school closed, she transferred to St. Andrews School in Middletown, Del., and graduated from there.

Ms. Hemphill's first name was Christina, but she dropped it in favor of her middle name when she went to Princeton University.

In a household with so many children, nicknames were common, said her husband, John Hill. Christina was shortened to Tina, which Ms. Hemphill hated.

While studying at Princeton, Ms. Hemphill spent her junior year in Paris. She used the French National Archives to research the settlement of Louisiana years before it was purchased by the United States in 1803.

The swampy land held little appeal for women, and Ms. Hemphill found that the French government went to unusual lengths to provide them for the settlers. It shipped convicted prostitutes and female mental patients to the French colony.

Ms. Hemphill earned her master's and doctorate degrees from Brandeis University. Hill said he and Ms. Hemphill met and fell in love in a modern European social history course.

"I would have fallen asleep in the middle of class if I wasn't watching her," Hill said. "She was drop-dead gorgeous, very funny, and very smart. And she had this added quality of great strength combined with great kindness."

Hill, a history professor at Immaculata University, said the couple had been married 31 years and 17 days.

He said his wife loved gardening, classical music and opera, and "sitting around talking to people."

Ms. Hemphill, he said, "was very devoted to her nieces and nephews, as well as her two sons."

In addition to her work at Ursinus, she was a senior research associate at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and edited its professional journal, "Early American Studies."

Ms. Hemphill had completed the manuscript for a third book, Philadelphia Stories: Twelve People and Their Places in America's First City, which includes short biographies of lesser-known figures from the American Revolution.

Besides her husband, Ms. Hemphill is survived by sons Evan and Alexander; her mother, Jean of Oxford, Md.; six sisters, and a brother.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday, at Bomberger Hall on the Ursinus campus, on East Main Street in Collegeville.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Doctors Without Borders.