GOULDER-IZANT, GRACE (27 Mar. 1893-17 Nov. 1984)was a writer on Ohio history and lore, widely known for her long-running column in the Plain Dealer Magazine and for several books. She was born in Cleveland to Charles and Marian (Clements) Goulder and graduated from Vassar College in 1914, afterward becoming the PLAIN DEALER'S society editor. With the outbreak of WORLD WAR I, she worked for the national board of the YMCA in New York and Europe. After her marriage in 1919, she ceased working full-time until her article on the Ohio state capitol was bought by the Plain Dealer and became the first of her "Ohio Scenes and Citizens" columns, featuring an interesting person, historical sidelight, or unusual place from around Ohio, which ran weekly in the Sunday Magazine until 1969. Goulder wrote This is Ohio (1953, rev. 1965), a collection of brief anecdotal histories of each Ohio county; Ohio Scenes and Citizens (1964), a collection of her magazine pieces; and John D. Rockefeller, The Cleveland Years (1972), documenting the oil tycoon's earlier life and Cleveland connections. A history of Hudson, Ohio, where Goulder lived from 1923 onward, was in preparation at the time of her death. Goulder received many awards, including the Martha Kinney Cooper Ohioana Award and the Cleveland Women's City Club Creative Fine Arts Prize. She was a trustee of the WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Goulder married Robt. Izant (a vice-president of Central Natl. Bank) on 18 Oct. 1919. The couple had three children: Robt. J., Jonathan G., and Mary. Goulder was buried in Hudson, Ohio.
Finding aid for the Grace Goulder-Izant Papers, WRHS.
Grace Goulder Izant Collection, Hudson Library and Historical Society.