31 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (31 May 1824 – 27 Dec 1902 | Rockbridge VA – Los Angeles CA) author, memoirist, abolitionist, political activist, short story writer.


Kate Kennedy (31 May 1827 – 18 Mar 1890 | Gaskinstown IE – Oakland CA) essayist, educator, educational reformer, teacher tenure activist / advocate.


Emily Perkins Bissell (31 May 1861 – 08 Mar 1948 | Wilmington DE – Wilmington DE) essayist, health activist, social reformer, Christmas Seals founder.


Cynthia Westover Alden (31 May 1862 – 08 Jan 1931 | Afton IA – Brooklyn NY) poet, author, editor, teacher, journalist, civil servant, philanthropist, pen name: Kate Kensington, invented NYC street-cleaners’ cart, founder / president-general of the International Sunshine Society to house / educate blind babies / children / elderly.


Kathlyn Williams Eyton (31 May 1888 – 23 Sep 1960 | Butte MT – Hollywood CA) actress, screenwriter, social philanthropist. 

30 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Zilpah Polly Grant Banister (30 May 1794 – 03 Dec 1874 | Norfolk CT – Newburyport MA) educator, pamphleteer, women’s seminary founder.


Persis Foster Eames Albee (30 May 1836 – 07 Dec 1914 | Newry ME – Templeton MA) aka PFE Albee and The First Avon Lady, women’s business trainer / advocate, professional saleswoman for California Perfume Company [later Avon Products].

Katrina Trask (30 May 1853 – 08 Jan 1922 | Brooklyn NY – Saratoga Springs NY) poet, memoirist, playwright, philanthropist, co-founder of Yaddo artists’ retreat, aka Kate Nicholes Trask.

Florence Casler (30 May 1869 – 15 Mar 1954 | Welland ON – Yolo CA) plumber, groundbreaking female architect / contractor / real estate developer of downtown Los Angeles, first female / then sole female director Peoples Bank of Los Angeles.


Josephine Preston Peabody (30 May 1874 – 04 Dec 1922 | New York NY – Cambridge MA) poet, dramatist.

29 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Elizabeth Waties Allston Pringle (29 May 1845 – 05 Dec 1921 | Pawley’s Island SC – Charleston SC) author, diarist, publisher, rice farmer, slave holder, aka Patience Pennington.


Susan Elizabeth Frazier (29 May 1864 – 03 Feb 1924 | New York NY – New York NY) activist, African-American, public school educator, women’s issues / civil rights thought leader, president WWI Women’s Auxiliary of Old Fifteenth National Guard black troop.


Elizabeth Cutter Morrow (29 May 1873 – 24 Jan 1955 | Cleveland OH – Englewood NJ) poet, children’s book writer, first female Head of Smith College, grandmother of kidnapped baby Charles Lindbergh Jr.


Leila Mechlin (29 May 1874 – 04 May 1949 | Washington DC – Washington DC) author, art critic, manager, editor of The American Magazine of Art.


Helen Woodard Atwater (29 May 1876 – 26 Jun 1947 | Somerville MA – Washington DC) editor, author, home economics specialist, full-time editor of the Journal of Home Economics, aka The First Lady of American Nutrition.

28 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Butler Wister (28 May 1835 – 09 Jun 1908 | Butler PA – Philadelphia PA) author, editor, diarist.


Annie Sherwood Hawks (28 May 1836 – 03 Jan 1918 | Hoosick NY – Bennington VT) poet, hymnist.


Abby Leach (28 May 1855 – 29 Dec 1918 | Brockton MA – Poughkeepsie NY) author, educational pioneer, Greek and Roman Classicist.


Lizzie Black Kander (28 May 1858 – 24 Jul 1940 | Milwaukee WI – Milwaukee WI) educator, relief / settlement worker, cookbook writer, founded Milwaukee Settlement House, Jewish women’s activist / advocate, originated The Settlement House Cookbook.


Katharine Blunt (28 May 1876 – 29 Jul 1954 | Philadelphia PA – New London CT) author, educator, nutritionist, home economist, third president of Connecticut College.

27 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Julia Evelina Smith (27 May 1792 – 06 Mar 1886 | Glastonbury CT – Hartford CT) author, suffragist, women’s tax / property activist, first female English Bible translator.


Amelia Jenks Bloomer (27 May 1818 – 30 Dec 1894 | Homer NY – Council Bluffs IA) writer, editor, speaker, publisher, suffragist, women’s dress reformer, temperance advocate, women’s tax rights activist.


Julia Ward Howe (27 May 1819 – 17 Oct 1910 | New York NY – Portsmouth RI) poet, hymnist, suffragist, abolitionist, social activist.


May Wright Sewall (27 May 1844 – 22 Jul 1920 | Greenfield WI – Indianapolis IN) educator, lecturer, letterist, reformer, suffragist, civic / social activist, philanthropist.


Alzina Parsons Stevens (27 May 1849 – 03 Jun 1900 | Parsonsfield ME – Chicago IL) journalist, labor leader, settlement worker.

26 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Ann Hall (26 May 1792 – 11 Dec 1863 | Pomfret CT – New York NY) miniature portrait painter.


Mary Andrews Denison (26 May 1826 – 15 Oct 1911 | Cambridge MA – Cambridge MA) editor, novelist, playwright, aka Clara Vance, Civil War nurse, short story writer.


Clara Louise Root Burnham (26 May 1854 – 20 Jun 1927 | Newton MA – Bailey Island ME) author, hymnist.


Edna Brady Cornwell (26 May 1868 – 01 Dec 1958 | Romney WV – Romney WV) newspaper publisher, West Virginia State First Lady.


Peggy Hopkins Joyce (26 May 1893 – 12 Jun 1957 | Berkley VA – New York NY) dancer, actress, folk figure, artist model, autobiographical author.

25 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Katherine Lucinda Sharp (25 May 1865 – 01 Jun 1914 | Elgin IL – Elgin IL) librarian, founded innovative University of Illinois Library School, helped to professionalize librarianship standards.


Cary Fink Angulo Baynes (25 May 1883 – 1977 | Mexico City MX – Zurich CH) American author, translator, pioneer Jungian, I Ching specialist.


Leta Stetter Hollingworth (25 May 1886 – 27 Nov 1939 | Dawes County NE – New York NY) author, psychological researcher.


Sue Shelton White (25 May 1887 – 06 May 1943 | Henderson TN – Washington DC) editor, author, lawyer, aka Miss Sue, reformer, suffragist, public official, National Women’s Party leader.


Clara Porset (25 May 1895 – 17 May 1981 | Matanzas CU – Los Angeles CA) Cuban-American design educator, interior designer, furniture designer, female designer scholarship award founder, bequeathed The Clara Porset Library [best design library in Mexico].

24 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Ynés Mexia (24 May 1870 – 12 Jul 1938 | Washington DC – Berkeley CA) artist, botanist, essayist, lecturer, photographer, independent scholar.


Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth (24 May 1878 – 02 Jan 1972 | Oakland CA – Phoenix AZ) author, engineer, biographer, memoirist, psychologist, inventor / innovator.


Elsa Maxwell (24 May 1883 – 01 Nov 1963 | Keokuk IA – New York NY) author, columnist, songwriter, scriptwriter, professional hostess, treasure hunt / scavenger hunt innovator.


Mary Madeleva Evaline Wolff (24 May 1887 – 25 Jul 1964 | Cumberland WI – Boston MA) poet, abbess, medieval scholar, non-fiction author, aka Lady Abbess of Nun Poets.


Lois Fitzhugh Foster Blount (24 May 1896 – 02 Sep 1980 | Huntsville TX – Nacogdoches TX) teacher, historian, librarian, museum curator.

23 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (23 May 1810 – 19 Jul 1850 | Cambridgeport MA – off the coast of Fire Island NY) critic, editor, author, feminist, journalist, biographer, women’s rights activist.


Frances Auretta Fuller Barritt Victor (23 May 1826 – 14 Nov 1902 | Rome NY – Portland OR) poet, essayist, historian, columnist, historical novelist, aka Dorothy D. and Florence Fane.


Ellen Clementine Doran Howarth (23 May 1827 – 23 Dec 1899 | Cooperstown NY – Trenton NJ) poet, author, playwright.


Arabella Babb Mansfield (23 May 1846 – 01 Aug 1911 | Burlington IA – Aurora IL) lawyer, suffragist, educator, administrator, first female attorney in United States.


Maritcha Remond Lyons (23 May 1848 – 28 Jan 1929 | New York NY – Brooklyn NY) writer, feminist, educator, civic leader, second black female assistant principal in NYC, co-founded White Rose [Migrant] Mission.

22 May | Herstorical.Reflections

Charity Bryant (22 May 1777 – 06 Oct 1851 | North Bridgewater MA – Weybridge VT) poet, teacher, focus on acrostic poetry, Boston marriage partner with Sylvia Drake.


Gertrude Jane Hall Denny (22 May 1837 – 05 Aug 1933 | Ten Mile Run NJ – Portland OR) author, Whitman Massacre survivor, wife of US Consul-General to Shanghai, co-importer of first Chinese pheasants to US soil.


Mary Stevenson Cassatt (22 May 1844 – 14 Jun 1926 | Allegheny City PA – Château de Beaufresne FR) painter, printmaker, pioneering American Impressionist.


Bertha Honoré Potter Palmer (22 May 1849 – 05 May 1918 | Louisville KY – Osprey FL) art collector, clubwoman, philanthropist.


Lucy May Stanton (22 May 1875 – 19 Mar 1931 | Atlanta GA – Athens GA) watercolorist, miniature portrait artist, large-scale landscapes / still life painter.