19 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Sarah Helen Whitman (19 Jan 1803 – 27 Jun 1878 | Providence RI – Providence RI) poet, author, essayist, Spiritualist, literary figure, transcendentalist.

Alice Hale Hill (19 Jan 1840 – 19 Jul 1908 | Providence RI – Denver CO) political hostess, Colorado State Senator’s wife, social / charitable worker, president of YWCA, charter member of several civic organizations.

Alice Eastwood (19 Jan 1859 – 30 Oct 1953 | Toronto ON – San Francisco CA) Canadian-American author, editor, curator, teacher, journal founder, self-taught botanist, plant collector / discoverer / cataloguer.

Natacha Rambova (19 Jan 1897 – 05 Jun 1966 | Salt Lake City UT – Pasadena CA) actress, ballerina, producer, playwright, memoirist, artistic director, screenwriter, set / costume / fashion designer, elite couture fashion shop owner, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy.

Anne Schumacher Hummert (19 Jan 1905 – 05 Jul 1996 | Baltimore MD – New York NY) journalist, advertising executive, multimillionaire, radio serials scriptwriter, pioneering soap opera writer.

31 Dec | Women.Words.Work

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Lucretia Crocker (31 Dec 1829 – 09 Oct 1886 | Barnstable MA – Boston MA) author, educator, first female superintendent Boston Public Schools, educational activist / advocate / innovator.

Queen Kapi’olani Napelakapuokakaʻe (31 Dec 1834 – 24 Jun 1899 | Hilo HI – Waikiki HI) Queen Consort of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, medical / educational philanthropist, founded Kapi’olani Maternity Home and Kapi’olani Home for Girls.

Mary Jane Safford-Blake (31 Dec 1834 – 08 Dec 1891 | Hyde Park VT – Tarpon Springs FL) author, teacher, novelist, translator, Civil War Union field nurse. 

Elizabeth Arden (31 Dec 1878 – 18 Oct 1966 | Woodbridge ON – New York NY) Canadian-American author, social icon, beauty products innovator, cosmetics businesswoman, born Florence Nightingale Graham.

20 Dec | Women.Words.Work

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Amy Kirby Post (20 Dec 1803 – 29 Jan 1889 | Jericho NY – Rochester NY) abolitionist, suffragist leader, Underground Railroad conductor, American National Women’s Suffrage Movement co-founder.

Laura Smith Haviland (20 Dec 1808 – 20 Apr 1898 | Kitley ON – Grand Rapids MI) abolitionist, suffragist, social reformer, temperance activist, Underground Railroad activist, orphanage founder / director.

Mary Porter Tileston Hemenway (20 Dec 1820 – 06 Mar 1894 | New York NY – Boston MA) philanthropist, children’s education advocate, founded Boston Normal School of Cookery and Normal School of Gymnastics, post-Civil War restorationist.

Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck (20 Dec 1827 – 24 Aug 1910 | Bellvale NY – Delaware County NY) hydrotherapist, newspaper founder / editor, women’s dress reform activist.

13 Nov | Women.Words.Work

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Elizabeth Porter Todd Edwards (13 Nov 1813 – 22 Feb 1888 | Lexington KY – Springfield IL) Mary Todd Lincoln’s sister, guardian, helper, aided Mary’s release from insane asylum.

Helen Archibald Clarke (13 Nov 1860 – 08 Feb 1926 | Philadelphia PA – Boston MA) poet, author, editor, literary critic.

Ariadna Vladimirovna Tyrkova-Williams (13 Nov 1869 – 12 Jan 1962 | Saint Petersburg RU – Washington DC) editor, writer, feminist, fundraiser, journalist, memoirist, biographer, liberal politician, women’s rights activist, member of All-Russian Union for Women’s Equality, co-founded Russian Liberation Committee in London UK.

Laura Hughes Lunde (13 Nov 1866 – 16 Jan 1966 | Toronto ON – Chicago IL) pacifist, feminist, socialist, civic reformer, Canadian-American, co-founded Canadian Labor Party and Canadian Women’s Peace Party.

Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd (13 Nov 1876 – 04 Sep 1962 | Athol MA – Pippa Passes KY) educator, journalist, social reformer, founded Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes KY.

08 Nov | Women.Words.Work

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Alice Bunker Stockham (08 Nov 1833 – 03 Dec 1912 | Cardington OH – Alhambra CA) author, fifth female US doctor, philosophy school founder, birth control / gender equality / marital sexual fulfillment activist / advocate.

Maria Kraus-Boelté (08 Nov 1836 – 01 Nov 1918 | Hagenow DEU – Atlantic City NJ) author, essayist, professor, Froebel education advocate, kindergarten pioneer / founder, president of Kindergarten Department of National Education Association.

Lizzie Pitts Merrill Palmer (08 Nov 1838 – 28 Jul 1916 | Portland ME – Great Neck NY) educator, philanthropist, child activist, children’s educational school / child development research institute founder.

Katherine [Kate] Olivia Sessions (08 Nov 1857 – 24 Mar 1940 | San Francisco CA – San Diego CA) botanist, horticulturist, landscape architect, aka Mother of Balboa Park.

Margaret [Meta] Gladys Watkins (08 Nov 1884 – 10 Nov 1969 | Hamilton ON – Glasgow SCT) Canadian photographer, later recluse in Scotland, works discovered in her house after her death.

04 Nov | Women.Words.Work

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Sarah Hall Benham Boardman (04 Nov 1803 – 01 Sep 1845 | Alstead NH – Saint Helena Island SC) author, hymnist, translator, missionary to Burma.

Grace Greenwood Bedell Billings (04 Nov 1848 – 02 Nov 1936 | Westfield NY – Delphos KS) folk figure, letter correspondent with then-future US President Lincoln suggesting he grow a beard.

Anita Newcomb McGee (04 Nov 1864 – 05 Oct 1940 | Washington DC – Washington DC) author, physician, biographer, medical pioneer, expert professional organizer, author of manual on military nursing, military women’s rights activist / advocate, wrote the Army Reorganization Act of 1901 / founded US Army Nurse Corps, first female Acting Assistant US Army Surgeon General.

Jean McKishnie Blewett (04 Nov 1862 – 19 Aug 1934 | Scotia ON – Chatham ON) poet, author, journalist, pen name Katherine Kent.

Gena Brascombe Tinney (04 Nov 1881 – 26 Jul 1977 | Picton ON – New York NY) pianist, composer, music educator, choir conductor, founded Branscombe Chorale.

21 Oct | Women.Words.Work

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Caroline Carmichael McIntosh Fillmore (21 Oct 1813 – 11 Aug 1881 | Morristown NJ – Buffalo NY) heiress, eccentric, second wife of US President Millard Fillmore.

Martha [Mattie] Whitney Summerhayes (21 Oct 1844 – 12 May 1926 | Nantucket MA – Schenectady NY) memoirist, travel writer, world traveler, pioneer Army wife, autobiographical author.

Margaret Eleanor Theodora Addison (21 Oct 1868 – 18 Dec 1940 | Horning’s Mills ON – Toronto ON) diarist, educator, first dean of women at Victoria College, Ontario.

Josephine Lovett (21 Oct 1877 – 17 Sep 1958 | San Francisco CA – Rancho Santa Fe CA) stage actress, adapter, screenwriter, riding club co-founder.

Julia Lynch Olin (21 Oct 1882 – 11 Mar 1961 | Glen Cove NY – New York NY) author, publisher, member of Bahá’í faith [later expelled], autobiographical author, co-founded New History Society NYC, formed educational association / monthly magazine The Caravan of East and West.

20 Oct | Women.Words.Work

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Ellen Hardin Walworth (20 Oct 1832 – 23 Jul 1915 | Jacksonville IL – Washington DC) poet, author, editor, attorney, historian, biographer, social activist, domestic violence survivor / advocate, historic preservationist, Daughters of the American Revolution co-founder.

Elizabeth [Bessie] Bradwell Helmer (20 Oct 1858 – 10 Jan 1927 | Chicago IL – Chicago IL) attorney, publisher, Great Chicago Fire survivor, women’s rights activist / advocate.

Frances Alice Kellor (20 Oct 1873 – 04 Jan 1952 | Columbus OH – New York NY) author, essayist, social reformer / investigator, focus on women and immigrants.

Nellie Mooney McClung (20 Oct 1873 – 01 Sep 1951 | Chatsworth ON – Victoria BC ) novelist, legislator, suffragist, social activist, non-fiction author, one of Canada’s Famous Five.

Inglis Fletcher (20 Oct 1879 – 30 May 1969 | Alton IL – Wilmington NC) novelist, playwright.

07 Oct | Women.Words.Work

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Ann Eliza Brainerd Smith (07 Oct 1819 – 06 Jan 1909 | St Albans VT – St Albans VT) poet, author, novelist, essayist.

Abby Maria Hemenway (07 Oct 1828 – 24 Feb 1890 | Ludlow VT – Chicago IL) Vermont historian, religious convert, pioneering author / editor / publisher of Vermont Historical Gazetteers.

Margaretta [Maggie] Fox Kane (07 Oct 1833 – 08 Mar 1893 | Consecon ON – New York NY) folk figure, Canadian spiritualist, Catholic convert, one of the [in]famous Fox Sisters, co-established Spiritualist movement.

Mary Dana Hicks Prang (07 Oct 1836 – 07 Nov 1927 | Syracuse NY – Melrose MA) author, art educator, kindergarten pioneer, peace activist / reformer, Social Arts Club founder, earned Masters in Education from Harvard University aged 85.

Elizabeth McCourt Tabor (07 Oct 1854 – 07 Mar 1935 | Oshkosh WI – Leadville CO) aka Baby Doe, American folk figure, namesake of The Ballad of Baby Doe opera, aka Best Dressed Woman in the West.

26 Aug | Women.Words.Work

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Eliza Maria Posey Street (26 Aug 1792 – 02 Feb 1847 | Fredericksburg VA – Agency IA) pioneer, folk / historical figure, settler wife of US Indian Agent, deeded 640 acres of Sac / Fox land.

Sarah [Annie] Turner Wittenmyer (26 Aug 1827 – 02 Feb 1900 | Adams County OH – Sanatoga PA) author, hymnist, historian, relief worker, social reformer, temperance activist.

Isabel Hampton Robb (26 Aug 1860 – 15 Apr 1910 | Welland ON – Cleveland OH) textbook author, first Superintendent of Nurses at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, nurse theorist / advocate / curriculum developer.

May Lamberton Becker (26 Aug 1873 – 27 Apr 1958 | New York NY – Epsom UK) editor, author, journalist, anthologist, literary critic, social / charitable activist, Reader’s Guide columnist, pro-British during WWII, active member of Books Across the Sea, namesake for Library Reading Room dedicated by T. S. Eliot [1960].

Zona Gale Breese (26 Aug 1874 – 27 Dec 1938 | Portage WI – Chicago IL) author, novelist, essayist, playwright, newspaper writer, education / pacifism / women’s rights activist.