23 Jan | Women.Words.Work

Agnes Maule Machar (23 Jan 1837 – 24 Jan 1927 | Kingston ON – Kingston ON) poet, author, novelist, essayist, feminist, biographer, social reformer, pen-name Fidelis.


Amanda Berry Smith (23 Jan 1837 – 24 Feb 1915 | Long Green MD – Sebring FL) singer, teacher, autodidact, missionary, autobiographical author.


Marianne Cope (23 Jan 1838 – 09 Aug 1918 | Hessen DEU – Kalaupapa HI) German-American, aka The Leprosy Nun, school / hospital / orphanage founder, canonized religious sister Saint Marianne of Molokaʻi.


Antoinette Sterling (23 Jan 1850 – 10 Jan 1904 | Sterlingville NY – Hampstead UK) Anglo-American vocalist, teacher, voice teacher, church singer, Christian Scientist.


Lydia Field Emmet (23 Jan 1866 – 16 Aug 1952 | New Rochelle NY – New York NY) artist, portrait painter, stained glass artist.

22 Jan | Women.Words.Work

Catherine Wolfe Bruce (22 Jan 1816 – 13 Mar 1900 | New York NY – New York NY) philanthropist, astronomy patron, namesake for Bruce Medal of Astronomical Society of the Pacific / Bruce moon crater / asteroid 323 Brucia.


Harriet Ward Sanborn Grosvenor (22 Jan 1823 – 07 Sep 1863 | Hampton Falls NH – Newburyport MA) poet, writer, novelist.

 


Jennie Fowler Willing (22 Jan 1834 – 06 Oct 1916 | Burford ON – New York NY) author, temperance reformer, founding member Women’s Christian Temperance Union [WCTU], founded New York Evangelistic Training School.


Marie Manning (22 Jan 1872 – 28 Nov 1945 | Washington DC – Washington DC) novelist, journalist, suffragist, aka Beatrice Fairfax, magazine founder, short fiction writer, autobiographical author, first US newspaper advice columnist.


Elsie Reford (22 Jan 1872 – 08 Nov 1967 | Perth ON – Montreal QC) art collector, pioneer horticulturist, outdoor sportswoman, WWI War Office German/English translator, created one of largest private gardens in Canada [open to public since 1962].

19 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.