31 May | Women.Words.Work

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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. 

24 May | Women.Words.Work

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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 | Women.Words.Work

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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.

18 May | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Edwards Bryan (18 May 1846 – 15 Jun 1913 | Lloyd FL – Clarkston GA) poet, author, essayist, journalist.

Gertrude Käsebier (18 May 1852 – 13 Oct 1934 | Des Moines IA – New York NY) women’s photography advocate, pioneering artistic / portrait / pictorial / photographer.

Elisabeth Luther Cary (18 May 1867 – 13 Jul 1936 | Brooklyn NY – Brooklyn NY) art critic, biographer, translator.

Rachelle Slobodinsky Yarros (18 May 1869 – 17 Mar 1946 | Kiev RU – Chicago IL) author, physician, reformer, women’s rights activist, first woman admitted to College of Physicians and Surgeons in Boston.

08 May | Women.Words.Work

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Phillis Wheatley (08 May 1753 – 05 Dec 1784 | Gambia or Senegal AF – Boston MA) poet, letter correspondent, first female African-American published author.

Ella Elvira Gibson (08 May 1821 – 08 Mar 1901 | Winchendon MA – Barre MA) poet, editor, educator, essayist, Freethinker, pamphleteer, ordained minister, first female US Army chaplain.

Augusta Evans Wilson (08 May 1835 – 09 May 1909 | Columbus GA – Mobile AL) author, novelist, Southern literature pioneer.

Lucretia Longshore Blankenburg (08 May 1845 – 29 Mar 1937 | New Lisbon OH – Philadelphia PA) author, club woman, civic leader, social activist, genealogist, political family member.

Mary Alice Bird Babb (08 May 1850 – 21 Nov 1926 | Mount Pleasant IA – Aurora IL) women’s education activist, founding member Philanthropic Educational Organization [PEO].

09 Apr | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Rollins Lightner (09 Apr 1818 – 17 Dec 1913 | Lima NY – Minersville UT) Mormon pioneer, member LDS church, rescued looted pages of LDS DOctrine and Convenants, one of plural wives of JoSeph Smith, Brigham Young, and Adam Lightner.

Maria Susanna Cummins (09 Apr 1827 – 01 Oct 1866 | Salem MA – Dorchester MA) short fiction writer, girls’ / young adult serial novelist.

Mary Strong Kinney (09 Apr 1859 – 17 Jun 1938 | Salem OR – Seaside OR) suffragist, politician, Oregon State Senator, sawmill owner / manager.

Margaret Mann (09 Apr 1873 – 22 Aug 1960 | Cedar Rapids IA – Cedar Rapids IA) author, librarian, archivist, professor, pioneer in library cataloging and library science education.

Florence Beatrice Price (09 Apr 1887 – 03 Jun 1953 | Little Rock AR – Chicago IL) solo / choral / orchestral / symphonic composer, first African-American woman recognized as symphonic composer and to have composition played by major orchestra.


29 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr (29 Mar 1831 – 10 Mar 1919 | Ulverston UK – Queens NY) English-American novelist, short story writer.

Augusta Louise Pierce Tabor (29 Mar 1833 – 30 Jan 1895 | Augusta ME – Pasadena CA) folk figure, social activist, mining entrepreneur / millionaire.

Isabella Thoburn (29 Mar 1840 – 01 Sep 1901 | St Clairsville OH – Lucknow IN) educator, Methodist Episcopal missionary, high school / women’s college founder in India.

Frances Wisebart Jacobs (29 Mar 1843 – 03 Nov 1892 | Harrodsburg KY – Denver CO) philanthropist, school teacher, founded United Way, social / community activist, founded Denver’s Jewish Hospital Association, aka Denver’s Mother of Charities.

Lou Henry Hoover (29 Mar 1874 – 07 Jan 1944 | Waterloo IA – New York NY) linguist, scholar, translator, public speaker, Girl Scout enthusiast / supporter, US Presidential First Lady, first First Lady to speak fluent Chinese, first First Lady to offer regular national radio broadcasts.

13 Mar | Women.Words.Work

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Abigail Powers Fillmore (13 Mar 1798 – 30 Mar 1853 | Stillwater NY – Washington DC) US Presidential First Lady, book collector, private librarian.

Jane Elizabeth Hitchcock Jones (13 Mar 1813 – 13 Jan 1896 | Vernon NY – Brooklyn NY) author, suffragist, abolitionist, women’s rights activist.

Clara L. Brown Dyer (13 Mar 1849 – 02 Mar 1931 | Cape Elizabeth ME – Portland ME) artist, reader, lecturer, landscape painter, social club woman, one of first members of the Society of Art and the Portland Art League, organizing president of National Society of United States Daughters of 1812 in State of Maine. 

Phebe Estelle Spalding (13 Mar 1859 – 12 Mar 1937 | Westfield VT – Pomona CA) author, art historian, first female professor Pomona College.

Alice Bellvadore Sams Turner (13 Mar 1859 – 10 Jul 1915 | Mingo IA – Colfax IA) diarist, teacher, physician, social activist, public press contributor, co-founded Colfax Free Public Library, co-founded Turner Rest Home and Sanitarium, first female health officer in Iowa, first woman admitted to Iowa Health and Protective Association.

17 Feb | Women.Words.Work

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Ellen Sturgis Hooper (17 Feb 1812 – 03 Nov 1848 | Boston MA – Boston MA) poet, Transcendentalist.

Sallie Holley (17 Feb 1818 – 12 Jan 1893 | Canandaigua NY – New York NY) author, educator, abolitionist, co-founded Holley School for freed slaves, active member of American Anti-Slavery Association, lifelong companion / work partner with Caroline F. Putnam.

Rose Terry Cooke (17 Feb 1827 – 18 Jul 1892 | West Hartford CT – Pittsfield MA) poet, author, humorist, women’s biographer.

Margaret Warner Morley (17 Feb 1858 – 12 Dec 1923 | Montrose IA – Washington DC) novelist, educator, biologist.

Jessie Love Smith Gaynor (17 Feb 1863 – 20 Feb 1921 | St Louis MO – Webster Groves MO) author, musician, children’s music composer.

16 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Virginia Caroline Tunstall Clay-Clopton (16 Jan 1825 – 23 Jan 1915 | Nash County NC – Gurley AL) author, memoirist, political wife, suffragist, United Daughters of the Confederacy member.

Ellen Russell Emerson (16 Jan 1837 – 12 Jun 1907 | New Sharon ME – Cambridge MA) author, sketcher, ethnologist.

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (16 Jan 1843 – 19 Jun 1864 | Afton NY – New Orleans LA) US folk figure, aka Lyons Wakeman, letter correspondent, disguised Civil War Union soldier.

Ella Flagg Young (16 Jan 1844 – 26 Oct 1918 | Buffalo NY – Washington DC) author, essayist, theorist, educator, first female superintendent of major school district, first female president of National Education Association [NEA].

Margaret Wilhelmina Wilson (16 Jan 1882 – 06 Oct 1973 | Traer IA – Droitwich UK) novelist, aka G.D. Turner, 1924 Pulitzer Prize for The Able McLaughlins.