24 Jan | Women: Words & Works

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Catherine Elizabeth Brewer Benson (24 Jan 1822 – 27 Feb 1908 | Augusta GA – Macon GA) first US female to earn Bachelor degree, awarded by Wesleyan College [Macon GA].

Catharine [Cate] Merrill (24 Jan 1824 – 30 May 1900 | Corydon IN – Indianapolis IN) author, educator, Civil War nurse, second female US university professor.

Mary Susan Noailles Murfree (24 Jan 1850 – 31 Jul 1922 | Murfreesboro TN – Murfreesboro TN) novelist, short story writer, aka Charles Egbert Craddock.

Katherine [Kate] Harwood Waller Barrett (24 Jan 1857 – 23 Feb 1925 | Falmouth VA – Alexandria VA) physician, sociologist, humanitarian, philanthropist, social activist / reformer, founded first home for unwed mothers / National Florence Crittenton Mission.

Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (24 Jan 1862 – 11 Aug 1937 | New York NY – Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt FR) novelist, designer, short story writer.

21 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Eliza Roxcy Smith Snow Young (21 Jan 1804 – 05 Dec 1887 | Becket MA – Salt Lake City UT) poet, Mormon historian, married to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Lorenzo Snow.

Anna White (21 Jan 1831 – 16 Dec 1910 | Brooklyn NY – Mount Lebanon NY) Shaker Eldress, religious sister, social / political / peace activist, Mt. Lebanon Shaker Community member.

Helen Hamilton Gardener (21 Jan 1853 – 26 Jul 1925 | Winchester VA – Washington DC) author, lecturer, suffragist, political activist, government functionary, born Alice Chenoweth, Free Thought movement member.

Willie Betty Newman (21 Jan 1863 – 06 Feb 1935 | Murfreesboro TN – Nashville TN) portrait artist, worked / exhibited in Paris salons / in her native Tennessee / throughout the US.

Marguerite Agniel (21 Jan 1891 – 01 Apr 1971 | Indiana US – Washington DC) actress, author, dancer, yoga practitioner, health and beauty guru, nude yoga proponent.

17 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Jane Whitely Coggeshall (17 Jan 1836 – 22 Dec 1911 | Milton IN – Des Moines IA) writer, speaker, suffragist, first editor Woman’s Standard, aka the Mother of Woman Suffrage in Iowa, first woman west of Mississippi to join the National American Woman Suffrage Association [NAWSA].

Alva Erskine Smith Belmont (17 Jan 1853 – 26 Jan 1933 | Mobile AL – Paris FR) socialite, suffragist, librettist, philanthropist, multi-millionaire, architectural endower / decorator.

Edith Stuyvesant Dresser Gerry (17 Jan 1873 – 21 Dec 1958 | Newport RI – Providence RI) heiress, socialite, social activist, philanthropist, once the wealthiest woman in Rhode Island.

Josie Bassett Morris (17 Jan 1874 – 01 May 1964 | Hot Springs AR – Jensen UT) potter, pioneer, basket maker, cattle rancher, folk figure affiliated with The Wild Bunch Gang, rumored to have been Butch Cassidy’s sweetheart.

Cora Wilson Stewart (17 Jan 1875 – 02 Dec 1958 | Farmers KY – Columbus NC) educator, social reformer, founded Moonlight Schools to teach illiterate adults.

15 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Abigail [Abby] Kelley Foster (15 Jan 1811 – 14 Jan 1887 | Pelham MA – Worcester MA) suffragist, speaker, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, radical social reformer.

Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie (15 Jan 1836 – 17 May 1911 | Indianapolis IN – Winnetka MO) poet, artist, author, pianist, composer, short story writer.

Katharine Bement Davis (15 Jan 1860 – 10 Dec 1935 | Buffalo NY – Pacific Grove CA) author, criminologist, progressive era social reformer, first female NYC Correction Commissioner, science-based prison reformer, groundbreaking female sexuality researcher, first US female PhD in economics and political science.

Loïe Fuller (15 Jan 1862 – 01 Jan 1928 | Fullersburg IL – Paris FR) dancer, memoirist, choreographer, free dance practitioner, stage lighting artist / inventor / patent holder.

Frances Benjamin Johnston (15 Jan 1864 – 16 May 1952 | Grafton WV – New Orleans LA) pioneering photographer, early female photojournalist.

02 Jan | Women.Words.Work

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Queen Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke of Hawaiʻi (02 Jan 1836 – 25 Apr 1885 | Honolulu or Kawaihae, Sandwich Islands – Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) Queen monarch, social activist, hospital founder, advocated Hawaii’s independence.

Alice Mary Robertson (02 Jan 1854 – 01 Jul 1931 | Tullahassee Mission, Creek Nation – Muskogee OK) politician, educator, social worker, anti-feminist, Native American rights advocate.

Martha [Minnie] Carey Thomas (02 Jan 1857 – 02 Dec 1935 | Baltimore MD – Philadelphia PA) linguist, suffragist, Bryn Mawr founder / president, first female Johns Hopkins’ student / honorary graduate.

Anne Sewell Young (02 Jan 1877 – 15 Aug 1961 | Bloomington WI – Claremont CA) author, astronomer, astronomy professor, variable star observer.

Mary Hamilton Swindler (02 Jan 1884 – 16 Jan 1967 | Bloomington IN – Haverford PA) author, archaeologist, art historian, classical art scholar, first female Editor-in-Chief American Journal of Archaeology.

23 Dec | Women.Words.Work

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Ada Langworthy Collier (23 Dec 1843 – 06 Aug 1919 | Dubuque IA – Dubuque IA) author writing sketches, short stories, poems, novelist, clubwoman / social activist, pen names Anna L. Cunningham and Marguerite.

Helen Cecilia De Silver Abbot Michael (23 Dec 1857 – 29 Nov 1904 | Philadelphia PA – Boston MA) author, chemist, biologist, physician, hospital founder, plant analysis expert researcher.

Louisa Melvin Delos Mars (23 Dec 1859 – c. 1926 | Providence RI – Boston MA) singer, composer, librettist, first African-American woman to have her opera composition produced, one of first black graduates of New England Conservatory, one of first black women to achieve recognition as a composer [Note: none of her works survive].

Harriet Monroe (23 Dec 1860 – 26 Sep 1936 | Chicago IL – Arequipa PER) poet, editor, scholar, biographer, playwright, literary critic, patron of arts, autobiographical author, Poetry magazine editor / founder / publisher.

Anna Farquhar Bergengren (23 Dec 1865 – unknown | Brookville IN – unknown) editor, author, memoirist, journalist, foreign correspondent, pen name Margaret Allston.

27 Nov | Women.Words.Work

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Rachel Brooks Gleason (27 Nov 1820 – 13 Mar 1905 | Winhall VT – Elmira NY) author, physician, essayist, hydrotherapist, anti-slavery activist, women’s dress reform advocate, hydrotherapy spa administrator, fourth US female to earn medical degree.

Adele [Della] Lindley Straup (27 Nov 1866 – 15 Sep 1947 | South Bend IN – Salt Lake City UT) educator, active club woman.

Margaret Ruthven Lang (27 Nov 1867 – 29 May 1972 | Boston MA – Boston MA) composer, devotional pamphlet writer / printer / publisher, one of first two US female composers with music performed by American symphony orchestras.

Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons (27 Nov 1875 – 19 Dec 1941 | New York NY – New York NY) author, feminist, folklorist, sociologist, anthropologist, textbook author, pen name: John Main.

03 Nov | Women.Words.Work

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Martha Laurens Ramsay (03 Nov 1759 – 10 Jun 1811 | Charleston SC – Charleston SC) diarist, geneaologist, letter correspondent, private memoirs published by husband six weeks after her death.

Isabella Macdonald Alden (03 Nov 1841 – 05 Aug 1930 | Rochester NY – Palo Alto CA) author, editor, diarist, aka The Pansy, short story writer, adult education activist.

Mary Hannah Krout (03 Nov 1851 – 27 May 1927 | Crawfordsville IN – Crawfordsville IN) editor, author, journalist, suffragist, international lecturer.

Rosalie Barrow Edge (03 Nov 1877 – 30 Nov 1962 | New York NY – Kempton PA) birder, socialite, suffragist, national parks proponent, avian preservationist, founded Hawk Mountain and Emergency Conservation Committee.

Grace Hubbard Bell Fortescue (03 Nov 1883 – 24 Jun 1979 | Washington DC – Arlington VA) socialite, convicted of kidnapping-murdering an innocent man for allegedly raping her daughter.

31 Oct | Women.Words.Work

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Josephine Louise Le Monnier Newcomb (31 Oct 1816 – 07 Apr 1901 | Baltimore MD – New Orleans LA) philanthropist, founded H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College at Tulane University.

Eliza Boardman Burnz (31 Oct 1823 – 19 Jul 1903 | Essex UK – Walters Park PA) author, librarian, suffragist, founded Burnz’ Fonic Shorthand, shorthand inventor / educator / promoter, aka Mother of Women Stenographers, advocated Dianism sexual practice [physical contact without ejaculation].

Marie Louise Newland Andrews (31 Oct 1849 – 07 Feb 1891 | Bedford IN – Connersville IN) poet, editor, author, few works extant / ever published, founding member / secretary of Western Association of Writers.

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (31 Oct 1852 – 13 Mar 1930 | Randolph MA – Metuchen NJ) children’s poet / short fiction writer, adult novelist / short fiction writer.

Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon Low (31 Oct 1860 – 17 Jan 1927 | Savannah GA – Savannah GA) organizer / founder / promoter of Girl Guides / Girls Scouts USA.

27 Oct | Women.Words.Work

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Mary Elizabeth Wilson [M.E.W.] Sherwood (27 Oct 1826 – 12 Sep 1903 | Keene NH – Manhattan NY) poet, essayist, memoirist, travel / etiquette writer, autobiographical author.

Janet Scudder (27 Oct 1869 – 09 Jul 1940 | Terre Haute IN – Rockport MA) sculptor, memoirist, born Netta Deweze Frazee.

Sharlot Mabridth Hall (27 Oct 1870 – 09 Apr 1943 | Lincoln KS – Prescott AZ) poet, author, historian, journalist, photographer, Arizona artifacts collector, local history / folklore lecturer, first woman to hold office in Arizona Territorial government, founded Old Governor’s Mansion Museum [now Sharlot Hall Museum], namesake for Sharlot Hall Historical Society [in Prescott AZ].

Emily Bruce Price Post (27 Oct 1872 – 25 Sep 1960 | Baltimore MD – New York NY) author, novelist, etiquette expert, founded The Emily Post Institute.

Jane Macklem Crisp Murfin (27 Oct 1884 – 10 Aug 1955 | Quincy MI – Los Angeles CA) director, producer, playwright, screenwriter.