18 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

Virginia Penny (18 Jan 1826 – 04 Apr 1913 | Louisville KY – Wards Island NY) author, economist, suffragist, social reformer, owned employment agency for women, first to study women’s labor markets.


Sarah Blakeslee Chase (18 Jan 1837 – 01 Apr 1914 | New Richmond OH – Toledo OH) birth control activist, homeopathic gynecologist, first female admitted to Medical Society of Cleveland and Homœopathic Association of Ohio.


Alice H. Putnam (18 Jan 1841 – 19 Jan 1919 | Chicago IL – Chicago IL) author, educator, pioneer in Chicago kindergarten education, opened and directed first private kindergarten in Chicago.


Emma Bertha Delany (18 Jan 1871 – 07 Oct 1922 | Fernandina Beach FL – Fernandina Beach FL) African-American missionary fundraiser, first Baptist missionary to Malawai and Liberia in Africa, co-founded Providence Industrial Mission [Malawi] and Suehn Industrial Mission [Liberia].


Irene Osgood Andrews (18 Jan 1879 – 01 Feb 1963 | Big Rapids MI – New York NY) writer, author, relief worker, factory inspector, focus on challenges facing women in American industries.

14 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Ann Frost Stearns Pratt (14 Jan 1809 – 24 Aug 1891 | Groton VT – Pleasant Grove, Utah Territory) midwife, essayist, early feminist, Mormon folk figure, legal / political activist, allegedly married to one or two original Church of Latter Day Saints founders.


Katharine Prescott Wormeley (14 Jan 1830 – 04 Aug 1908 | Ipswich UK – Jackson NH) author, philanthropist, volunteer Civil War nurse, French-English translator.


Juliet Corson (14 Jan 1841 – 18 Jun 1897 | Boston MA – New York NY) American author, teacher, social activist, cookbook author, cooking school founder.


Clara Kathleen Rogers (14 Jan 1844 – 08 Mar 1931 | Cheltenham UK – Boston MA) British-American writer, singer, composer, music educator, aka Clara Doria.


Cornelia [Nellie] Cole Fairbanks (14 Jan 1852 – 24 Oct 1913 | Marysville OH – Indianapolis IN) suffragist, US Vice-Presidential Second Lady, women’s political activist / pathfinder, founding member all-women’s Fortnightly Literary Club.

12 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

Caroline Maria Seymour Severance (12 Jan 1820 – 10 Nov 1914 | Canandaigua NY – Los Angeles CA) author, abolitionist, suffragist, women’s clubs founder, aka The Mother of Clubs, first woman registered to vote in California State.


Laura Adams Armer (12 Jan 1874 – 16 Mar 1963 | Sacramento CA – Yolo CA) artist, writer, photographer | Women.Bourne.Works © Susan.Powers.Bourne


Lucy Allen Smart (12 Jan 1877 – 07 Sep 1960 | Steubenville OH – Forest Hills NY) author, editor, historian, librarian, American women’s historical performance artist, curator for Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Museum, co-edited and co-authored (though uncredited) The Archaeological Atlas of Ohio 


Eloise Gerry (12 Jan 1885 – 11 Dec 1970 | Boston MA – Madison WI) author, research scientist, focus on southern pine trees / production of turpentine, one of first US women to specialize in forest products research, first female appointed to professional staff of US Forest Service at Forest Products Laboratory. 


Beatrice Banning Ayer Patton (12 Jan 1886 – 30 Sep 1953 | Haverhill MA – Hamilton MA) author, sailor, speaker, novelist, translator, equestrian, political figure, married to General George Patton.

06 Jan | Herstorical.Reflections

Rebecca Webb Pennock Lukens (06 Jan 1794 – 10 Dec 1854 | Marlboro Township PA – Coatesville PA) Quaker, mill owner / manager, first US female industrial CEO, autobiographical author.


Charlotte Endymion Porter (06 Jan 1857 – 16 Jan 1942 | Towanda PA – Melrose MA) poet, editor, writer, translator, literary critic.


Elisabeth Mills Reid (06 Jan 1858 – 30 Apr 1931 | New York NY – Nice FR) social activist, philanthropist, women’s arts / academics advocate.


Frances Saville (06 Jan 1862 – 08 Nov 1935 | San Francisco CA – Belmont CA) operatic lyric soprano.


Caroline [Caro] Dana Blymyer Dawes (06 Jan 1866 – 03 Oct 1957 | Cincinnati OH – Evanston IL) US Second Lady, social / charity activist, natural and adoptive mother.

16 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Josephine Shaw Lowell (16 Dec 1843 – 12 Oct 1905 | Roxbury MA – New York NY) Unitarian, nonfiction author, Progressive reform leader, consumers league founder. 


Helen Frances [Fanny] Garrison Villard (16 Dec 1844 – 05 Jul 1928 | Boston MA – Dobbs Ferry NY) author, speaker, suffragist, founding member National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP].


Mary Hartwell Catherwood (16 Dec 1847 – 26 Dec 1902 | Luray OH – Chicago IL) biographer, historical romance novelist, short fiction magazine writer, pen names Mary Hartwell and Lewtrah.


Clara Endicott Sears (16 Dec 1863 – 25 Mar 1963 | Boston MA – Boston MA) author, historian, preservationist, founded Fruitlands Museum.

14 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Tappan Wright (14 Dec 1851 – 25 Aug 1916 | Steubenville OH – Cambridge MA) novelist, short story writer.


Lavinia Norman (14 Dec 1882 – 22 Jan 1983 | Montgomery WV – Washington DC) lifelong educator, French / English / Latin teacher, original founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority / first sorority founded by African-American women at Howard University.


Helen Steketee (14 Dec 1882 – 23 Aug 1974 | Grand Rapids MI – Grand Rapids MI) artist, still-life / landscape painter.


Jane Bailey Cowl (14 Dec 1883 – 22 Jun 1950 | Boston MA – Santa Monica CA) playwright, stage / film actress, WWII co-director of NYC Stage Door Canteen, wrote in collaboration with Jane Murfin, often used joint pseudonym Allan Langdon Martin.


Ethel Browne Harvey (14 Dec 1885 – 02 Sep 1965 | Baltimore MD – Falmouth MA) author, zoologist, embryologist, women’s educational rights activist / advocate.

07 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Abigail Hopper Gibbons (07 Dec 1801 – 16 Jan 1893 | Philadelphia PA – New York NY) teacher, abolitionist, social activist / reform leader, Civil War Union field nurse / hospital matron, co-founded Women’s Prison Association of NYC.


Rachel Littler Bodley (07 Dec 1831 – 15 Jun 1888 | Cincinnati OH – Philadelphia PA) author, archivist, university leader, Dean of Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, first female professor of chemistry at US medical college.


Myrta Lockett Avary (07 Dec 1857 – 14 Feb 1946 | Halifax VA – Atlanta GA) author, journalist, memoirist.


Sibyl Sanderson Terry (07 Dec 1864 – 16 May 1903 | Sacramento CA – Paris FR) operatic soprano, autobiographical author.


Willa Cather (07 Dec 1873 – 24 Apr 1947 | Gore VA – New York NY) editor, author, novelist, teacher.

04 Dec | Herstorical.Reflections

Angelia [Angie] Louise Thurston French Newman (04 Dec 1837 – 15 Apr 1910 | Montpelier VT – Lincoln NE) poet, editor, author, teacher, lecturer, Spanish-American War hospital inspector.


Cornelia Foster Bradford (04 Dec 1847 – 15 Jan 1935 | Granby NY – Montclair NJ) social worker, kindergarten advocate, social activist and reformer, founded Whittier House [first settlement house in New Jersey].


Mary Reed (04 Dec 1854 – 08 Apr 1943 | Lowell OH – Chandag IND) missionary social worker, leprosy colony missionary.


Julia Evelyn Ditto Young (04 Dec 1857 – 19 Apr 1915 | Buffalo NY – Buffalo NY) poet, novelist.


Lillian Russell (04 Dec 1861 – 06 Jun 1922 | Clinton IA – Pittsburgh PA) singer, actress, columnist, suffragist, born Helen Louise Leonard.

30 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Mary Hayden Green Pike (30 Nov 1824 – 15 Jan 1908 | Eastport ME – Baltimore MD) author, novelist, pen names: Mary Langdon and Sydney A. Story, Jr.


Martha George Ripley (30 Nov 1843 – 18 Apr 1912 | Lowell VT – Minneapolis MN) suffragist, feminist, woman’s physician, women’s rights advocate, public health activist / educator, founder / administrator Minneapolis Maternity Hospital [later renamed Ripley Memorial Hospital].


Mary Eliza McDowell (30 Nov 1854 – 14 Oct 1936 | Cincinnati OH – Chicago IL) social worker / reformer, community / neighborhood organizer, workplace / public health activist, head of University of Chicago’s Settlement House [later renamed Mary McDowell Settlement], aka The Settlement Lady and Angel of the Stockyards.


Elise Mercur Wagner (30 Nov 1868 – 27 Mar 1947 | Towanda PA – Old Economy Village PA) author, public / private architect, first female architect in Pittsburgh.


Etta Cone (30 Nov 1870 – 31 Aug 1949 | Jonesboro TN – Baltimore MD) heiress, literary figure, modern art collector.

23 Nov | Herstorical.Reflections

Katharine Coman (23 Nov 1857 – 11 Jan 1915 | Newark OH – Wellesley MA) author, professor, economist, social activist.


Katharine Pyle (23 Nov 1863 – 19 Feb 1938 | Wilmington DE – Wilmington DE) poet, artist, illustrator, children’s author.


Marie Louise Van Vorst (23 Nov 1867 – 16 Dec 1936 | New York NY – Florence IT) poet, author, painter, novelist, WWI nurse, anti-war activist.


Mary Brewster Hazelton (23 Nov 1868 – 13 Sep 1953 | Milton MA – Wellesley MA) artist, portrait painter, instructor at School of Boston Museum of Fine Arts, first female artist to win US arts award open to both men and women.