Browse Items (277 total)

Music Hall, Boston.jpg
The New England Conservatory of Music was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee and was located at the Music Hall in Boston. In the 1880 course catalog, he noted: "Twenty-five years have now elapsed since the Director inaugurated the Conservatory system…

Elizabeth Blackwell.jpg
Elizabeth Blackwell, who was born in Bristol, England, on February 3, 1821, became one of the first women physicians in the United States. She persisted in applying to various medical schools as her applications were rejected because she was a woman.…

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The National Council of Women of the United States was organized in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1888.

Emma Lazarus.jpg
Emma Lazarus was born in New York, New York on July 22, 1849 and died there on November 19, 1887.Emma was inspired and mentored by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1868, she mailed her book to Ralph Waldo Emerson which resulted in a mentor-mentee…

Clara Doty Bates.jpg
Clara Doty Bates was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 22, 1838. A writer from an early age, Clara attended private schools. She married Morgan Bates, a newspaperman, in 1876 and the couple moved to Chicago, Illinois.A well-known writer of…

Nora Perry from book.jpg
Nora Perry was a New England poet, newspaper correspondent, and author. Her poems “Tying her Bonnet under her Chin” and “After the Ball” shot her to literary fame and were reprinted in newspapers across the country. Her early success led her to write…

Lollie Belle Wylie.jpg
Lollie Belle Wylie was born in Bayou Coden, near Mobile, AL, on October 21, 1858. After growng up in Georgia, she married Hart Wylie at age seventeen.She published a book of poems while her husband was ill, and began writing for The Atlanta Journal…

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Boston club consisting of Transcendentalists, philosophers, and authors. The Boston Radical Club was founded in Spring, 1867 and disbanded in 1880. Its members included Ednah Dow Cheney, Mary Grew, Julia Ward Howe, Nora Perry, Mary Elizabeth Fiske…

Ella A. Giles.jpg
Ella A. Giles was born near Madison, Wisconsin, on February 2, 1851. Growing up in the home of a father who was a philanthropist and a mother who fostered Ella’s love of art and literature, she pursued interests in those areas throughout her life. As…

Helen Augusta Blanchardl_0107.jpg
Inventor Helen Augusta Blanchard was born in Portland, Maine on October 25, 1840. She was the daughter of a wealthy shipowner and businessman. When her father's business failed and he eventually died in 1866, Helen took to patent development and…

Mary Emily Bennett Coues.jpg
Mary Emily Bennett Coues was born in New York, New York on August 26, 1835.After traveling to and living abroad, Mary Emily married Philadelphia merchant Joseph W. Bates. In addition to their Philadelphia mansion at 1814 Chestnut Street, the couple…

Julia E. Houston West.jpg
Julia E. Houston West was born in Ashburnham, MA on June 22, 1832. She began singing for Edward Everett Hale's South Congregational Church in Boston in 1856. After briefly singing for the Old South Church, she returned to Hale's church.As the…

Mary D. Lowman.jpg
Mary D. Lowman, who served as mayor of Oskaloosa, Kansas, was born in Shelocta, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on January 27, 1842. She married George W. Lowman in 1866 and moved to Kansas. Mary became the mother of two children.She taught for many…

Lepha Eliza Bailey.jpg
Author, lecturer, and reformer Lepha Eliza Bailey was born in Battle Creek, Michigan on January 21, 1841. She began her writing career by contributing to newspapers. Lepha married Lewis Bailey in 1873 and started a family. They lived in Battle Creek…

Rosa Miller Avery.jpg
Rosa Miller Avery was born in Madison, Ohio, on May 21, 1830. She married Cyrus Avery in 1853 and became the mother of Cyrus Miller Avery. Her family lived in Ashtabula, Ohio, Erie, Pennsylvania, and then Chicago, Illinois.A passionate reformer, Rosa…

Susanna Valentine Aldrich_0028.jpg
Author Susanna Valentine Aldrich was born in Hopkinton, MA on November 14, 1828. She later lived in Roxbury, MA. Having loved writing from an early age, Susanna became a contributor to periodicals and magazines. She also was a very talented hymn…

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Female contributors to The Independent by generation of birth.

Anti-Slavery women by birthplace.svg
This visualization presents the Anti-Slavery women by their State or Country of Birth.

Anti-Slavery women by generation.svg
This visualization presents the Anti-Slavery women by the generations they were born in.

Katherine Johnson Jackson.jpg
Katharine Johnson Jackson, daughter of former Massachusetts senator and representative Hon. Emerson Johnson, was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on April 7, 1841. Following periods of public school and home school instruction, she entered a…

Sarah C. Acheson.jpg
Temperance worker Sarah C. Acheson was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on February 20, 1844.Sarah, sometimes known as Sadie, married Dr. Alexander Wilson Acheson and became the mother to several children. The family moved to Denison, Texas, in the…

L Very.jpg
Lydia Louisa Anna Very was born on November 2, 1823, in Salem, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Jones and Lydia Very. Her father passed away when Lydia was just a year old. In December of 1841, Lydia began teaching at Mason Street Public School…

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Susan Archer Talley Weiss was born in Hanover County, VA on February 14. A Woman of the Century lists her birth year as 1835, but other sources list it as 1822. Her family moved to Richmond when Susan was eight, and she lost her ability to hear two…

Florence Byrne Cartwright.jpg
Florence Byrne Cartwright was born in Galena, Illinois, on December 27, 1863. She resided in Grass Valley, California, where she became postmistress in December of 1887, following the death of postmaster father. After meeting her husband, Richard…

Elizabeth and her brother Aaron.jpg
This image is of a young Elizabeth Powell and her eighteen year old brother Aaron.

Ripley Female College.jpg
Ripley Female College was a women's college in Poultney, VT. It was founded in 1863 and opened on February 3, 1864 in what had been Troy Conference Academy . The first degrees were awarded in 1866, and the institution remained in operation until…

Kate Slaughter McKinney.jpg
Author and poet Kate Slaughter McKinney was born in London, Kentucky, on February 6, 1857. By 1870, her family lived in Kirksville, Kentucky. Interested in writing from an early age, she published her first work at fifteen in theLouisville…

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson.jpg
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson was born on October 28, 1842 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father passed away in 1844, when Anna was two years old. She went to the Friends' Free School, studied hard, and read constantly.By the age of fifteen, Anna had…

Martia L. Davis Berry.jpg
Political reformer Martia L. Davis Berry was born in Portland, Michigan on January 22, 1844. She became a teacher in the Portland Public Schools at age seventeen.Martia married John S. Berry, a Civil War veteran, in 1865. She and John had one child,…

Susan Frances Nelson Ferree.jpg
Susan Frances Nelson Ferree is our Woman of the Week. Please view the link in our profile to see links related to Susan. Susan Frances Nelson Ferree was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on January 14, 1844, and grew up in Keokuk, Iowa. She married…

Ella Maria Ballou.jpg
Stenographer Ella Maria Ballou was born in Wallingford, VT on November 15, 1852. After attending Wallingford High School, Ella became a teacher.In 1885, she became the first female reporter for the Rutland County Court. Later, she added Addison…

Mary Emma Holmes.jpg
Mary Emma Smith Holmes was born on a farm near Peoria, Illinois on August 3, 1839.A dedicated reformer, she was a member of the Equal Suffrage Association, and the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In addition, Mary Emma was a leader of…

Elizabeth Martha Olmsted (2).jpg
Poet and lyricist Elizabeth Martha Allen Olmsted was born in Caledonia, New York, on December 31, 1825. She graduated from Ingham University in Le Roy, New York in 1847. Soon after graduation, her graduation poem was published inTheUnited States…

Alice S. Foxworthy (2).jpg
Educator and missionary Alice S. Foxworthy was born in Mount Carmel, KY onDecember 22, 1852.Alice attended Stanford Academy in Stanford, KY and later taught there. She also taught at Catlettsburg High School (KY), East Kentucky Normal School, and…

Helen Morton Smith (2).jpg
Helen Morton Smith was born in Sullivan Harbor, Maine, on December 12, 1859. After she was educated at a convent in Michigan, Helen returned to Maine and became a teacher. By 1888, Helen was teaching at her own private school in Bar Harbor,…

Mary J. Scarlett Dixon (2).jpg
Mary J. Scarlett Dixon was born in Robeson, Berks County, Pennsylvania, on October 23, 1822. She grew up in a Quaker family that became very involved in the Anti-Slavery cause. Having lost both parents by the age of sixteen, Mary was very interested…

Lillian_Blanche_Fearing_01 (2).jpg
Author and lawyer Lillian Blanche Fearing was born in Davenport, Iowa, on November 27, 1863. Despite being blind from birth, Lillian achieved much during her lifetime. Lillian's obituary in the Rock Island Argus notes, in part:"At the age of 8 she…

Celeste M. A. Winslow.jpg
Celeste M. A. Winslow was born in Charlemont, Massachusetts, on November 22, 1837.A prolific writer, Celeste penned articles for numerous periodicals. Her poem"Perplexed"appeared inThe Atlantic Monthlyin June 1876, while her poem"Ah, Dawn,…

Mary Agnes Dalrymple Bishop larger.jpg
Mary Agnes Dalyrmple Bishop was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on August 12, 1857. Her family moved to Grafton, Massachusetts when she was less than two years old.Mary Agnes began writing for local papers at age eleven and was editor of The…

Mary Dight.jpg
Mrs. Mary A. G.. Dight, also known as "Minnie," was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, on November 7, 1860. A talented musician, she attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. When she decided to change career paths to become a…

Annie Fillmore Sheardown (2).jpg
Annie Fillmore Sheardown, daughter of John and Olma J. Burdick, was born in Franklin, Connecticut on June 8, 1856, and spent her youth living in Franklin and Norwich, Connecticut. Passionate about music, she began lessons at a very early age. By…

Elizabeth Robinson Abbott larger (2).jpg
Elizabeth Osborne Robinson Abbott was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on September 11, 1852, and grew up in Malden, Massachusetts. Her mother was Harriet Hanson Robinson, a well-known Lowell mill girl and author. Like her daughter, Harriet is included…

Kate_Josephine_Bateman (3).jpg
Actress Kate Bateman was born in Baltimore, MD onOctober 7, 1843. Her father, Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman, was in the theatre world and had his two daughters, Kate and Ellen, perform as young girls. They performed at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport,…

Annie Le Porte Diggs.jpg
Politician and journalist Annie Le Porte Diggs was born in London, Ontario, Canada on February 22, 1853.She moved to Lawrence, KS and was very involved wiith the People's Party, the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, and the Woman's Christian…

Mary Grew (2).jpg
Anti-slavery agitator and preacher Mary Grew was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 1, 1813. She later lived in Boston, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.Mary was devoted to abolition, speaking on the topic and collaborating with…

Mary Jewett Telford.jpg
Mary Jewett Telford was born in Seneca, NY on March 18, 1839. During her career, she was am army nurse and a church and temperance worker.

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Susan Arnold Elston Wallace was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, on December 25, 1830. After going to school in Quaker Hill, New York, Susan returned to Crawfordsville and later married Lew Wallace and became a mother.Since her husband's career took…

Sarah Graham Young (2).jpg
Sarah Graham Young, an army nurse, was born near Ithaca, NY on August 9, 1830. She married her first husband, Abel O. Palmer, in 1849 and had two children.By the time the Civil War started, Sarah was a widow. Leaving her children with family members,…

Elizabeth Cochrane.jpg
Author, journalist, and traveler Elizabeth Cochrane, better known as "Nellie Bly," was born in Cochrane Mills, PA on May 5, 1867. She later lived in Indiana, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, and New York, NYShe began her career as a writer forThe Pittsburgh…

Sarah B. Armstrong.jpg
Sarah B. Armstrong was born in Newton, OH, on July 31, 1857. She grew up in Lebanon, OH and attended Lebanon University.While she began teaching art at Lebanon University, Sarah eventually pursued a career in Medicine. She moved to Ann Arbor, MI for…

Susan E. Barry (2).jpg
Susan E. Hall Barry was born in Minisink, New York, on March 19, 1826, and grew up near Ithaca, New York.She moved to New York City to receive her medical education and graduated in 1861. In June of that year, Susan heeded the Ladies' Central Relief…

Ellen M. Carpenter (2).jpg
Ellen M. Carpenter was born in Killingly, Connecticut, on November 28, 1836.During her career as an artist, she studied in Worcester, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, Paris, France, and Berlin, Germany. For her work, Ellen travelled throughout…

Emma Brinton Southwick (2).jpg
Army nurse Emma Southwick Brinton was born in Peabody, Massachusetts on April 7, 1834. During the Civil War, she served as a nurse in Washington, D.C.; Petersburg, Virginia; the Sea Islands; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Later, Emma became a writer…

Agnes Booth.jpg
Agnes Booth, then known as Marion Agnes Land Rookes, was born in Sydney, Australia, on October 4, 1843. She was a dancer as a young woman and came to the United States to dance in San Francisco. However, a heart condition required a change in Agnes's…

Louisa Morton Greene (2).jpg
Louisa Morton Willard Greene was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, on May 23, 1819. She worked in a woolen mill in Dedham, Massachusetts, where she began writing, and later taught in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.After marrying businessman and…

Flora L. Aldrich (2).jpg
Dr. Flora L. Aldrich was born in Westford, New York, on October 6, 1859. She married Dr. Alanson G. Aldrich in 1883 and pursued a medical career. Flora graduated from Minnesota Medical College and studied in Vienna, Austria, and in Germany.…

Charity Rusk Craig (2).jpg
Charity Rusk Craig was born in Portersville, OH, on December 20, 1849, the eldest of three children of Jeremiah M. Rusk and Mary Elizabeth Martin. Her parents moved to Wisconsin with their family when Charity was three years old, and she lost her…

Corinne Stocker (2).jpg
Elocutionist and journalist Corinne Stocker was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina on August 21, 1871, but she lived most of her life in Atlanta, Georgia. She was an extremely intelligent and talented woman. As herA Woman of the…

Zarelda Gray Wallace (2).jpg
Zerelda Gray Wallace was born in Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky on August 6, 1817. She was a temperance reformer, a woman suffragist, a public speaker, and an author.Zerelda spent her youth in Millersburg and her teenage years in New Castle,…

Anna Byford Leonard (2).jpg
Anna Byford Leonard, a sanitary reformer, ceramic artist, art teacher, author, and missionary leader was born in Mount Vernon, Indiana on July 31, 1843. The daughter of William Heath Byford, a physician and surgeon who was the founder of Woman's…

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Jeanie Oliver Smith.jpg

Rosa Vertner Jeffrey (2).jpg

Aurilla Furber (2).jpg

A Woman of the Century Project Item Creation.mp4
This is a screencast about the process of item creation for the A Woman of the Century site.

Juliet H. Severance (2).jpg
Dr. Juliet H. Severance was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1833 and grew up in De Ruyter, New York. Juliet attended the De Ruyter Seminary. She taught in New York as a young woman before studying with physicians and becoming a doctor.…

Sarah Doan La Fetra (2).jpg
Sarah Doan La Fetra was born in Sabina, Ohio on June 11, 1843. After attending Alfred Holbrook's National Normal School in Ledyard, Ohio. Sarah was a teacher until her marriage to George H. La Fetra on October 6, 1867. The La Fetra family moved to…

A Woman of the Century Project and Site.mp4
This screencast, made for the Digital Public History course in the Digital Public Humanities Graduate Certificate Program at George Mason University, introduces A Woman of the Century: A Crowdsourcing Project of the Nineteenth and Twenty-First…

Mount Holyoke (2).jpg
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, later Mount Holyoke College, is an institution for higher educator for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was founded by Mary Lyon and opened in 1837.

Stella A. Gaines Fifield.jpg
Stella A. Gaines Fifield was born in Paw Paw, Michigan on June 1, 1845. She later lived in Taylor Falls, Minnesota and graduated from Chicago Seminary, Minnesota. Early in her career, Stella was a teacher in Osceola WI, but she made her major mark in…

Clara Louise Burnham.jpg
Clara Louise Burnham, born in Newton, Massachusetts,on May 25,1854, spent her early years in New York City. However, her family moved to Chicago when Clara Louise was a young girl, and she lived most of her life there. She was the daughter of Mary…

Caroline Lathrop Post (2).jpg
Caroline Lathrop Post was born in Ashford, Connecticut, on November 27, 1824, and began her writing career at an early age. Her family later moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts.She married Abner L. Parsons on March 27, 1844,…

Eliza Trask Hill (2).jpg
ElizaTraskHill, a native of Warren, Massachusetts, was born on May 10, 1840. Her profile lists her as a woman suffragist and journalist, but she alsowas a wife, a mother, a teacher, and a supporter of several different causes.With a father and…

Amelia Welby from her book of Poems (2).jpg
Amelia B. Coppuck Welby was born in St. Michael's, Maryland, on February 3, 1819. Best known by her pseudonym "Amelia," she was an author who spent most of her life in Louisville, Kentucky.Amelia's first contributions were toTheLouisville Journal.…

Julia McNair Wright (2).jpg
Julia McNair Wright, an author, was born in Oswego, New York,on May 1, 1840.HerA Woman of the Centuryprofile notes: "She began her literary career at sixteen, by the publication of short stories" (804). Three years later, Julia contributed"The…

Catharine_Beecher (3).jpg
Catharine Esther Beecher, a member of the famous Beecher family, was an educator and author. She was born in East Hampton, NY on September 6, 1800, and spent much of her childhood in Litchfield, Connecticut.Beecher began the Hartford Female Seminary…

Jane Goodwin Austin (2).jpg
Jane Goodwin Austin was born in Worcester, MA on February 25, 1831. She married Loring H. Austin in 1850 and became the mother of three children. A prolific writer, Jane was a frequent contributor toAtlantic Monthly,Galaxy,Harper’s Monthly,Peterson’s…

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Harriette Newell Woods Baker, an Andover, Massachusetts native, was born on August 19, 1815.Better known by her pseudonyms "Madeline Leslie" and "Aunt Hattie," Harriette was an author, editor, playwright and publisher. As herA Woman of the…

Helen Maria Fiske Jackson.jpg
Helen Maria Fiske Jackson, better known as Helen Hunt Jackson, or "H. H.", was an extremely popular writer. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on October 18, 1831.Jackson was a contributor toThe Atlantic Monthly,Galaxy,Hearth and Home,The…

MaryHelenPeckCrane (2).jpg
Mary Helen Peck Crane, the daughter of Methodist Episcopal minister George Peck and Mary Myers Peck, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 1827. Her husband, Reverend Jonathan Towley Crane, was a Methodist Episcopal pastor and the…

Fanny Lily Gipsy Davenport (2).jpg
Fanny Lily Gipsy Davenport,born on April 10, 1850,hailed from London, England. She was a popular actress who had her own theatre company. LikeLotta Crabtreeand many other actors and actresses, Fanny thrilled audiences throughout the country during…

Emma McAvoy (2).jpg
Emma McAvoy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 23, 1841. Author and lecturer are the occupations listed at the beginning of herA Woman of the Centuryprofile, but Miss McAvoy's career included other professions.Like many women of her time, this…

Helen L. Webster (2).jpg
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 1, 1853, Helen Livermore Webster grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. After having graduated from Salem Normal School, she taught high school in Lynn while continuing her own studies.Helen received her Ph.D. in…
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