Women's History Month

Frances Perkins: Secretary of Labor Under FDR

March 27, 2014 by Bruce Dudley 1 Comment

Any recognition of influential and famous American women should include Frances Perkins and rank her close to the top of such a list. Perkins was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s secretary of labor during his entire time in office, from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman cabinet member in our history.

Although she is largely unknown to most Americans, many historians credit Perkins as being the architect and driving force responsible for the key achievements of FDR’s New Deal program during the Great Depression of the 1930s. [Read more…] about Frances Perkins: Secretary of Labor Under FDR

NY Women Helped Frame 1930s Preservation Debate

March 26, 2014 by Ellen Apperson Brown 1 Comment

During the first decades of the twentieth century, as women first agitated for and then began exercising the right to vote, many became intrigued by the political process and the possibilities for influencing public opinion. One of the topics of great interest and debate concerned the best use of forest lands in the Adirondack Park, and whether to uphold the protections of Article VII, Section 7, the forever wild clause of the New York Constitution. Although little has been written on this subject, I am convinced that women contributed significantly to this debate.

My source of information is a collection of letters saved by John S. Apperson, Jr., an engineer at the General Electric Company in Schenectady. By 1920, he had earned a reputation as a leading preservationist, and was fighting a vigorous campaign to protect the islands at Lake George. His connection to women’s organizations apparently got its start there, as he became friends with Mary Loines, from Brooklyn, New York, who owned land in Northwest Bay. [Read more…] about NY Women Helped Frame 1930s Preservation Debate

Madame Sherri: Early 20th Century NYC Show Business

March 19, 2014 by David Fiske 1 Comment

Research projects sometimes take unexpected, but fascinating, twists and turns. I had reason a few years ago to look into the case of a woman called Madame Sherri. She is mostly known for an unusual castle-like house built for her in a rural area of New Hampshire–its ruins are now popular with hikers and lovers of the odd and mysterious.

My investigation dragged me far from New Hampshire–to the world of cabaret reviews in New York City, the vaudeville circuit, and “soldier shows” (popular during World War I, with Irving Berlin’s “Yip Yip Yaphank” being the most well-known). And, for good measure, toss in a scandal involving sex and blackmail. [Read more…] about Madame Sherri: Early 20th Century NYC Show Business

Canton Event: North Country Women of Courage

March 19, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Three women’s suffrage activists, four educators, two musicians, an artist, a psychiatrist, and a writer. These are just some of the amazing careers led by North Country Women of Courage who will be the subject of the Patricia Harrington Carson Brown Bag Lunch program tomorrow, Thursday, March 20th at noon at the St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright House, 3 East Main St., Canton.

Brown Bag Lunches are free and open to the public. Bring your own lunch and enjoy a beverage and dessert provided by SLCHA. [Read more…] about Canton Event: North Country Women of Courage

Helen Redmond: Big City Star with North Country Roots

March 18, 2014 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

Helen Redmond’s life was that of a star, playing Broadway and touring the country for five years in the role of prima donna, but she hadn’t forgotten her family. In 1900, Helen’s mother, three brothers, a sister, and a nephew shared a Manhattan address with her. All were employed except for mom (age 64 and retired) and the nephew, who was in school. It was a far cry from 20 years earlier, when the single mother of seven toiled as a hotel servant and cook in upstate Vermont.

Clinging to her roots, and to escape the constant limelight and media attention, Helen occasionally visited her hometown of Port Henry, sometimes spending entire summers there, accompanied by her mother. [Read more…] about Helen Redmond: Big City Star with North Country Roots

Some Notable Women in Adirondack History

March 18, 2014 by Glenn Pearsall 4 Comments

The Adirondack Region of New York State is known for not only for its scenic beauty, but also for the strength and stubbornness of its people. This is especially true of its women. The early years of its history featured women who were particularly strong and resilient.

Phebe Cary was not only a woman, she was a full-blooded Abenaki. The story goes that at age 13 she was sold off by her father to William Dalaba. It is unclear if she was sold off by her father or whether William just paid her father a dowry. What is clear is that after William left money with her father, she was sent off – against her will – with a new husband to the 1857 wilderness of Bakers Mills, N.Y. [Read more…] about Some Notable Women in Adirondack History

The Two Mrs. Boissevains: Inez and Edna

March 17, 2014 by Sandra Weber 4 Comments

The lives of the two Mrs. Boissevains of New York seem inseparable and incomparable. Both graduated from Vassar College, supported women’s suffrage, endured ill health, believed in free love, and attained popular fame. It is not surprising that they chose the same husband: the charming, witty, handsome Eugen Boissevain. Inez Milholland wed him on July 14, 1913, and after Inez died, he took Edna St. Vincent Millay as his bride on July 18, 1923.

Already known for “making suffrage fashionable,” Inez Milholland shot to fame as the herald atop a white horse at the head of the March 3, 1913, suffrage procession in Washington, DC. It was a shock to the world when a few months later the New York Times announced that Inez had met Hollander F. Eugene Boissevain aboard an ocean liner and married him in London. [Read more…] about The Two Mrs. Boissevains: Inez and Edna

Margaret Fuller:
Transcendentalist, Women’s Rights Advocate

March 17, 2014 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

There would be no Women’s History Month celebration without the life and work of the extraordinary Margaret Fuller. This founding member of the Transcendentalist Club with her friends and colleagues Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and A. Bronson Alcott, father of Louisa May Alcott, was treated as a social equal by these exceptional writers and thinkers. Her colleague Edgar Allan Poe, the only other outstanding literary critic in 1840s America, stated that there were three types of people: Men, Women, and Margaret Fuller. Elizabeth Cady Stanton attended Margaret’s “Conversations” for Women in Boston which allowed women for the first time the opportunity to express their opinions and thoughts in a public forum.

Who was this strong-willed and determined woman who aggressively pursued her dreams of integrating her feminine and masculine aspects of her psyche in the sacred marriage and insisted that men and women everywhere needed to embrace this for their well-being and happiness? [Read more…] about Margaret Fuller:
Transcendentalist, Women’s Rights Advocate

George Bryjak: The Cult of True Womanhood

March 13, 2014 by George Bryjak Leave a Comment

A Protestant revival movement, the Second Great Awakening (SGA), began in the 1790s in this country and lasted until approximately 1850. Consequences of this movement that its millions of adherents could not imagine are evident today and will continue to shape gender relations.

Most historians consider the SGA a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment values of rationalism, skepticism, and secularism that were paramount in the aftermath of the First Great Awakening that occurred between 1731 and 1755. [Read more…] about George Bryjak: The Cult of True Womanhood

Susan B. Anthony’s Death Anniversary Event Planned

March 11, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On March 13, 1906, at forty minutes past midnight, Susan B. Anthony died at the age of 86 in her bed on the second floor of the house at 17 Madison Street in Rochester, her home of 40 years.

At her request, much of the ceremonial mourning of the day was not observed: no shades were drawn, no black crepe hung. Only a simple wreath of violets was placed on the front door. [Read more…] about Susan B. Anthony’s Death Anniversary Event Planned