Several years ago, I participated in a women’s history conference at Scripps College in Claremont, CA. Amen, amen, amen, I said, when I read the quote on the entrance wall by Ellen Browning Scripps who founded Scripps in 1926– “The paramount obligation of a college is to develop in its students the ability to think clearly and independently and the ability to live confidently courageously and hopefully–”
Another serendipitous discovery in Pittsburgh–this marker to Mary Roberts Rinehart, which is on the same street with the Gertrude Stein marker! My brother & sister first spotted it & I excitedly told them that I had quoted Rinehart’s dramatic World War I reporting in the preface of my book “Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II.” The marker reads: “Home of Mary Roberts Rinehart Prolific author (1876-1953) of “The Circular Staircase”–written in this house in 1907–and one of America’s first and most popular writers of mystery stories, as well as fiction and biography; the first female American war correspondent (World War I); a pioneer scriptwriter during Hollywood’s golden era; and an outspoken, ambitious, and independent advocate of a lifestyle of opportunity for women. Her characterizations of the independent female and her own adventurous life, combining career and family, heralded the emergence of the twentieth century women.” (p.s. She was one of America’s early female war correspondent, not the “first”.)
Mary Cassatt, an American artist whose painting depicted many mother/child tender interactions, lived much of her life in France and once declared–”I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work.” I photographed this marker to her during my recent trip to Pittsburgh, PA. Cassatt and her patron Louisine Hayemeyer are on my list of famous female friendships.
My sister-in-law Lisa celebrating being first to find the landmark on my Pittsburgh list to Mary Lou Williams. My sister Cam is in the background. The marker reads: “Mary Lou William (1910-1981) Famed jazz composer & pianist. A child prodigy, she grow up in this city went to Lincoln School here, 1919-1923. Played for Andy Kirk in 1930s then arranged music for Duke Ellington and others. Major works include ‘Zodiac Suite’ and ‘Mary Lou’s Mass.’”
A family affair: At a recent family event in Pittsburgh PA, my sister Cam, who came from CA, and my brother Kip and sister-in-law Lisa (from NY), agreed to help me find the women’s history landmarks in Pittsburgh on the list I had brought with me. Lisa navigated, Kip drove, Cam, who thought I didn’t pay enough attention to traffic as I photographed, kept an eye on me. Here they are (l-r: Cam, Kip, Lisa) at the marker for Jane Grey Swisshelm, a “renowned editor, abolitionist, Civil War nurse, advocate of women’s rights and temperance.”
Another find in Pittsburgh–the Birthplace of Gertrude Stein:
“In this house on February 3, 1874, Gertrude Stein was born to Daniel and Amelia Stein, author, poet, feminist, playwright, and catalyst in the development of modern art and literature. Also on the plaque is this Stein quote–
“In the United States there is more space where nobody is
than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is.”
A serendipitous find: I unexpectedly discovered this not-on-my-list marker to Barbara Ann Ruane nearby the on-my-list marker to Mary Cassatt, the artist renowned for her paintings of mothers & children. Since friendship is a theme in my biographies of historic women, I was greatly moved when I read the eloquent inscription: “A woman of great courage, who decorated this world–and every aspect of life–with beauty, joy and love. A patron of the arts and advocate for renowned Allegheny City-born Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. She spread kindness and good will to human and animal alike. The beautiful love she shared will live on in those whose lives she touched. We dedicate this Mary Cassatt Garden to the memory of Barbara on this 29th day of September 2007.”
Happy May Day! Also known as International Workers’ Day, May 1st is celebrated as a national holiday in many countries. Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, the fierce, fiery, & fearless fighter for workers, who called herself a “hell-raiser,” liked to claimed May 1st as her birthday. This poster with her words–”Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”–appears in my book “Mother Jones and the March of the Mill Children.”
Tea bags: The decoration on this card is a recycled tea bag hand painted in South Africa by formerly unemployed men and women from Imizamo Yethu, an informal settlement in Hout Bay, Cape Town. The words are Eleanor Roosevelt’s–”A woman is like a tea bag–you never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” (click for whole image)
Yesterday, Lynn Kaminski, a reference librarian in Englewood, NJ, took these pictures of me speaking to the SESCIL book group, a terrific group of savvy, smart, insightful women who had read my book “Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World.” I love engaging with readers–fuel for the long writing days of solitude!
Sometimes I serendipitously discover a landmark to a women, for example, a couple of days ago I spotted this street sign to Margaret Sanger at the intersection of Mott and Bleecker Street in New York City. Sanger, who set up the first birth control clinic in the U.S. and established Planned Parenthood, once said: “Life has taught me one supreme lesson . . . . We must put our convictions into action.”
What a thrill that the short documentary “Pioneering Women War Correspondents” based on my book Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II was shown at the Ridgewood Guild Film Festival on April 18th! I narrate the file and it was quite the experience to watch it on a large movie screen! Linda took this photo of Rosie Gunther interviewing me and Milena Jovanovitch, the producer/editor of the film, which you can see on my website. Tony Damiano, president of the Guild is in the foreground.