Edith Clark Cowles
Born(1874-08-27)August 27, 1874
New Orleans, Louisiana
DiedDecember 8, 1954(1954-12-08) (aged 80)
Richmond, Virginia
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Suffragist, author

Edith Clark Cowles (1874 – 1954) was an American suffragist. She was one of the founders of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.

Biography

Cowles was born on August 27, 1874, in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] She was the sister of Adele Goodman Clark.[2] In 1903 she married Julius Deming Cowles with whom she had one child. They lived in Brooklyn where she taught kindergarten, having previously completed a training course in Richmond, Virginia. The couple eventually separated and perhaps divorced.[1]

Cowles had family in Richmond and was probably involved with the formation of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909 under the auspices of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1914 Cowles permanently settled in Richmond. She served as executive secretary and press secretary for the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia from 1916 through 1920.[3][1] She was especially active, along with Ida Mae Thompson in the running of the Richmond office when the president, Lila Meade Valentine, was ill.[4]

After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 Cowles became active in the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia's successor organization, the Virginia League of Women Voters. She was on the board of directors and also the executive secretary and publicity director.[1] Cowles contributed large portions of the chapter on Virginia to History of Woman Suffrage, published in 1922.[5]

In 1923 Cowles helped found the Lewis Ginter Library at the Ginter Park Community House. She was the executive secretary of the Community House for over 20 years, also serving as librarian.[6]

Cowles died on December 8, 1954, in Richmond.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Edith Clark Cowles Biography". Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  2. ^ Batson, Brent Tarter, Marianne E. Julienne & Barbara C. (2020). Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Virginia, The. Arcadia Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-4671-4419-3.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Virginia Women Campaign for the Vote, 1870–1920". Library of Virginia Education. April 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  4. ^ Batson, Brent Tarter, Marianne E. Julienne & Barbara C. (2020). Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Virginia, The. Arcadia Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4671-4419-3.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI, by Ida Husted Harper". The Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  6. ^ Batson, Brent Tarter, Marianne E. Julienne & Barbara C. (2020). Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Virginia, The. Arcadia Publishing. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-4671-4419-3. Retrieved 18 May 2022.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

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