Daughters of America

Daughters of America
by Phebe A. Hanaford
Adopted by
The Belliveau Family
in memory of Barbara Hannify
on December 13, 2021
Cover of Daughters of America

Daughters of America; or, Women of the century

By Phebe A. Hanaford. Augusta, Me.: True and Company, 1883 [c1882].

Author Phebe Hanaford was inspired by her famous cousin, women's rights activist Lucretia Mott, to become a suffragist herself.  The inscription of this book reads: "To the women of future centuries of the United States of America, this record of many women of the first and second centuries whose lives were full of usefulness, and therefore worthy of renown and imitation."

The book covers some well-known individuals, with chapters on Women of the Revolution and Wives of the Presidents, but it also features information on lesser-known women. Other chapters present profiles grouped by activity/specialty, including artists, writers, philanthropists, reformers, preachers, and historians, as well as by profession, including lawyers, businesswomen, scientists, physicians, and inventors. Of special note (to us, anyway) is the chapter on librarians in which Hanaford mentions women's suitability for a profession requiring “a love for books, some scholarship, a desire for order and executive capacity, with no little patience and discernment of character.”

One particularly interesting woman is noted in both the librarian and scientist chapters – Maria Mitchell. She worked for 20 years as the first librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum while also exploring her interest in astronomy. She gained international fame in 1847 by discovering a comet. Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry sent Mitchell $50 in recognition of this achievement. In 1865 she was appointed the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College and director of the Vassar Observatory. 

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