NEW PROFILES
Much of the history of Rochester that we have access to today is due to the efforts of local historian Anna Elizabeth White (1927-2017).
Westport’s Ruby Devol Finch (1804-1866), whose works can be found in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg and the American Folk Art Museum, is considered to be one of the most uniquely creative female American folk artists of her time.
Internationally-acclaimed artist Nancy Holt (1938-2014), with family roots in New Bedford that informed her life and art, worked in sculpture, landscape design, video, and other media.
Anna Murray Douglass (c. 1813-1882), born in freedom in Maryland, secured funds for enslaved Frederick to escape to New York, where the couple would marry before moving to New Bedford.
Known as “Fish Mary,” Mary Fernandes Santos Stanley (1894-1977) was the New Bedford waterfront’s only woman lumper in the 1950s and 1960s.
A well-respected journalist in southeastern Massachusetts and beyond, Minna Littmann (c. 1893-1984) was a staff writer for The Evening Standard and later The Standard-Times from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Community activist, club woman, church leader and educator, Eloise Solomon Pina (1928-2013) became the epitome of what her mentor Elizabeth Carter Brooks described as “a service to God and humanity.”
Educator, author, and entomologist Ida Mitchell Eliot (1839-1923) taught throughout the United States, co-edited the much-celebrated Poetry for Home and School in 1877, and co-authored one of the first books on caterpillars and moths in 1902.
Committed to social justice through music, Marie A. Nelson (1937-2020) was Director of Music Education at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMD) for 27 years.
Devoted to sailing and the arts, Ruth Showalter Atkinson (1920-2013) appreciated the beauty of the South Coast.
SPOTLIGHT ON…
Lighting the Way – Historic Women of the South Coast tells the stories of commitment, determination and perseverance of women from a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
“Women’s contributions have often been heard as whispers in history,” said Christina Bascom, the project’s designer. Spurred on by tales of a Petticoat Society, a group of women from throughout the community are bringing these stories to life on the SouthCoast. “We are unearthing remarkable stories of women’s personal callings that required grit, tenacity and enduring commitment to their families, community and country. These stories will inspire, motivate and inform generations to come.”
