by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Issued by Publishers Press, which maintained offices in the Herman W. Hellman Building in Los Angeles, the sole edition of Women of the West, edited by Max Binheim with Charles A. Elvin assisting, was published in 1928. Sold for $6.00, the book was “dedicated to The Women of the West—co-builders of a Great Nation,” with Binheim’s preface, dated 15 August, stating that,
For some time past librarians, newspaper editors, club women, educational institutions, leading book sellers, chambers of commerce and other civic associations have expressed the need for a book containing the names of those women of the western states who had rendered special services and contributed in any way to the public welfare in their respective communities. With women’s sphere of influence and activity constantly broadening, there is no doubt that a publication of this kind will find a ready welcome in a very large number of our best homes.
The work had some 1,100 mini biographies spanning those involved in the artistic, business, civic, educational, literary, political, religious and social spheres and those chosen were because of recommendations of persons in those communities “whose judgment has been considered competent and unbiased.” Those selected were sent questionnaires, but some were either not returned or lacked “the necessary information,” and, so, were omitted, as were those whose “past or present activities would not entitled them to representation.”
It was hoped that a second edition would be “complete in every respect” and suggestions were requested for those, including by women who thought they were eligible for inclusion, while it was added in bold text that no advertising was included, nor were those profiled required to buy a copy of the work. Binheim concluded that Women of the West was a important and needed because “the field of women’s activities in the western states has never been covered before,” while 80% of the biographies were appearing in print for the first time.
Local coverage came from several regional newspapers, with the Venice Vanguard of 26 July stating that women in the Santa Monica Bay region were interested in the work, which was due for publication within a few weeks. The 2 August edition of the Whittier News noted that “due recognition has been given to some of our local women” appearing in the book, while the Pasadena Post of two days later, like its contemporaries, printed the names of those Crown City residents appearing therein. The Monrovia News of the 7th observed that resident Isabel Stewart Way had an entry.
For the California section (there were 11 states represented, in all), a group of short essays were prepared, including “The Pioneer Women of California,” these being those who came to the Golden State in the American era with only a handful mentioned, including Ina Coolbrith (Josephine Donna Smith), “a poet recognized by the State officially and by the world generally and who lived in Los Angeles as a young woman.
After a short bio of Jane Lathrop Stanford, spouse of the powerful railroad and political figure, Leland, a piece called “The Women of the West,” by Minna McGauley, a trustee of the library and museum in Oakland, invoked the “pioneer spirit” involving “a mind and body that think and act spiritually and fearlessly” while continuing to display “feminine inspiration and vision” in “the tasks man encouraged her to undertake.”
Yet, she continued, beyond “their domestic understanding,” women maintained “a keen interest in civic and community affairs” these being “only a larger vision of the home; even before the vote enabled them to participate politically or economically.” Those days of yore “produced a generation of women who have no fear of the hazards of the unknown,” McGauley continued, and the freedom embodied in Western living meant that the woman “capitalized her powers” and was able to thereby develop “greater resourcefulness and individuality,”
Observing that it was a generation between those who came overland and those who “exerted powerful and far-reaching influence in directing legislation for political influence and social reform,” the author noted that the Golden State was the sixth to grant voting rights for state elections, this happening in 1911, while an eight-hour workday was established for women working in industrial capacities that year—an important one for Progressive-inspired changes. More striking was the fact that 68% of those who cast votes in the presidential election in California were women.
McGauley praised the contributions in art, commerce, industry and politics, while, in education, women’s influence meant that California had the largest percentage of high school enrollment and in funds spent per child so that it was, consequently, “among the first in the country.” Coolbrith’s status as poet laureate for the state was important, but there were many women with high literary merit, while they ranked high in business, law and medicine.
She concluded with the assertion that “history shows that the women of our American civilization, moving westward . . . drew ever for their inspiration on the courage of the first settlers of America [meaning the Puritans] whence came the projectile force of achievement.” McGauley added,
The spirit of the pioneer found written in hardships and cradled by the freedom of America, has been faithfully helped on by women, and their achievements stand today as a monument to the power of their faith and service and a heritage to the coming generations of the West.
Mrs. Harry Kluegel’s “Activities of the University Women of California,” focuses largely on those in the northern part of the state, though there was reference to a December 1926 Southern California Conference on Modern Parenthood and mention of Susan Miller Dorsey, the superintendent of Los Angeles city schools and Ethel (Mrs. Charles F.) Totman Turner, president of the prominent Friday Morning Club.
Dr. Maud Wilde, who established the Mothers’ Educational Center in Los Angeles, penned “In the Field of Service,” which she began by asserting that “humanizing social service work has been the keynote of the women of Southern California” and that this was so “long before the advent of suffrage.” This was because women long understood that there had to be governmental changes “through which the masses of women and children could be benefited.”
Wilde noted that a quartet of important women’s organizations helped galvanize work with education “and [the] promotion of better things for the entire state,” these being the Federation of Women’s Clubs, the League of Women Voters, the Parent-Teachers Association, and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. As for her center, she observed that it was “the only one in America where mothers are instructed in the fine art of home making, where their babies receive supervision in growth, diet, habit formation and character building” though oversight by doctors and teachers.
Elements of the institution were the Children’s Hospital, helping those of poor backgrounds get the same care that “the more favored child received in a more high-priced institution;” an orthopedic hospital school “where the crippled child may not only have his twisted body straightened,” but have their education continue during that process; a maternity cottage to assist the infants of “financially embarrassed” married mothers “receive scientific care at birth, thus giving them a right start in life;” and a music house settlement, which “gives the talented child the opportunity to develop his genius, that the world may be happier and he may earn his livelihood.”
These aspects were “but the landmarks along the way” as there continued to be “a vast field in which every endeavor which will enhance the lives of little children and create a social equity to relive want, waste and ignorance is pursued with dynamic vigor by the organized womanhood of Southern California.” Acknowledging that political advocacy was likely the same as elsewhere in the nation, Wilde opined that “off-color” activities were not based on gender but on “an intelligence performance plane” and she concluded, in a very Progressive tone,
The watchfulness of the women of character and training directing the various activities, has built for fine ideals, making the general tone of woman’s activity second to none in achievement and moral cleanliness.
With the short bios, we’ll cover a segment of the local ones here and then continue with other parts soon. Myrtle Aber Davis, a 32-year old native of Colorado, came to Los Angeles five years prior and was listed as a “singer and actress” who was a soloist in churches including the Mormon tabernacle in Salt Lake City, while she “has been in Grand Opera and has given concerts and prologues in Los Angeles and Hollywood.” Under her maiden name, she was mentioned in a prior post here in an April 1928 performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore.
Adelaide (Mrs. Edward T.) Boeschen Adams came to the Angel City nine years before, had a teaching background and was an “active club woman” including the Hollywood Woman’s Club. A devout Catholic, Adams was also involved in the Council of Catholic Women (along with Mary Julia Workman, grand-niece of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste), and a chair of her diocesan council and involved in a Catholic schools PTA. It was added that she was “very much interested in the character development of the child.”
Renée Adorée, born Jeanne de la Fonte in Lille, France, was not quite 30 years old, but was a major film star after working with her family in circuses and then dancing in a Belgium theater when the First World War erupted. She went to New York City and engaged in stage work before debuting in movies in 1923 with The Big Parade, two years later, being a peak in her short career. It was noted that she was “an accomplished linguist and musician” and “has contributed extensively to magazines here and abroad,” though Adorée’s life was cut short by tuberculosis in 1933.
Bertha Aldrich, who came to California in 1909, held the distinction of being the first woman certified public accountant in California with a decade of maintaining her practice, including as chief of staff for W.P. Musaus and Company since 1920. She was a member of the state and national societies in her field, as well as a member of the Los Angeles Woman’s City Club, the Los Angeles Women’s Athletic Club, and the Soroptimists.
Mary Hall (Mrs. J.T.) Anderson, who hailed from St. Louis, came to Los Angeles in the early 1890s and “has been closely identified with various cultural movements in the Southland” including on the city’s Social Service Commission. She was also president of the Woman’s Civic Club, but was especially active in the Opera and Fine Arts Club and the Opera and Drama Guild, which presented works “with a cast of principals who are residents of Los Angeles, such as Myrtle Aber Davis.
Lysbeth Brook (Mrs. J.E.) Argus, was a native of Philadelphia who migrated to the Golden State at the end of the 19th century and was also noted for her efforts in drama and music, as well as civic interests. Notably she had “a private out-of-doors theatre, with a seating capacity of 400, which is used to promote art in Drama and Music,” this being inspired by the Hollywood Bowl and situated on the 13-acre Argus estate, which also boasted lush gardens, in Eagle Rock. No long before Argus’ death in 1933, however, the use of the facility ceased.
Margaret Rogers Arnold was a resident of Riverside, a citrus center in greater Los Angeles, where her husband Charles moved in 1912 and became a highly successful cultivator of oranges. The couple married in 1926 and Margaret relocated from Hemet, where her father was a doctor, but her inclusion in the volume as because she “contributed stories and verse to Scribner’s, [The] Atlantic, Yale Review, Poetry, Villager and other magazines.”
Effie Payne (Mrs. Will Lee) Austin was from Kansas City, where her grandfather was mayor for several terms, and came to the West Coast in 1921 with her husband, who ran a laundry company. It was stated that she was “a musician by profession, being a concert-organist but not active in this work at the present time. Her memberships were in the West Ebell Club, of which she was president, and the General Henry M. Robert Parliamentary Law Club, this latter focused on the policies and procedures for organizational meetings.
Gertrude (Mrs. Louis B.) Ball was from New York City and the 42-year old came with her family to Los Angeles during the First World War years with her husband owning a wholesale candy business. She was “active in everything that benefits the community in general,” in Long Beach, including the Women’s Club, the Ebell Club and the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, but it was also related that “for nine years [she has] taken charge of the welfare work of [the] Long Beach Jewish Community.” This involved work with the Council of Jewish Women, the Temple Sisterhood and the women’s auxiliary of the International Order of B’nai B’rith.
Lillian Acer (Mrs. James H.) Ballagh was born in Rochester, New York and came west in 1907 with her real estate broker husband, who died in 1925, and their children. She, too, had an avid interest in music, having been a professional musician in Chicago where she headed the Schumann Club and then established the Matinee Musical Club shortly after settling in Los Angeles. She was also a member of the Southern California Woman’s Press Club and was national chair of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Colonial Relics Committee.
Florence E. Banks, who came from Missouri and then lived in Everett, Washington, north of Seattle, moved to the Golden State twenty-one years prior. She was the credit manager at the Los Angeles Soap Company and was involved in such professional organizations as the National Association of Credit Men, of which she was chair of the Women’s Committee of its Western Division and led the inaugural meeting of the National Credit Women association. She was also first secretary of the Soroptimist Club and a member of the Woman’s Athletic Club.
We will return with part two, so check back soon for that!