Bet You Didn’t Know a Woman Invented..

Bet you didn’t know a woman invented.. . the feather duster: Susan Hibbard patented the feather duster in 1875. Her husband, George Hibbard, tried to claim the patent was his, but the court awarded the patent to her. Like a Victorian-era man would invent a feather duster! . . the automatic dishwasher: Josephine Garis Cochran [...]

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Women You Should Know: Jane Addams

Who was Jane Addams? Well, for one thing she was the first American woman to win the Nobel prize. She was a feminist and a pioneer and innovator in the field of social work (before the field actually existed as social work.) Jane was born in 1860 to a prosperous and politically active miller who [...]

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Women You Should Know:Dixie Haygood, AKA Annie Abbott: the Little Georgia Magnet

Dixie Haygood was born Anna Jarrett in 1861, according to the New Georgia Encyclpedia and married George Haygood when she was 17 years old. In 1885, she began performing a stage act under the stage name “Annie Abbott the Little Georgia Magnet” that astonished not only audiences in the US but across Europe. At only [...]

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Women You Should Know: Donaldina Cameron, Angel of Chinatown

Donaldina Cameron was born on a sheep ranch in New Zealand in 1869, but she and her family emigrated to California when she was two. Her mother died when she was five. Ranching was hard work, and Donaldina, her older brother, and her four older sisters were not enough to help her father keep the [...]

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Women You Should Know: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge

(In honor of Women’s History month, I am posting a series of articles I wrote, Women You Should Know.) Emily Warren Roebling is a woman I’d be willing to bet you’ve never heard of. But you’ve heard of the Brooklyn Bridge, right? Well, without Emily Warren Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge would not exist as it [...]

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Women You Should Know: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge

Emily Warren Roebling is a woman I’d be willing to bet you’ve never heard of. But you’ve heard of the Brooklyn Bridge, right? Well, without Emily Warren Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge would not exist as it does today. It all began when Emily Warren met and fell in love with Washington Roebling, while visiting her [...]

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