Mary G. "Polly" Porter (March 1884 - 1972) was a social worker and for more than 50 years the partner of Mary Dewson, feminist and political activist. Porter was a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and part of her tight-knit circle of female friends.
Mary G. Porter, born in March, 1884, was the daughter of William D. Porter and Mabel G. Porter. Porter was independently wealthy and bred and raised Sheltie dogs at a kennel she owned in Georgetown, Connecticut. [1]
In 1910, Porter attended the Boston School for Social Workers to study to become a social worker. She began an internship at the Massachusetts State Industrial School for Girls under Mary Williams "Molly" Dewson, superintendent of parole, who became her lifelong partner. When the internship ended, Porter remained at the school as a volunteer. [1] According to Dewson's biographer, Susan Ware, Porter was openly approved of by Dewson's mother. [2] [3]
In 1912, Dewson and Porter bought a house in Berlin, Massachusetts, [3] and in 1913 moved to a dairy farm in Worcester, Massachusetts. During World War I, both she and Dewson spent 15 months with the American Red Cross in France to aid war refugees. [1] [4]
In 1922, they moved to 171 West 12th Street; in the same building lived Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook, Grace Hutchins and Anna Rochester. [5] [6] Nearby, at 20 East 11th Street, lived Esther Lape and Elizabeth Fisher Read. [5] They were part of Roosevelt's support network of female friends. [7]
For several years, Porter and Dewson split their time between New York City and a cottage at Castine, Maine, Moss Acre, the Porter family homeplace, built by Porter’s father in the 1895 as a seasonal home and refuge. [8] [1] In 1952, they retired to Castine full-time. Porter died in 1972, in Castine, and is buried in the local cemetery together with Dewson who had died 10 years earlier.
During summer 2017, the Castine Historical Society held the exhibition "Castine’s Devoted Women: Partnership and Social Reform 1910-1962" focused on Mary W. "Molly" Dewson and Mary G. "Polly" Porter. [8]
Castine is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduates officers and engineers for the United States Merchant Marine and marine related industries. Approximately 1000 students are enrolled. During the French colonial period, Castine was the southern tip of Acadia and served as the regional capital between 1670 and 1674.
Mary Williams (Molly) Dewson (1874–1962) was an American feminist and political activist. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1897, she worked for the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. She became an active member of the National Consumers League (NCL) and received mentorship from Florence Kelley, a famous advocate for social justice feminism and General Secretary of the NCL. Dewson's later role as civic secretary of the Women's City Club of New York (WCCNY) led to her meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, who later convinced Dewson to be more politically active in the Democratic Party. Dewson went on to take over Roosevelt's role as head of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Campaign Committee. Dewson's "Reporter Plan" mobilized thousands of women to spread information about the New Deal legislation and garner support for it. In connection with the Reporter Plan, the Women's Division held regional conferences for women. This movement led to a historically high level of female political participation.
The Roosevelt family is an American political family from New York whose members have included two United States presidents, a First Lady, and various merchants, bankers, politicians, inventors, clergymen, artists, and socialites. The progeny of a mid-17th-century Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam, many members of the family became locally prominent in New York City politics and business and intermarried with prominent colonial families. Two distantly related branches of the family from Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York, rose to national political prominence with the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) and his fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), whose wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was Theodore's niece.
Anna Rebecca Hall Roosevelt was an American socialite. She was the mother of First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt. Anna was described as a celebrated beauty.
Blanche Wiesen Cook is a historian and professor of history. She is a recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award.
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Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She served as the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving first lady of the United States. Roosevelt served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.
My Day was a newspaper column written by First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) six days a week from December 31, 1935, to September 26, 1962. In her column, Roosevelt discussed issues including civil rights, women's rights, and various current events. This column allowed ER to spread her ideas, thoughts, and perspectives on contemporary events to the American public through local newspapers. Through My Day, Roosevelt became the first First Lady to write a daily newspaper column. Roosevelt also wrote for Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, and published various articles in Vogue and other women's magazines.
Eleonora Randolph Sears was an American tennis champion of the 1910s. In addition, she was a champion squash player, and prominent in other sports; she is considered one of the leading all-round women athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
Susan Ware is an independent scholar, writer and editor who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Hopkinton, New Hampshire. The author of eight biographies, two edited collections, and co-editor of a textbook, Ware is a specialist on twentieth century women's political and cultural history, and the history of popular feminism.
Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary is a three-volume biographical dictionary published in 1971. Its origins lay in 1957 when Radcliffe College librarians, archivists, and professors began researching the need for a version of the Dictionary of American Biography dedicated solely to women.
Mary Abby van Kleeck was an American social scientist of the 20th century. She was a notable figure in the American labor movement as well as a proponent of scientific management and a planned economy.
Geraldine Livingston Morgan Thompson (1872–1967) was an American social reform pioneer who became known as the "First Lady of New Jersey" due to her philanthropic and social service activities in New Jersey. Thompson owned Brookdale Farm, an 800-acre (320 ha) estate in Lincroft. In her will, Thompson left 206 acres (83 ha) of the estate to Monmouth County for a public park named for the Thompsons. Thompson Park includes the administrative headquarters of the Monmouth County Park System.
Polly Porter is the name of:
Elizabeth Fisher Read was a scholar and Women's Suffrage activist, and one of Eleanor Roosevelt's most dear friends.
Esther Everett Lape was a well-known American journalist, researcher, and publicist. She was associated with the Women's Trade Union League and was one of the founders of the League of Women Voters.
Valentine Gill Hall Jr. was an American socialite, banker, and merchant who was the maternal grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Clara Mortenson Beyer was a pioneer in labor economics and workers rights. She worked under Frances Perkins at the United States Department of Labor during the New Deal era, and was instrumental in implementing minimum wage legislation via the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.