Harriet Stratemeyer Adams: Literary Mother of Nancy Drew

Harriet Adams with many of her Nancy Drew novels.
In the second decade of the 20th century, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams graduated from college, became an apprentice in her father’s book publishing company and went on to become an internationally acclaimed literary phenomenon.

An avid reader for as long as I can remember, I grew up absolutely devouring the works of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. But I never knew her by that name. To me, she was Carolyn Keene, author of all those wonderful Nancy Drew mysteries whose bright yellow spines lined my bedroom bookshelf.  In a book publishing world long dominated by males, Adams became a stunning business success by offering young girls a strong, adventure-seeking literary heroine who controlled her own fate.

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Frances Perkins: The Mother of Social Security

Frances Perkins in a Washington, D.C. meeting
Frances Perkins was one of the most powerful people in the federal government during the height of her career and her legacy continues to directly touch the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans.

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) was a pioneering feminist and America’s first female cabinet member, serving as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. A dedicated civil servant, and an equal in a field dominated by men, her vision improved the lot of every working man and woman in America.

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Margaret Knight: The Flat-Bottomed Bag Lady

As a teenager in the 1850s, Margaret Ellen Knight invented a safety device for 19th century power looms. As a young woman, she invented a major consumer product that is part of our daily lives today.

Were it not for this Wednesday’s Woman, baggers at supermarkets all over America would not be able to ask that all-important question: “Paper or plastic?” Margaret Ellen Knight is the inventor of the flat-bottomed paper bag that is a staple of American shopping life.

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Lydia Pinkham : Savior of Her Sex or Savvy Huckster?

At a time when opportunities for women were tightly restricted, Lydia Pinkham began making and selling medicinal herbal brews from her kitchen and then built that business into a multimillion dollar marketing empire of female medicinal products.

For almost 100 years, this Wednesday’s Woman was the most recognized face in America. A savvy businesswoman, a shrewd marketer, and the self-declared Savior of Her Sex, she was Lydia Estes Pinkham who was to women’s health products what John Wanamaker was to department stores.

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Dr. Virginia Apgar: Medical Pioneer, Lifesaver… and Exotic Wood Thief?

Virginia Apgar, physician and orchestral stringed instrument craftsman.
Born in 1909, Virginia Apgar spent her life in the field of medicine as a pioneer in the development of anesthesiology and neonatology while simultaneously becoming an accomplished musician, fly fisherman, student pilot and builder of stringed orchestral instruments — this last interest being one that entangled her in a humorous exotic wood theft caper.

You may not know her name, but this Wednesday’s Woman, Dr. Virginia Apgar, touched the lives of everyone born in the United States after 1952 within moments of their birth with a simple test that changed the field of neonatology forever.

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Grand Dame of the Everglades

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, author of River of Grass
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was a Miami newspaper journalist who went on to become a world renowned conservationist and author of the landmark 1947 book “The Everglades: River of Grass,” a pioneering work at the dawn of the age of environmental activism.

“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” Shakespeare’s line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written a full three centuries before our Wednesday’s Woman was born. But “fierce” doesn’t begin to do justice to Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

Today, most of us only know her as the namesake of the high school where 17 lives were taken on Valentine’s Day 2018. But, like the students from that school now rising up to demand change, Douglas was an outspoken, intelligent, fearless activist for what mattered most.

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