Evanston Women's History Project » Digitized Documents

“The New Woman — A Recipe”

EWHP — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:50:18 +0000

This little news article is from the May 4, 1895 Evanston Index. It is hard to tell if it is meant to be comical or critical, but it certainly reveals the late 19th century debate over the changing role of women in society. By 1895 Evanston women had the right to vote for school board elections, and they had helped elect the first woman to the school board in 1892. In fact, Evanston was the first community in Illinois to grant women the right to vote in local elections. It would be interesting to know what Evanston women from the time thought of this little news piece. Let us know what you think…

Plan of Evanston

lawilliams — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:33:02 +0000

The Evanston Public Library is digitizing the 1917 Plan of Evanston as part of its Digital Past Local History collection.

The Plan of Evanston was commissioned in 1916 by the Evanston Small Parks and Playgrounds Association, some of whose officers and directors were notable Evanston women.

Here are a few pages from the digitized Plan of Evanston:

Miss Wright and the Public Library

lawilliams — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:08:56 +0000

Miss Ida Faye Wright served as Chief Librarian of the Evanston Public Library from January 1920 until November 1, 1944. The Evanston City Council adopted a resolution entitled “Resolution Upon the Occasion of the Retirement of Miss Ida Faye Wright” on October 2, 1944.

Miss Wright moved to Evanston at the age of three and began her career at the Evanston Public Library while still a student at Evanston High School. Before becoming director of the Evanston Public Library, she was the children’s librarian and later she was assistant librarian of the Lincoln Library in Springfield. She retired in 1944 and worked at the Illinois State Library until she entered the Mather Home in 1958. Miss Wright died December 17, 1974 in the Mather Home at the age of 94.

The Evanston Public Library has digitized items from its local history clipping file on Miss Ida Faye Wright.

An earlier attempt to document significant women in Evanston

lawilliams — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:07:17 +0000

We aren’t sure of the exact date of this article, but believe it is from sometime in the early 1930s. The newspaper had asked readers to send in their suggestions for a list of important women in Evanston’s history.

Local woman Estelle Frances Ward, herself a woman-of-note, submitted a list of eight women she thought fit the bill.

They were: Miss Mulford, Mrs. John A. Pearson, Mrs. Henry Noyes, Mrs. Bishop Hamline, Mrs. May Haskell, Mrs. Jane Hoge, Elizabeth E. Marcy, and Mrs. Robert M. Hatfield.