Edith Vosburgh Alvord (1875-1962) was an American suffragist and active Detroit clubwoman.

Biography

Alvord was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1875. At twenty years old (in 1895), she began attending

Olivet College Olivet College is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin College, and it followed Oberlin in becom ...

, where she would graduate in 1899. After graduating, she was employed as an English and Latin teacher, teaching in

Morris, Illinois Morris is a city in and the county seat of Grundy County, Illinois, United States and part of the southwest Chicago metropolitan area. The population was estimated at 15,053 in 2019. Description Morris is the Grundy County seat and has a larg ...

. After marrying W.R. Alvord in 1908, she moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. The first club she became involved in was the Twentieth Century Club of Detroit, which she would be elected president of in 1913. She was president for a short time, before resigning to take the presidency of the Detroit Federation of Women's Clubs, and later would become the president of the Michigan Federation of Women's Clubs. While still at Detroit, she heavily advocated for women's suffrage and a law that would require bakers to package their bread more completely, the latter of which was eventually passed. In her work with education, Alvord served as the president of the Highland Park School Board (the first woman to do so, and founded the first tax supported nursery school. She worked in the Women's Auxiliary of the Salvation Army, the Wayne County War Preparedness Board, served on the Metropolitan Detroit YWCA board of directors, and was a delegate for Michigan at the Illiteracy Conference of Northern and Western States. In 1920, the Women's World Congress approached her, asking her to run for the president of the United States, which she did not do. In 1922 she considered a run for Congress, which she decided against. She died in 1962. Alvord was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1993 to honor her work in the areas of suffrage and community service. Her papers are included in the Burton Historical Collection (BHC) of the Detroit Public Library.

List of memberships

*Detroit Citizen's League *Detroit Federation of Women's Clubs *Detroit New Century Club *

General Federation of Women's Clubs The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...

*Metropolitan Detroit

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

*Michigan Federation of Women's Clubs *Wayne County War Preparedness Board *Women's Auxiliary of

the Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvord, Edith Vosburgh 1875 births 1962 deaths American suffragists People from Battle Creek, Michigan Olivet College alumni Activists from Detroit