Esther Everett Lape (8 October 1881 – 17 May 1981) was a well-known American journalist, researcher, and publicist. She was associated with the

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an importa ...

and was one of the founders of the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

. Her life-partner, Elizabeth Read, was her personal attorney and financial advisor.

Career

Esther Lape taught English at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

, the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

. She was an activist of the

and one of the founders of the

. Lape was the director of the American Foundation for Studies in Government of which her partner, Elizabeth Fisher Read, was director of research. In the 1920s and 1930s she led an unsuccessful battle for United States participation in the World Court. Lape edited a book on expert medical testimony, ''Medical Research: A Midcentury Survey'' (1955), sponsored by the American Foundation. In 1923 she collaborated with Read and Gustav Frenssen to ''Klaus Hinrich Baas: The Story Of A Self-made Man...''. Together with Read, Lape published the journal ''City, State and Nation''.

Personal life

Esther Everett Lape was born on October 8, 1881, in Wilmington, Delaware. She attended public school in Philadelphia, then

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

and

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial ...

. Esther Lape lived with Elizabeth Fisher Read, Women's Suffrage activist and

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

's lawyer and friend, in Greenwich Village, at 20 East 11th Street, where today a plaque said Eleanor Roosevelt lived here when she was first lady. The building was actually owned by Lape. Roosevelt, who had met Lape through Read in 1920, rented an apartment for a time. Nearby, at 171 West 12th Street, lived other lesbian couples involved in the Woman's Suffrage movement and of the close-knit circle of friends of Roosevelt: Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook,

Molly Dewson 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 ...

and Polly Porter, Grace Hutchins and Anna Rochester. Lape, with her life partner, Read, and other Roosevelt's female friends, was part of Roosevelt's support network of female friends. Donation of Salt Meadow 2 (8511116404)

Lape and Read also owned a country house, Salt Meadow, Westbrook, Connecticut, where Roosevelt was often a guest. In 1972, after Read's death, Lape donated Salt Meadow to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The estate is currently the

Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge The Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in ten units across the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the Atlantic Flyway, the refuge spans of Connecticut coastline and provides important resting, feedin ...

. Refuge staff are working on a submission for National Register of Historical Places recognition for the former Salt Meadow estate that will recognize the same-sex relationship of Lape and Read. Esther Everett Lape died on May 17, 1981, in New York City, at 99 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lape, Esther 1881 births 1981 deaths Schoolteachers from Delaware 20th-century American women educators American feminists Lesbian feminists LGBT people from Delaware 20th-century American educators Bryn Mawr College alumni Wellesley College alumni Barnard College faculty Columbia University faculty University of Arizona faculty Swarthmore College faculty American women academics