Alice Ames Winter (November 25, 1865 – April 5, 1944) was an American
litterateur
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...
, author and clubwoman. She served as president of the
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 approximately 2,300 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Community Serv ...
(GFWC).
Early years and education
Alice Vivian Ames was born in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...
, November 25, 1865.
Her parents were Rev.
Charles Gordon and
Fanny Baker Ames, philanthropist and women's rights activist. She had three siblings, including a sister, Edith Theodora Ames;
a brother, Theodore, who died in infancy; and a half brother, Charles Wilberforce Ames. Her ancestors included Francis and John Cooke, and Richard Warren who arrived in the United States in 1620 on the ''Mayflower''.
Winter was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy Fine Arts. She graduated from
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
in 1886 with a B.A. degree, and in 1889 with an M.A. degree.
Career
During the period of 1890 to 1892, Winter worked as a teacher, and in the 1890s, she served as president of the Minneapolis Kindergarten Association. She was one of the founders and was the first president (1907-15) of the
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
Woman's Club.
During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, she was chairman of the
Council of National Defense
The Council of National Defense was a United States organization formed during World War I to coordinate resources and industry in support of the war effort, including the coordination of transportation, industrial and farm production, financial s ...
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
Woman's Committee and the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety Women's Auxiliary. She also served as director of the Minnesota Child Labor Commission, and of the Minneapolis chapter of the
American Red Cross
The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
. Winters used the connections that she made on these committees to further the cause of
woman suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was in effect during ...
.
After the war, she continued her organizational activities as vice-president (1918-20) and president (1920-24) of the GFWC. In 1920, she was affiliated with the establishment of the
Women's Joint Congressional Committee
The Women's Joint Congressional Committee was an American coalition of existing women's rights organizations formed after women gained the right to vote in 1920, with the aim of coordinating lobbying around women's issues at the national level.
...
. In 1928, she served as director of the Home Women's Bureau and the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...
. Winter was a member of Clio, the Minnesota Playground Association, League of American Pen Women, New Century, Shakespeare Club, and the Woman's Friday Morning Club.
Her works included ''Prize to the Hardy'', Bobbs-Merrill, 1905; ''Jewell Weed'', 1907; and ''Charles Ames, a Biography'', Houghton. Mifflin, 1913.
Personal life
On June 25, 1892, she married Thomas Gerald Winter, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They had a son, Charles Gilbert, and a daughter, Edith Winter Ames. In religion, Winter was a Unitarian.
She died April 5, 1944.
Her papers are held at the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...
.
Selected works
* ''How shall we judge a motion picture?'', 19??
''The Prize to the Hardy'' With drawings by R.M. Crosby. (A novel), 1905
''Jewel Weed'' With illustrations by Harrison Fisher, 1906
* ''Women's Clubs To-day'', 1921
* ''To American women : a plea'', 1922
* ''The business of being a club woman'', 1925
* ''The little woman who made a great war'', 1927
''The Heritage of Women'' 1928
* ''What do we want of a president?.'', 1928
* ''Hopeful tides in American politics'', 1928
* ''A woman's reason in politics'', 1928
* ''Better pictures in your home town : suggestions to local better films committees'', 1932
* ''Motion picture study program : in four numbers'', 1936
References
Citations
Attribution
*
*
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Alice Ames
1865 births
1944 deaths
Clubwomen
Suffragists from Minnesota
Writers from Albany, New York
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
Wellesley College alumni
Republican National Committee members
American Red Cross personnel