Alma Lutz (1890–1973) was an American feminist and activist for equal rights and woman suffrage. She was also the biographer of key women in the

women's rights movement Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

Early life

Alma Lutz was born in

Jamestown, North Dakota Jamestown is a city in and the county seat of Stutsman County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 15,849 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, ninth most populous city in North ...

to Mathilde (Bauer) and George Lutz in 1890. She attended the

Emma Willard School Emma Willard School, originally called Troy Female Seminary and often referred to simply as Emma, is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women located in Troy, New York. Located on Mount Ida, it offers grade ...

(class 1908) and then went to

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

. At Vassar she was active in the feminist movement and after graduation in 1912 she went back to North Dakota where she continued campaigning for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, 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 suffra ...

Career

Lutz moved to Boston in 1918, where she attended the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

School of Business Administration. She joined the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...

as one of their writers and at the same time specialized in biographies of women with a prominent role in American history. Activism and historical studies became her lifelong interests. In 1938 Lutz was appointed editor of the National Woman's Party's official organ. She was also a contributor to ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'' and a member of the National Woman's Party's national council, a position she held for many years. She was also affiliated with

Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, it is "the ...

(advisory committee), Notable American Women (consultant), Massachusetts State Equal Rights Amendment Coalition (secretary). Lutz was a teacher at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

where she held a graduate seminar on ''Women in American History''.

Personal life

At Vassar, Lutz met Marguerite Smith (died July 6, 1959), her roommate. They both became National Woman's Party members and shared a house in Boston and a summer home, Highmeadow, in

Berlin, New York Berlin is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 1,808 at the 2020 census.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census results. https:/ ...

, from 1918 until Smith's death in 1959. Berlin was the place where Susan B. Anthony addressed a gathering of suffragists with the words: "Let the people everywhere know that in Berlin women from all parts of the world have banded themselves together to demand political freedom." Friends from the National Woman's Party,

Mabel Vernon Mabel Vernon (September 19, 1883 – September 2, 1975) was an American suffragist, pacifist, and a national leader in the United States suffrage movement. She was a Quaker and a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Verno ...

and

Consuelo Reyes-Calderon Consuelo or Consuela may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Consuelo'' (novel), an 1842–1843 novel by George Sand * Consuela (''Family Guy''), a character in ''Family Guy'' *"Consuelo", a 2002 song by Belle and Sebastian from ''Storytelling'' ...

, used to spend summers at Highmeadow. Smith was a librarian at the Protestant Zion Research Library in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

. Lutz wrote about their life together: "We are very happy here in the country – each busy with her work and digging in the garden". (Alma Lutz to Florence Kitchelt, July 1948.) During the 1950s, Lutz and Smith often travelled to Europe. Smith died in 1959 and a deeply affected Lutz wrote: "I am at Highmeadow trying to get my bearings... You will understand how hard it is... It has been a very difficult anxious time for me".(Alma Lutz to Florence Kitchelt, July 1959) Lutz and Smith are included among the historical couples of the suffragist movement, which also include

Katharine Anthony Katharine Susan Anthony, sometimes also spelled Katherine (November 27, 1877 – November 20, 1965), was a US biographer best known for ''The Lambs'' (1945), a controversial study of the British writers Charles and Mary Lamb. Biography Kathari ...

and

Elisabeth Irwin Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin (29 August 1880 –16 October 1942) was the founder of the Little Red School House. She was an educator, psychologist, reformer, and declared lesbian, living with her life partner Katharine Anthony and the two children t ...

Jeannette Augustus Marks Jeannette Augustus Marks (August 16, 1875 – March 15, 1964) was an American professor at Mount Holyoke College. She is the namesake of the Jeannette Marks Cultural Center (formerly known as the Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Community Cen ...

and

Mary Emma Woolley Mary Emma Woolley (July 13, 1863 – September 5, 1947) was an American educator, peace activist and women's suffrage supporter. She was the first female student to attend Brown University and served as the 10th President of Mount Holyoke College ...

Lena Madesin Phillips Lena Madesin Phillips (September 15, 1881May 22, 1955) was a lawyer and clubwoman from Nicholasville, Kentucky, who founded the National Business and Professional Women's Clubs in 1919. She enlarged her circle, traveling also to Europe, and i ...

and

Marjory Lacey-Barker Lena Madesin Phillips (September 15, 1881May 22, 1955) was a lawyer and clubwoman from Nicholasville, Kentucky, who founded the National Business and Professional Women's Clubs in 1919. She enlarged her circle, traveling also to Europe, and i ...

, Alice Morgan Wright and

Edith J. Goode Alice Morgan Wright (October 10, 1881 – April 8, 1975) was an American sculptor, suffragist, and animal welfare activist. She was one of the first American artists to embrace Cubism and Futurism. Early life and education Wright came from an ...

and

, and

Grace Hutchins Grace Hutchins (August 19, 1885 – July 15, 1969) was an American labor reformer and researcher, journalist, political activist and communist. She spent many years of her life writing about labor and economics, in addition to being a lifelong de ...

and

Anna Rochester Anna Rochester (March 30, 1880 — May 11, 1966) was an American labor reformer, journalist, political activist, and Communist. Although for several years an editor of the liberal monthly '' The World Tomorrow,'' Rochester is best remembered as a ...

. Even if it is recorded that all these couples knew each other and collaborated at one time or another, they built a community of "woman-committed women" that rejected the definition of lesbianism.

Works

Lutz's works include: * ''Emma Willard, Daughter of Democracy'' (1929) – about American women's rights activist

Emma Willard Emma Willard ( Hart; February 23, 1787 – April 15, 1870) was an American female education activist who dedicated her life to education. She worked in several schools and founded the first school for women's higher education in the United State ...

* ''Mary Baker Eddy Historical House brochure'' (1935) – about

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...

, the founder of the Christian Science religious movement * ''Created Equal: A Biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815–1902'' (1940) – about

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...

, leading figure of the early women's rights movement * ''Challenging Years: The memoirs of Harriot Stanton Blatch'' (1940) – in collaboration with

Harriot Stanton Blatch Harriot Eaton Blatch ( Stanton; January 20, 1856 – November 20, 1940) was an American writer and suffragist. She was the daughter of pioneering women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Biography Harriot Eaton Stanton was born, the sixt ...

, American writer and suffragist * ''With Love Jane, Letters from American Women on the War Fronts'' (1945), edited by Lutz * ''Susan B. Anthony: Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian'' (1959) – about American social reformer and women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony * ''Crusade for Freedom: Women in the Antislavery Movement'' (1968)

References

External links

Alma Lutz papers
at the

Sophia Smith Collection The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. General One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, a ...

, Smith College Special Collections * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutz, Alma 1890 births 1973 deaths American feminists Suffragists from Massachusetts American women's rights activists Vassar College alumni National Woman's Party activists Writers from North Dakota 20th-century American biographers American women biographers Emma Willard School alumni Boston University School of Management alumni People from Jamestown, North Dakota 20th-century American women writers The Christian Science Monitor people