Cynthia May Westover Alden (May 31, 1862 – January 8, 1931), also known as Cynthia W. Alden and Cynthia M. Westover, was an American journalist, author, inventor, and New York City municipal employee.

Early life and education

She was born in Afton, Iowa, the daughter of Oliver S. Westover and Lucilda (Lewis) Westover. She was the grand-daughter of Alexander Campbell, a leader of the

Campbellite Campbellite is a mildly pejorative term referring to adherents of certain religious groups that have historic roots in the Restoration Movement, among whose most prominent 19th-century leaders were Thomas and Alexander Campbell. Influence of the ...

religious reform movement. Her mother died when she was very young, and during her childhood she often accompanied her father, a geologist and miner, on prospecting expeditions throughout the American west. The second of her three books, ''Bushy'' (1896), was based on these childhood experiences. She graduated from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

with a teaching degree and also studied at the Denver Business College.

Career

Municipal employment

Alden moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1882 to further her musical education in hopes of becoming an opera singer; she later sang as a soloist in church choirs. In 1887 she was appointed a New York inspector of customs, in which position she was involved in the seizure of smuggled goods. She learned French, German, Italian, and Spanish in order to communicate better with people she came in contact with through her job. Beginning in 1890, Alden worked for two years as secretary to the New York City Commissioner of Street Cleaning. During this period, she invented a street-cleaners' cart, to make life easier for the street sweepers and for their horses, which at that time had to pull heavy wagons. The cart was small enough for the sweepers to handle themselves, and it had a self-dumping feature so that it could be emptied directly onto the trash barges, bypassing the horse-drawn wagons. For this invention, the Parisian Academy of Inventors awarded Alden a gold medal and made her an honorary member. For a time she was also employed at the

New York Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

but left this job to take up journalism.

Journalism

Alden entered journalism in 1894 as editor of the woman's department at the ''New York Recorder''. In 1897 she moved to the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'', where she held the same position. In 1899, Alden accepted a position on the editorial staff of the ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...

'', continuing there until 1909. Although the journal was based in the Midwest, she continued to reside in New York City.

International Sunshine Society

During her three years with the ''Tribune'', Alden planned and founded the

International Sunshine Society International Sunshine Society (ISS) was the largest philanthropic newspaper club in the world. It was organized in 1896 by Cynthia May Alden in the ''The Examiner and Chronicle#Predecessor publications, New York Recorder'' newspaper's office lar ...

, serving as its president-general for the rest of her life, with Dimies T. Stocking Denison as her vice-president."Kind and Helpful Deeds around the World". ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''. Boston, Massachusetts. July 20, 1902. p. 46 It started with Alden's practice of sending Christmas cards and gifts to shut-ins, and she slowly expanded it, first to her circle of fellow writers, and later to a membership that peaked at half a million. The focus also shifted to establishing institutions to serve the blind, funded mainly by donations from members as there were no membership dues. The Sunshine Society set up a sanatorium in

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

for blind children in 1902 (which became Harbor Hospital fifteen years later), a nursery and kindergarten for blind children in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

(1905), and the Sunshine Arthur Home for blind babies in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is the northernmost City (New Jersey), city of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area. Situated on a ridge in north Jersey, northern–central Jersey, centra ...

(1910). It later opened homes for the elderly and operated schools for orphans, lunchrooms for working women, libraries, and summer camps. The society also championed legislation in aid of the blind in a total of 18 states.

Personal life

In 1896, she married John Alden, who would later become the editor of the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

''. Their house was only 8 feet wide and became known as "the littlest house in Brooklyn". Following her death in New York City, and subsequent cremation, John placed her ashes at the foot of a tree planted in her honor in New York's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

Publications

* ''Manhattan: Historic and Artistic'' (1892, with Carolyn Faville Ober) * ''Bushy: A Romance Founded on Fact'' (1896, illustrated by J.A. Walker) * ''The First Book of Song and Story'' (1903, introduction only) * ''The Ways of Earning Money: A Book for Women'' (1904) * ''The Baby Blind'' (1915)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alden, Cynthia May 1862 births 1931 deaths 19th-century American women journalists 19th-century American journalists 20th-century American newspaper editors 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American women writers American women newspaper editors Editors of New York City newspapers Journalists from New York City New-York Tribune people People from Manhattan People from Union County, Iowa University of Colorado alumni Writers from Brooklyn Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century