I cordially invite fellow/sister subscribers on this history list to view the
Katharine Bement Davis bio just posted on the Web. Several of you helped me
with the research directly and all helped indirectly by constituting this
community of cyberscholars. NYC LINK, the city's official WWW site, has now
posted the study, Correction's Katharine Bement Davis: NYC's Suffragist
Commissioner. One of the most remarkable Americans of her era (1861-1935),
KBD broke gender and racial barriers, initiated reforms and impacted diverse
fields regionally, nationally and internationally. These included, but were
not limited to, women's rights, urban sociology, penology, municipal
government, social hygiene, sexual practices research, and higher education.
Her bio can be accessed through the History cellblock door on the Department
of Correction's home page at its NYC LINK address:
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/BOLDEST

Eight of the 17 "chapters" are posted there but don't be misled by the term
"chapter." Even the longest is shorter than what most readers would consider
a "chapter" in a formal history book  Web format doesn't lend itself to such
lengthy text as a real "chapter" yet I couldn't come up with a better term.
Ch.17 (Acknowledgments and Appreciations) lists those who helped my research,
including subscribers on this listserv. I have a nagging feeling I may have
left out a name or two that should be there. If so, I apologize and ask you
to let me know so that I can correct any omission in a later update and in
the printed booklet version to be published by DOC in a limited edition as
part of the current Greater New York Centennial celebration. Ch.17 explains
how to get the complete printed text without charge other than postage on a
self-addressed envelope. It also provides a link to NYC LINK's own emailbox.
DOC and NYC LINK's posting the KBD bio constitutes a unique endeavor
supporting historical study. Using NYC LINK's email link on Ch. 17 for your
KBD comments and questions is one way to convey to the site's managers that
there really is a serious-minded audience for history "out there on the Web."


KBD's appointment as Correction Commissioner in 1914 made her the first woman
to head a major NYC agency, a distinction placing her center stage in the
struggle for suffrage then taking place. That same year she ran as the
suffragists' candidate for delegate-at-large to the state constitutional
convention on the statewide ticket of the Progressives, then a major party.
Thus KBD apparently was the first woman ever to run for New York statewide
office on a major party slate. Born and raised in Northwestern NY, she taught
school 10 years to earn tuition to Vassar from which she graduated top of the
class in 1892. A Brooklyn Heights girls academy science teacher and a Barnard
College graduate student, she ran NY State's exhibit at the 1893 Chicago
world's fair -- a working man's model home demonstrating scientific
principles of nutrition and domestic hygiene. That led to her heading a
settlement house in Philadelphia where she was supportive of W.E.B. DuBois'
pioneering urban sociological study The Philadelphia Negro. KBD returned to
Chicago, where as a student of Veblen and friend of Addams, she become the
first female political economy "fellow" to earn a Ph.D. from the University
of Chicago. This post- graduate of a university founded by John D.
Rockefeller Sr. would years later, as superintendent of the State Reformatory
for Women in Bedford Hills, Westchester, N.Y., help found the Bureau of
Social Hygiene with JDR Jr. Started to launch a center for evaluating inmates
to determine suitable sentencing, the bureau developed much later into a
major force for various research, including sexual practices, this long
before Kinsey. When KBD retired in 1928, more than 1,000 leading Progressive
reformers filled a Waldorf ballroom to pay her tribute. She later moved to
Pacific Grove, California, where she died. I mention these highlights to
stimulate listserv subscribers' interest to find out more about her through
the History cellblock door at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/BOLDEST

Thomas C. McCarthy
Director of Editorial and Communication Services
NYC Dept. of Correction (DOC)
[log in to unmask]
Reminder: KBD Ch. 17 has a NYC LINK emailbox for comments, questions.