Yesterday’s post was about a Pi Phi, Marguerite Lindsley (Arnold), who was the first female full-time Park Ranger, according to some sources. It was so fun to see Tri Delta’s post about Herma Anderson Baggley, who is considered first by other sources.
As with “firsts” there are often some caveats. Late yesterday afternoon, I saw a post about Herma Anderson Baggley on Tri Delt’s page. The passage below is from a Park Service history and includes information about the clothing the women wore when working at the Park, since there weren’t “official” uniforms for women in the 1920s and 1930s. ( https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/workman4/vol4c.htm).
Albright hired Isabel D. Bassett as a guide at Yellowstone in 1920. This started a trickle of women into the service. Marguerite Lindsley (Arnold) and Frieda B. Nelson were hired in 1925; Frances Pound (Wright), 1926; and Herma Albertson (Baggley) in 1929.
Bassett was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College and she did part-time work. Albertson was a Tri-Delta from the University of Idaho. I could not find information about the educational background of Nelson or Pound.
I started down a rabbit hole when I read that Lindsley was mentioned in a Time magazine article about President Coolidge and his family’s visit to Yellowstone. Did Lindsley let the First Lady know that they shared membership in Pi Beta Phi? Seeing Tri Delta’s post made me imagine the Tri Delta and Pi Phi talking about their membership in NPC organizations.
In any event, it’s wonderful to know that at least two of the earliest female Park Service employees, doing jobs traditionally done by men, were #amazingsororitywomen!
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Today is Women’s Equality Day. This morning, in Nashville, Tennessee, a statue by Alan LeQuire, will be unveiled at Centennial Park. It honors the women who worked for women’s equality in Tennessee and the pivotal role the state had in the fight for women’s suffrage. The women featured in the statue are: Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville; Abby Crawford Milton of Chattanooga; J. Frankie Pierce of Nashville; Sue Shelton White of Jackson; and Carrie Chapman Catt, the national suffrage leader who helped direct the states suffragists.
Dudley was educated at Ward’s Seminary and Price’s College for Young Ladies, both in Nashville. Pierce was educated at the McKee School, a mission school for African Americans and Roger Williams University in Nashville. White graduated fron Georgie Robertson Christian College (now Freed-Hardeman University) and West Tennessee Business College. The non-Tennessean in the statue, Carrie Chapman Catt, was one of the first female graduates of Iowa State University. Catt was a member of Pi Beta Phi.
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It’s #NationalDogDay according to twitter. That reminds me that on the last Sunday of August last year we acquired a min-pin, Max (the Menace). Amazingly, he’s still here, despite having destroyed an expensive shoe that had been worn for six hours. He also likes to annihilate rug padding, paper, and anything with fiberfill. We love him nonetheless. His older doggie “sister” tolerates him, and together, they keep us on our toes. (They each have a few beds around the house. This is a favorite and they refuse to let the other have it, so they end up sharing it.)
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
