In 1880, May Allinson was born in Macon, Illinois. She graduated from Decatur High School and went on to the University of Illinois. There she earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. She was a member of the Iota Chapter of Alpha Chi Omega. Allinson was awarded the Fellowship in History for 1907 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She also secured one of four scholarships given to women by Columbia University.
At Columbia University she was a Curtis Scholar and a Fellow in the Research Department. Later she taught methods in industrial research at Columbia University.
She had a fellowship from the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union in Boston. As Associate Director of the Union’s Research Department, she conducted investigations and presented her research. The results of the condition of women working in Massachusetts was published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Education.
While in Boston, she was a charter member of Alpha Chi’s Zeta Zeta Alumnae Chapter. After she moved to New York, she became a member of Gamma Gamma Alumnae Chapter. And for a short time she was in Washington State where she was a member of Iota Iota Alumnae Chapter.
In 1912 and 1913 she was in Italy, Germany and England studying conditions in which women, young and old, worked.
The November 1916 Lyre told of her receiving her doctoral degree in History at Columbia. She was off to Seattle, Washington, where her sister was studying, the Gamma Gamma correspondent noted.
Allinson was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education in 1917, but was granted a leave of absence to serve in the war effort. She served as Executive Secretary of the Council of National Defense, Women in Industry Service.
A loyal Alpha Chi Omega, she found time in her busy life to be of service. She was chairman of its Advisory Committee on Vocations. Her goal she said was “to connect the girl and the job.” She hoped to create a book about the:
Vocational Opportunities of College Women as seen in the experience of our alumnae. Also I think we ought to be able to make surveys of the vocational opportunities in our several districts through the alumnae clubs and chapters. All of these things will aid the committee members in assisting the girls to get established in a particular district or line of work.
A tribute written by Florence A. Armstrong, Lyre Editor in the April 1919 edition, mentioned that there was talk of Allinson perhaps serving as Alpha Chi’s National President someday:
Alpha Chi Omega, too, has watched th fine progress of Miss Allinson’s public service in the last years, and has been very grateful for her contribution to the cause of women in industry. Because of the wide experience which had come to her, and her understanding of educational problems, as well as on account of her beautiful personality, the National Council of Alpha Chi Omega and many others wished extremely that Miss Allinson might serve as successor to our beloved National President, Mrs. Loud.
Allinson did not get to see those plans to fruition. She died just before Christmas 1918 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She kept researching and writing until the end. Exhaustion is listed as a secondary cause of her death.
Evening Star (Washington, DC), December 28, 1918
Decatur Review (Illinois), December 26, 1918
Dr. May Allinson was recognized as one of the most distinguished researchers in the field of women in industry and the plight of female workers.
