Maud May (Wood) Park, 1871-1955

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Maud Wood Park, suffragist, civic reformer, first president of the National League of Women Voters (LWV), and writer, was born on January 25, 1871, in Boston, Mass., the daughter of Mary Russell (Collins) and James Rodney Wood. Little is known about her childhood and early adolescence. Her adult life is summarized in the following chronology.

1887 graduates as class valedictorian, St. Agnes School, Albany, N.Y. 1887-1895 teaches school in Bedford and Chelsea, Mass. 1895 enters Radcliffe College 1895-1898 studies English with Prof. George Pierce Baker 1897 participates in co-ed intercollegiate debate; September: secretly marries Charles Edward Park, a Boston architect 1898 with fellow student Inez Haynes Irwin, invites Alice Stone Blackwell to address Radcliffe students; speaks at annual dinner of New England suffrage associations; graduates summa cum laude 1898-1899 lectures on English literature in Boston area; joins Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA), makes suffrage speeches 1900 attends her first National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) meeting, Washington D.C.; with Inez Haynes Irwin, organizes College Equal Suffrage League (CESL); visits Massachusetts women's colleges to form CESL chapters 1900-1902 chair of MWSA Executive Board 1901 co-founder and then executive secretary of Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government (BESAGG) 1902-? MWSA Chairman of Meetings, later Legislative Chairman ca.1903 helps organize the first Boston Parent-Teacher Association 1904 Charles E. Park dies 1904-1907 organizes CESL chapters in N.Y. and other states 1905 teaches BESAGG study classes on state government; visits the four woman suffrage states: Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming 1907 conducts a conference on pending legislation sponsored by BESAGG, Women's Educational and Industrial Union, and Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs; resigns from her Massachusetts suffrage positions; July: moves to San Francisco 1908 -visits six midwestern states to organize CESL chapters; with M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, and approval of NAWSA, organizes National CESL; secretly marries Robert Hunter, actor and theatrical agent 1908-1916 vice-president of CESL 1909-1910 with Mabel Willard travels around the world to study women in other countries 1910 returns to job as executive secretary of BESAGG; serves on MWSA board and Legislative Committee; BESAGG forms Woman Suffrage Party 1910-? lectures on suffrage, women in other countries 1912 named one of three Massachusetts women delegates to Progressive Party national convention; stumps for suffrage in Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio 1912-1915 helps formulate Massachusetts suffrage campaign strategies ca.1914-1916 with Robert Hunter, writes play: "Cotton Dresses" 1915 Massachusetts suffrage referendum campaign fails 1916 leaves BESAGG job 1917 moves to Washington, D.C., becomes chair of NAWSA Congressional Committee 1920 Nineteenth Amendment ratified 1920-1924 first president of National League of Women Voters (LWV); chair of Women's Joint Congressional Committee (WJCC), coalition of ten women's organizations, including LWV 1921-1922 WJCC lobbies successfully for Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act and Cable Act 1924 falls ill; moves to Cape Cottage, Maine; continues playwriting, under own name and also C.J. Maywood, Constance May, Anna Field (?) 1924 continues to lecture 1925 speaks in support of World Court 1926 serves as LWV legislative counsellor 1928 Robert Hunter dies 1939 her play, Lucy Stone, performed in Boston 1943 with Edna Stantial, a former secretary of BESAGG, prepares and gives Woman's Rights Collection (WRC) to Radcliffe College 1946 sells Maine house, moves to Boston 1955 May 8: dies in Reading, Mass. 1960 her book, Front Door Lobby, published

More biographical information is available in this series. See also the article in Notable American Women, The Modern Period (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), which includes a list of additional sources. The official repository for the records of LWV-U.S. is the Library of Congress, which also has additional MWP papers.

From the guide to the Woman's Rights Collection (WRC), (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Woman's Rights Collection (WRC) Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Adams, Abigail, 1744-1818 person
associatedWith Addams, Jane, 1860-1935 person
associatedWith Allen, Florence Ellinwood, 1884-1966 person
associatedWith Ames, Blanche person
associatedWith Ames, Oakes, 1874- person
associatedWith Anderson, Mary, 1872-1964 person
associatedWith Anthony, Lucy E., 1861-1944 person
associatedWith Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906 person
associatedWith Avery, Rachel Foster, 1858-1919 person
associatedWith Babcock, Caroline L. (Caroline Lexow), b. 1882 person
associatedWith Barron, Jennie L. (Jennie Loitman), 1891-1969 person
associatedWith Bird, Anna Child, 1856-1942 person
associatedWith Birtwell, Frances M. person
associatedWith Blackwell, Alice Stone, 1857-1950 person
associatedWith Blackwell, Henry Browne, 1825-1909 person
associatedWith Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government corporateBody
associatedWith Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston, 1866-1948 person
associatedWith Brown, Olympia, 1835-1926 person
associatedWith Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947 person
associatedWith Churchill, Mabel Hall person
associatedWith Coe, Evelyn Peverly, 1881-1966 person
associatedWith College Equal Suffrage League corporateBody
associatedWith Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies corporateBody
associatedWith Crowley, Teresa A., 1874-1930 person
associatedWith Cunningham, Minnie Fisher, 1882-1964 person
associatedWith Dennett, Mary Ware, 1872-1947 person
associatedWith Dewson, Molly, 1874-1962 person
associatedWith Elder, Frances A. person
associatedWith Filene, E. A. (Edward Albert), 1860-1937 person
associatedWith Gardener, Helen H. (Helen Hamilton), 1858-1925 person
associatedWith Gillmore, Inez Haynes, 1873-1970 person
associatedWith Gilson, Sara S. person
associatedWith Gordon, Kate M., 1861-1932 person
associatedWith Green, Emma Edwards person
associatedWith Harper, Ida Husted, 1851-1931 person
associatedWith Hay, Mary Garrett, 1857-1928 person
associatedWith Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 person
associatedWith Howes, Ethel Puffer, 1872-1950 person
associatedWith Hutchins, Emma J. person
associatedWith Hutchinson, Anne Marbury, 1591-1643 person
associatedWith Johnson, Ethel McLean, 1882-1978 person
associatedWith Johnson, Grace A., 1871-1952 person
associatedWith Jordan, Wilbur Kitchener, 1902- person
associatedWith Keating, Edward, 1875-1965 person
associatedWith Keating, Margaret Sloan Medill, 1875-1939 person
associatedWith League of Women Voters of Massachusetts corporateBody
associatedWith League of Women Voters (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith Lee, Percy M., 1906- person
associatedWith Luscomb, Florence, 1887- person
associatedWith Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association corporateBody
associatedWith McCormick, Katharine Dexter, 1875-1967 person
associatedWith National American Woman Suffrage Association corporateBody
associatedWith National Association for the Advancement of Colored People corporateBody
associatedWith National Woman's Party corporateBody
associatedWith Page, Mary Hutcheson, 1860-1940 person
associatedWith Paul, Alice, 1885-1977 person
associatedWith Pinkham, Wenona Osborne, 1882-1930 person
associatedWith Pitman, Mira H. person
associatedWith Quimby, George H. person
associatedWith Shaw, Anna Howard, 1847-1919 person
associatedWith Shaw, Pauline A. (Pauline Agassiz), 1841-1917 person
associatedWith Sherwin, Belle, 1868-1955 person
associatedWith Sleeper, Mary P. person
associatedWith Smith, Ethel M. person
associatedWith Stantial, Edna Lamprey person
associatedWith Stewart, Ella Jane Seass, 1871- person
associatedWith Stone, Lucy, 1818-1893 person
associatedWith Thomas, M. Carey (Martha Carey), 1857-1935 person
associatedWith Upton, Harriet Taylor person
associatedWith Willard, Mabel Caldwell person
associatedWith Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 person
associatedWith Women's Joint Congressional Committee corporateBody
associatedWith World Woman's Party for Equal Rights corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Afro--Americans--Civil rights


Birth 1871

Death 1955

Related Descriptions


Ark ID: w6v54fkt

SNAC ID: 54279259