A family affair: At a recent family event in Pittsburgh PA, my sister Cam, who came from CA, and my brother Kip and sister-in-law Lisa (from NY), agreed to help me find the women’s history landmarks in Pittsburgh on the list I had brought with me. Lisa navigated, Kip drove, Cam, who thought I didn’t pay enough attention to traffic as I photographed, kept an eye on me. Here they are (l-r: Cam, Kip, Lisa) at the marker for Jane Grey Swisshelm, a “renowned editor, abolitionist, Civil War nurse, advocate of women’s rights and temperance.”
Another find in Pittsburgh–the Birthplace of Gertrude Stein:
“In this house on February 3, 1874, Gertrude Stein was born to Daniel and Amelia Stein, author, poet, feminist, playwright, and catalyst in the development of modern art and literature. Also on the plaque is this Stein quote– “In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is.”
A serendipitous find: I unexpectedly discovered this not-on-my-list marker to Barbara Ann Ruane nearby the on-my-list marker to Mary Cassatt, the artist renowned for her paintings of mothers & children. Since friendship is a theme in my biographies of historic women, I was greatly moved when I read the eloquent inscription: “A woman of great courage, who decorated this world–and every aspect of life–with beauty, joy and love. A patron of the arts and advocate for renowned Allegheny City-born Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. She spread kindness and good will to human and animal alike. The beautiful love she shared will live on in those whose lives she touched. We dedicate this Mary Cassatt Garden to the memory of Barbara on this 29th day of September 2007.”
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