HARPER, IDA HUSTED: 1851-1931.
" Ida Husted Harper (Feb. 18, 1851-Mar. 14, 1931), journalist and author, prominent in the woman's suffrage movement, was of New England ancestry, born in Fairfield, FranklinCounty, Ind., the daughter of John Arthur and Cassandra (Stoddard) Husted. When she was about ten years old her parents moved to Muncie, Ind., where she was graduated from the high school. She then entered Indiana University but spent only a year there, becoming at the age of eighteen principal of the high school in Peru, Ind. On Dec. 28, 1871, she was married to Thomas W. Harper, a young lawyer, and as long as they lived together their home was in Terre Haute . Harper died in 1908, having married again in 1890 …
"During her residence in Terre Haute , Mrs. Harper began her career as a journalist, contributing to the papers of that city and of Indianapolis . For twelve years she conducted a department known as 'A Woman's Opinion' in the Terre Haute SATURDAY EVENING MAIL, and for a short time was managing editor of the Terre Haute DAILY NEWS. She also wrote political articles for the INDIANAPOLIS NEWS. In 1883 she became a contributor to the FIREMAN'S MAGAZINE, later called the LOCOMOTIVE FIREMAN'S MAGAZINE, under the editorship of Eugene V. Debs …, and in May 1884 was put in charge of its woman's department … For a considerable period her home was in New York , where she was for some time a department editor of the SUNDAY SUN and of HARPER'S BAZAAR, as well as a contributor to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, and Chicago papers.
"She was a sturdy champion of the woman's suffrage movement and closely associated with its leaders. In 1899 she went to London as a delegate to the International Council of Women, and thereafter attendea practically all the European meetings of the Council and of the International Suffrage Alliance. Her ability as a writer and her journalistic experience enabled her to give much aid to the suffrage campaign through the press, and in the years immediately preceding the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution she had charge of publicity for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She wrote The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony at Miss Anthony's request, the first two volumes, published in 1899, being written in the reformer's home at Rochester, N. Y. The third volume appeared in 1908. She also assisted Miss Anthony in preparing the fourth volume (1902) of The History of Woman Suffrage. In 1922 she published two more volumes, bringing the history down to 1920. Her last days were spent in Washington , where she died from a cerebral hemorrhage at the Homeopathic Hospital. Her body was cremated and the ashes were sent to Muncie, Ind., for interment."
Condensed from H. E. S., Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. VIII.
- The Associated Work of the Women of Indiana.
Indianapolis, 1893.
- Suffrage a Right. New York,
1906.
- Woman Suffrage Throughout the World. New
York, 1907.
- page: 135[View Page 135]
- History of the Movement for Woman Suffrage in the United
States. New York, 1907.
- The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Including Public
Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many from Her Contemporaries During Fifty
Years. Indianapolis, 1898-1908. 3 vols.
- Suffrage Snapshots. Washington, D.
C., 1915.
- A National Amendment for Woman Suffrage.
Washington, D. C., 1915.
- A Brief History of the Movement for Woman Suffrage in the
United States. New York, 1917.
- Woman Suffage; a Collection of Newspaper and Magazine
Articles, Leaflets and Miscellaneous Matter (1896-1917) … Collected and
Arranged by Her. 13 vols.
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New York, 1919.
- The History of Woman Suffrage. (Vols. V and VI of the work
begun by Susan B. Anthony.)
New York, 1922. (Also
co-author with Susan B. Anthony of Vol. IV, Rochester, N.Y., 1903.)
- Life of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw. 1927.
