Additional information
by Elizabeth F. Fideler (Author)
Blanche Ames Ames and Oakes Ames advanced women's suffrage, reproductive rights, artistic expression, and scientific knowledge, among other accomplishments, in the first half of the twentieth century. Blanche was part of women's history for nearly seven decades and deserved to be better known for that and other reasons. Oakes's contributions to the women's suffrage movement and his extraordinary scientific accomplishments might have received greater recognition had he not avoided the spotlight so successfully. Their story is one of mutual enabling. Believing in gender equality, even if outside the bounds of what was considered socially acceptable, they named their home "Borderland" to represent boundary pushing. One lasting influence is found in the social justice arena. The Harvard professor of botany and supervisor of the university's major botanical institutions and his sociable, highly independent wife were both active in the fight to secure the vote for women, with Blanche contributing original political cartoons to newspapers. Blanche led the Birth Control League of Massachusetts for nearly twenty years, then used her position and skills on behalf of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Unity Church and Memorial Hall in Easton, Massachusetts, were family gifts, as was their home, now Borderland State Park.
Author Biography
Elizabeth F. Fideler has an EdD from Harvard University and is an independent researcher/writer and a member of the Sloan Research Network on Aging & Work, Boston College. Her primary interests are biography of interesting subjects whose stories deserve to be told, extended work life, and cross-generational connections. Her recent books include Margaret Pearmain Welch (1893-1984); The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook on Aging & Work; Aging, Work, & Retirement; Men Still at Work; and Women Still at Work.
