Grace Hoadley Dodge
Encyclopedia
Biography
She was the great-granddaughter of David Low DodgeDavid Low Dodge
David Low Dodge helped to establish the New York Peace Society and was a founder of the New York Bible Society and the New York Tract Society.- Biography :...
, and granddaughter of William E. Dodge
William E. Dodge
William Earle Dodge, Sr. was a New York businessman, referred to as one of the "Merchant Princes" of Wall Street in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Dodge was also a noted abolitionist, and Native American rights activist and served as the president of the National Temperance...
. Grace Dodge donated about $1.5 million and many years of service to philanthropic work. She was instrumental in forming the Kitchen Garden Association, which became the Industrial Education Association. She was the main source of funds for the New York College for the Training of Teachers, which became Teachers College
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...
, and subsequently a school of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Committed to help working girls, Dodge organized the first Working Girls Society among a group of silk workers in 1884, According to Dodge, the specific objectives of the Society were to "furnish pleasant rooms where its members can pass the evening; to organize classes for mutual enjoyment and improvement; to collect a circulating library for use of members; and to develop co-operative measures which shall be for the benefit of the members. On February 16, 1885, eleven of the clubs in New York City united to form the Association of Working Girls' Societies, with Dodge as founder and driving force. She negotiated the merger of two opposing young women's groups into the Young Women's Christian Association
Young Women's Christian Association
Young Women's Christian Association or YWCA or YWCA Building or Old YWCA Building or variations may refer to:*World YWCA, the organization formerly known as Young Women's Christian Associationor it may refer to:...
(YWCA) of the United States. She also organized the New York Travelers' Aid Society in 1907 to protect migrants and immigrant women from falling victim to vice, especially so-called "white slavery" (the coercion of white women into prostitution). She had called for the creation of a National Travelers' Aid Society, but died before this could be accomplished. She was also a major force in the foundation of the international Travelers' Aid movement. The Grace Dodge Career and Technical Education High School, named in her honor, is located in the Bronx, New York.
A biography of Grace H. Dodge was written by Abbie Graham
Abbie Graham
Abbie Graham was a successful non-fiction author in the United States. This was a significant time, with many changes occurring in the rights of Women in the United States....
, copyright 1926. She also lectured on this biography at various colleges
The Grace Hoadley Dodge Papers, 1882-1995 (Bulk: 1882-1915)are located within the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.