Gertrude Foster Brown (Mrs. Arthur Raymond Brown, July 29, 1867 – March 1, 1956) was a concert pianist, teacher, and suffragist. Following the passage of women suffrage in New York State in 1917, and pending passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,[1] Brown wrote Your Vote and How to Use It, published in 1918.[2][3] She was Director-General of the Women's Overseas Hospitals in France, founded by suffragists, in 1918. In addition to her work in the New York suffrage movement, she helped to found the National League of Women Voters. She was the Managing Director of the Woman's Journal from 1921-1931.[4]
Early years
Gertrude Foster was born on July 29, 1867, in Morrison, Illinois, to William Charles Foster and Lydia Anne Drake.[5]
On January 25, 1889, Foster made her professional debut as a pianist with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Berlin.[4] By July 1889, she had returned to the United States,[6] joining the Chicago Conservatory of Music, where she taught and performed until 1896.[7]
In August 1893 Gertrude Foster married Arthur Raymond Brown (1865-1944), an artist and advertising executive who worked for the Chicago Evening Post. In 1896, they moved to New York City, where Raymond Brown worked for the Hawley Advertising Company.[5] He was known as an illustrator, author and art editor.[8] Gertrude Foster Brown continued to play and performed lecture recitals on Richard Wagner and his operas.[5]
Suffrage career
Gertrude Foster Brown organized a Woman Suffrage Study Club in New York in 1909,[9] which later became part of Carrie Chapman Catt's Woman Suffrage Party. Brown attended the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) convention in 1910.[4] She was elected president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association in 1913.[10] Among her activities were the organization of suffrage parades in New York City.[11]How It Feels to Be the Husband of a Suffragette, which was published anonymously in 1915,[12] has been attributed to her husband.[8][13]
Brown was active in campaigning in New York for the passage of women's suffrage.[14][15] Victory there on November 6, 1917, was an important step towards the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[10][16][17][18] Following the passage of women suffrage in New York State in 1917, and pending passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Brown wrote Your Vote and How to Use It.[19][1] It was published in February 1918 by Harper & Brothers,[2][3]: verso and was endorsed by the New York State Women Suffrage Party.[3]: vi In it she encouraged New York women to be good citizens and exercise their new ability to vote.[14][20][21] Dealing with civics "from the standpoint of the woman voter", women were encouraged to "regard their vote as a trust to be used not to advance partisan politics, but to further human welfare."[20]
Your Vote and How to Use It was one of a number of "citizenship manuals" educating women in their new rights and responsibilities and encouraging them to take their new obligations seriously.[22][14] Some of its materials were also used as the basis of a correspondence course for women voters, distributed by the New York State Women Suffrage Party.[21] The book itself was listed as suggested civics reading for Girl Guides who wanted to earn a Citizen's Badge, in the 1920 guides handbook Scouting for Girls.[23]
In 1918, when the suffrage movement organized the Women's Overseas Hospitals in France, Gertrude Foster Brown became Director-General,[4][24] serving in France.[25] Seventy-four women staff were sent over from the United States to the hospital.[10]
Brown helped to found the National League of Women Voters, serving as chairperson of the group that drafted its organizational plan. "Simple, direct, workable, it blazed a wide trail free of difficulties."[26][10] Brown was commended enthusiastically for her efforts.[26]
Among her papers is an autobiographical account of her life, Suffrage and Music: My First Eighty Years.[4]
Later life
The Browns had no children.[4] Raymond Brown died on April 30, 1944, at their New York apartment at 1883 Imperial Flats—Nos. 55-57 East 76th Street.[8] He had been nursed during his illness by his wife.[4]
Gertrude continued to live in the apartment, and organized a chamber music group that played there.[8] Gertrude died on March 1, 1956, in Westport, Connecticut.[29]
^ abBrown, Gertrude Foster (1918). Your vote and how to use it. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 78. Retrieved 2 November 2016. The National Amendment for Woman Suffrage: An amendment to the Federal Constitution is pending which provides that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of sex. While New York State has given the vote to its women, this permission does not extend beyond its borders.
^ abc"Your Vote and How to Use It". The Oregon Daily Journal. Portland, Oregon. March 17, 1918. p. 52. Your Vote and How to Use It is the title of the book by Mrs. Raymond Brown, published by the Harpers. Your Vote and How to Use It answers all the questions which women who are to use the vote for the first time are asking. Mrs. Raymond Brown is one of the most active and important woman suffrage leaders and is chairman of organisation of state forces of the New York state Woman Suffrage party.
^Blackwell, Alice Stone, ed. (May 24, 1919). "Your vote and how to use it". The Woman Citizen. Vol. 3. p. 1135. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
^ abBrown, Gertrude Foster (1918). "Preface". Your vote and how to use it. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. xix. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
^ abLima, Agnes de (July 13, 1918). "Book Reviews". The Survey. 40: 428. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
^Brown, Kathryn (2010). The Education of the Woman Citizen, 1917-1918. Bowling Green, Ohio: State University, Ohio LINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. pp. 2–4, 43–49. Retrieved 2 November 2016.