Finding Lost Voices: Flora Amelia Stone Mather 1852-1909
A weekly email that brings back the voices of those who have been forgotten or misremembered
I’m on book tour this week, which means I get to go on the road and speak about the life of Sanora Babb. Sometimes I travel to new cities, and sometimes I return to cities I have lived in. It’s always such an amazing experience meeting new audiences and seeing old friends. On my first stop, I returned to Case Western Reserve University, the institution where I received my Ph.D. Many in the audience were former professors who had encouraged me in my early career, like the fiction writer Mary Grimm and the theorist Martha Woodmansee. These women—and others who weren’t there, such as Judith Oster—believed in me when I was struggling to manage being a new mom, working, and trying to complete my Ph.D., and I will be forever grateful for their support.
What always struck me about Case Western Reserve University was its history and how the experience I had—being supported by a network of strong women—was built into that history. Today’s column will be brief, but I wanted to share the work that Flora Amelia Stone Mather (1852-1909) did to promote education for women, which led to Western Reserve University's College for Women being renamed in her honor in 1931.
Flora Amelia Stone was born in 1852 in Cleveland. She was the daughter of the wealthy banker and railroad tycoon Amasa Stone and his wife, Julia Ann Gleason. Flora had two siblings: a sister, Clara, and a brother, Adelbert, who, while studying Geology at Yale, drowned in the Connecticut River in 1865. While her brother was sent off to college, Flora and her sister Clara did not receive a college education, as their father did not believe women needed to be educated at the college level.
In 1881, Stone married the businessman Samuel Livingston Mather. For their honeymoon, Samuel and Flora spent nearly two years traveling in Europe before returning to Cleveland upon receiving the horrible news that Amasa Stone, Flora’s father, had committed suicide. When they returned, the couple moved into the Stone mansion with Flora’s mother on Euclid Avenue. Stone would go on to give birth to four children: Samuel, Amasa, Constance, and Philip.
Stone was dedicated to philanthropy. Throughout her life, she supported the creation of settlement houses like the Goodrich House and Hiram House, and she supported organizations such as the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, the Consumers League of Ohio, and the Cleveland Day Nursery and Kindergarten Association. One of her greatest passions, however, was supporting the higher education of women—a cause that likely resonated with her because, despite living a privileged life, she had been denied a higher education.
In 1892, when Western Reserve College (which her father had helped bring to Ohio) decided to no longer admit women, Stone took a stand. She donated to the cause and poured her energy into the effort. Her financial support and advocacy led to the creation of a separate women's division, called the College for Women. Stone would continue to pour her enthusiasm and generosity into the school. In 1931, the college was renamed in her honor as the Flora Stone Mather College for Women. By the time I came to Case in 2003, the Flora Stone Mather College for Women had been reintegrated into the college as a whole.
During my time at Case, I would often take long runs through Lakeview Cemetery, where she is buried. At that time, I was trying to run away the stress I was feeling as I balanced being a new mom, taking classes, and working. I was overwhelmed all the time. Little did I know that each time I took a break and ran through that cemetery, I was passing the grave of a woman who, in many ways, had made it possible for me to pursue my education. Each time I went to the Guilford House (which was formerly a women’s dormitory developed by Stone before it house the English department), where I had an office on the fourth floor and where I visited my professors' offices, I was visiting a place created by Stone. In a sense, I was surrounded by a safety net of strength—gained from both the living and the dead—as I pushed on to achieve my goal. It’s something that I remember to this day and intend to pay forward—to be a safety net for women, to help them see the way to become what they've always wanted to become.
(To read more about Flora Stone Mather, check out Flora Stone Mather: Daughter of Cleveland's Euclid Avenue and Ohio's Western Reserve by Gladys Haddad).
Upcoming Readings
I hope to see you all at some of my upcoming events!
January 27, 6:30 PM - Iris Jamahl Dunkle in Conversation with Donovan Hohn at Literati in Ann Arbor, MI
January 28, 6:00 PM - Author Event: Iris Jamahl Dunkle at Morgenstern Books, Bloomington, Indiana
January 30, 6:00 PM - Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb with Iris Jamahl Dunkle, The Mechanics Institute, SF, 57 Post Street San Francisco, CA 94104
February
February 21, 2:00 PM EST, Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s talk on Bibliography at New York University, New York, NY
February 22, 5:00 PM, An Evening with Iris Jamahl Dunkle at North Bay Letter Press, Sebastopol, CA
February 23, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM - Empowering Your Voice Through Multimedia Erasure at North Bay Letter Press, Sebastopol, CA
February 26, 6:00 PM - Iris Jamahl Dunkle reads at King's English, Salt Lake City, UT
February 27, 3:30-5 PM - Iris Jamahl Dunkle reads at American West Center, LNCO 2110, Salt Lake City, UT
March
March 5, 4:30 - 6:00 PM- Iris Jamahl Dunkle in Conversation with Gavin Jones at The Bill Lane Center for the American West: Stanford, CA
March 6 - UC Boulder/Center for the West, online lecture. Details are coming soon!
March 13- 5:00 PM Garden City Community College, Kansas
March 14 - Iris Jamahl Dunkle at Books and Books in Key West, FL
March 21 - 2:00 PM Iris Jamahl Dunkle at the New York Public Library, New York City
March 30, 4:00-5:30 PM, Iris Jamahl Dunkle at the Occidental Center for the Arts, Occidental, CA
May
May 17 - 5:30 - 7:30 PM - Iris Jamahl Dunkle at the National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, CA
I didn’t know you were at CASE! I was in Guilford Hall 3 years ago for the Woolson Society conference, where Anne Boyd gave the keynote. The Woolson Society is returning this April, in fact. Thanks for the details about Clara Stone Mather, which will make the visit more interesting. Best wishes for your talks!
My sister-in-law and I are looking forward to seeing you at the Steinbeck Center in May!