Maud May (Wood) Park, 1871-1955

  1. Maud May (Wood) Park, 1871-1955
  2. Version History

Maud Wood Park, suffragist, civic reformer, first president of the National League of Women Voters (LWV), and writer, was born on January 25, 1871, in Boston, Mass., the daughter of Mary Russell (Collins) and James Rodney Wood. Little is known about her childhood and early adolescence. Her adult life is summarized in the following chronology.

1887 graduates as class valedictorian, St. Agnes School, Albany, N.Y. 1887-1895 teaches school in Bedford and Chelsea, Mass. 1895 enters Radcliffe College 1895-1898 studies English with Prof. George Pierce Baker 1897 participates in co-ed intercollegiate debate; September: secretly marries Charles Edward Park, a Boston architect 1898 with fellow student Inez Haynes Irwin, invites Alice Stone Blackwell to address Radcliffe students; speaks at annual dinner of New England suffrage associations; graduates summa cum laude 1898-1899 lectures on English literature in Boston area; joins Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA), makes suffrage speeches 1900 attends her first National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) meeting, Washington D.C.; with Inez Haynes Irwin, organizes College Equal Suffrage League (CESL); visits Massachusetts women's colleges to form CESL chapters 1900-1902 chair of MWSA Executive Board 1901 co-founder and then executive secretary of Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government (BESAGG) 1902-? MWSA Chairman of Meetings, later Legislative Chairman ca.1903 helps organize the first Boston Parent-Teacher Association 1904 Charles E. Park dies 1904-1907 organizes CESL chapters in N.Y. and other states 1905 teaches BESAGG study classes on state government; visits the four woman suffrage states: Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming 1907 conducts a conference on pending legislation sponsored by BESAGG, Women's Educational and Industrial Union, and Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs; resigns from her Massachusetts suffrage positions; July: moves to San Francisco 1908 -visits six midwestern states to organize CESL chapters; with M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, and approval of NAWSA, organizes National CESL; secretly marries Robert Hunter, actor and theatrical agent 1908-1916 vice-president of CESL 1909-1910 with Mabel Willard travels around the world to study women in other countries 1910 returns to job as executive secretary of BESAGG; serves on MWSA board and Legislative Committee; BESAGG forms Woman Suffrage Party 1910-? lectures on suffrage, women in other countries 1912 named one of three Massachusetts women delegates to Progressive Party national convention; stumps for suffrage in Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio 1912-1915 helps formulate Massachusetts suffrage campaign strategies ca.1914-1916 with Robert Hunter, writes play: "Cotton Dresses" 1915 Massachusetts suffrage referendum campaign fails 1916 leaves BESAGG job 1917 moves to Washington, D.C., becomes chair of NAWSA Congressional Committee 1920 Nineteenth Amendment ratified 1920-1924 first president of National League of Women Voters (LWV); chair of Women's Joint Congressional Committee (WJCC), coalition of ten women's organizations, including LWV 1921-1922 WJCC lobbies successfully for Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act and Cable Act 1924 falls ill; moves to Cape Cottage, Maine; continues playwriting, under own name and also C.J. Maywood, Constance May, Anna Field (?) 1924 continues to lecture 1925 speaks in support of World Court 1926 serves as LWV legislative counsellor 1928 Robert Hunter dies 1939 her play, Lucy Stone, performed in Boston 1943 with Edna Stantial, a former secretary of BESAGG, prepares and gives Woman's Rights Collection (WRC) to Radcliffe College 1946 sells Maine house, moves to Boston 1955 May 8: dies in Reading, Mass. 1960 her book, Front Door Lobby, published

More biographical information is available in this series. See also the article in Notable American Women, The Modern Period (Cambridge, Mass., 1980), which includes a list of additional sources. The official repository for the records of LWV-U.S. is the Library of Congress, which also has additional MWP papers.

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