Philbrook, Mary

Mary Philbrook (1872-1958), a prominent Newark, N.J. (Essex County) lawyer, women's rights activist and social reformer. Philbrook, the first woman admitted to the bar in N.J. in 1895, acted as counsel for the legal aid society of Whittier House Social Settlement, where her work led to the formation of the New Jersey Legal Aid Association. In 1906, she became the first N.J. woman admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Philbrook lobbied for penal reforms for women and children, worked to eliminate prostitution in Newark, investigated white slavery for the U.S. Immigration Commission, and worked for the American Red Cross in France during WWI. Her main focus was women's rights: she acted as counsel for suffragists, lobbied to repeal laws restricting women's work hours and spent the last 40 years of her life as an active member of the National Woman's Party, working to gain passage of a state and national equal rights amendment.

From the description of Papers, 1843-1954. (New Jersey Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 39131619