Contact: Fredie Kay
DANVERS, Mass. (May 25, 2022) — Danvers Historical Society and Suffrage100MA are hosting an event to unveil an historic women’s suffrage marker honoring the legacy of educator Anne L. Page on Thursday, May 26 at 5:30pm at the Page House, 11 Danvers Street, Danvers Square. The marker will celebrate Page’s work for women’s rights as a founder of the Danvers Women’s Association, will encourage passers-by to learn more, and will become one of five new Massachusetts suffrage markers on the National Votes for Women Trail. This national suffrage marker project is funded through a grant by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation®, sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites (NCWHS)’s National Votes for Women Trail (NVWT), and coordinated in Massachusetts by Suffrage100MA.
“We’re excited to celebrate the extraordinary legacy of Anne L. Page with this marker, right outside the home where she lived her entire life,” said Laura Cilley, Development Coordinator, Danvers Historical Society. “This site will also help educate the Danvers community and visitors about the vital role she served to promote women’s suffrage and childhood education in this country.”
ANNE L. PAGE
Anne L. Page was born in 1828 in Danvers, Massachusetts and lived in the same Danvers house until her death in 1913. (The Page House was also once home to her grandfather, Jeremiah Page, a Revolutionary War hero, after whom the house was named.) Page was a founder of the Danvers Women’s Association, a suffragist group headquartered at The Page House throughout her lifetime, and hosted many suffrage meetings. Page was also a pioneer in the field of education for children and women. Around 1850, she established one of the first kindergarten schools in the United States in her home. Page, along with Elizabeth Peabody and Mary Mann, founded the American Froebel Union in 1877 to advance early childhood education. In 1885, she started The Page Normal School to educate women to become kindergarten teachers. Many of her students became respected suffragists and educators (including Edith Lesley, who founded Lesley College in Cambridge, MA). Sadly, Page did not live to see the 19th amendment pass in 1920. In honor of her achievements, the Danvers Historical Society annually awards the Anne L. Page Scholarship to a Danvers High School student.
“It is our privilege and duty to honor Anne L. Page and the remarkable history of women’s suffrage in Danvers,” said Senator Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem). “Let us remember the hard-fought battle towards equal voting access and the importance of protecting voting rights for all our country’s citizens.”
“By dedicating her life to lifting up others, quite literally in her own home here in Danvers, Massachusetts, Anne L. Page helped secure new opportunities and freedoms for future generations,” said Representative Sally Kerans (D-Danvers). “Her marker is taking its rightful place as part of the National Votes for Women Trail.”
Sponsored by the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, the National Votes for Women Trail seeks to recognize and celebrate the enormous diversity of people and groups active in the struggle for women’s suffrage. The Trail consists of two parts: 1) a database with 2,364 sites on a digital map and 2) a program of historical markers for over 200 women’s suffrage sites across the country, funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation®’s National Women’s Suffrage Marker Grant Program.
The Anne L. Page marker is the first of five Massachusetts markers that will be unveiled in spring and summer 2022: Maria Baldwin (Cambridge); Anne L. Page (Danvers); Remond Family (Salem); Sojourner Truth (Northampton); and Sarah E. Wall (Worcester).
“We are delighted to celebrate Anne L. Page in Danvers with the first of five suffrage markers coming to Massachusetts to highlight the history of women’s suffrage in Massachusetts. Each marker honors the lives of those who bravely worked to advance women’s voting rights, with more than half of these markers dedicated to women and men of color,” said Suffrage100MA Founder & President Fredie Kay, the Massachusetts State Coordinator of the National Votes for Women Trail. “These markers are the result of more than two years of dedicated collaboration between municipal leadership, passionate community historians, Suffrage100MA, the Pomeroy Foundation, the NCWHS and NVWT.”
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About Danvers Historical Society
The Danvers Historical Society, a not-for-profit, was founded in 1889 “to discover, collect and preserve objects which illustrate local history, but particularly the history, development and people of the Salem Village/Town of Danvers”. The Historical Society owns three historic sites and a museum building. The society has many events, exhibits and fundraisers every year and is an important part of the community. Membership is open to everyone, and volunteers are always welcome! DanversHistory.org
About Suffrage100MA
Suffrage100MA is dedicated to commemorating the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1920, prohibiting the federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. Suffrage100MA presents events and activities that highlight the history of the women’s suffrage movement and women’s rights, notably the tireless work and essential contributions of women of color, who were often excluded by white women’s suffrage organizations, and whose role in the suffrage movement has been largely overlooked. Suffrage100MA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization, with over 200 non-profit Partners, including the Danvers Historical Society, committed to recognizing the importance of the 19th Amendment, voting rights and access to voting today. Learn more at Suffrage100MA.org.
About NCWHS/NVWT
The National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites is a non-profit organization established to support and promote the preservation and interpretation of sites and locales throughout the country that bear witness to women’s participation in American history. A project of NCWHS, the National Votes for Women Trail consists of a database with digital map, and a program of historic markers for over 200 suffragists/women’s suffrage sites. Visit: nvwt.org
About the Pomeroy Foundation
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation® is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis. Established by Trustee Bill Pomeroy in 2005 to bring together his two greatest passions, the Pomeroy Foundation is a private, grant-making organization located in Syracuse, N.Y. As the nation’s leading funder of historic roadside markers, the Pomeroy Foundation has awarded nearly 1,700 grants for markers and bronze plaques in 45 states. To learn more about the Pomeroy Foundation, visit wgpfoundation.org.
March 2021