Anna Laurens Dawes

Anna Laurens Dawes (May 14, 1851 – September 25, 1938) was an American author and anti-suffragist. She was the daughter of Henry Laurens Dawes (October 30, 1816 – February 5, 1903), a Republican United States Senator and Representative of Massachusetts.

Dawes created the Wednesday Morning Club in 1879 and was its president for sixty years. She later became a trustee of Smith College (1889–1896). In 1883, she secured governmental aid for the Leif exposition to search for Major General A. W. Greely, who had been missing in the Arctic for three years. Dawes served on the board of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1892–1894, as well as the St. Louis Exposition of 1902–1904.

Biography Anna Laurens Dawes was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and her family later moved to the town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Though she attended both the Maplewood Institute and Abbot Academy, Dawes did not graduate from either institution. She also did not have any formal college education. She spent much of her life in Washington, D.C., with her father, coming back to Massachusetts shortly after his death in 1903. A building at Smith College is named after her (Dawes House).

Professional life and activism Despite her lack of a formal education, Anna Dawes began a successful career as a writer at the age of twenty, joining her father in Washington D.C. There, she became a correspondent for the Springfield Republican, the Boston Congregationalist, and the Christian Union. This included groups like the Wednesday Morning Club, which Dawes established in 1879 and served as president for sixty years. In 1883, she secured governmental aid for the Leif exposition to search for Major General A. W. Greely, who had been missing in the Arctic for three years. She was also the vice-president of the Massachusetts State Anti-Suffrage Society. Dawes served on the board of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1892-1894, as well as the St. Louis Exposition of 1902-1904.