Anne Brancato Wood

Anne M. Brancato Wood (née Brancato; January 17, 1903 – August 22, 1972) was an American politician who in 1932 became the first woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Democrat. A New Deal liberal from Philadelphia and only the second Italian American to serve in the state legislature, she served five terms in the Pennsylvania House (1933, 1935, 1937, 1939, and 1945) and became the first woman to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1935. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a state historical marker to her in 1994.

Early life Born Anne M. Brancato to Italian immigrant parents in Philadelphia on January 17, 1903, she grew up speaking English, Italian, and Hebrew in her multi-ethnic neighborhood. Brancato graduated high school from the Academy of the Sisters of Mercy and attended Banks Business College and Temple University, where she studied languages such as French and Japanese, though she never completed a college degree.

Brancato worked as an advertising manager and photographer's assistant for a local newspaper called Spector and became involved in local Democratic Party politics starting in 1928. She served as chair and president of the Women's Democratic Club of South Philadelphia before running for office in 1932. She also fought successfully to give Philadelphia police officers and firefighters one day off a week.

Brancato served four consecutive terms in the House (1933, 1935, 1937, 1939) and became the first woman to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House in 1935. She served on the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Governmental Costs of Philadelphia (1937–1938).

Personal life During the mid-1940s, Brancato married Philadelphia businessman Augustus Wood and took the name Anne Brancato Wood. She suffered from chronic laryngitis during the last fifteen years of her life, weakening her ability to speak. Despite her ailment, she remained active in a wide range of civic organizations, including the Navy League of the United States, the Pennsylvania Constitution Commemoration Committee, the Alliance of Catholic Women, the Philadelphia Civic Center, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, Saint Bernadette's Home for the Aged and Convalescent, the Ladies of Charity, the Pan American Association, the Youth Study Center, and More Women on the Ballot (a group she formed to elect more women to office).

Brancato died on August 22, 1972, at a hospital in Lower Merion Township after a brief illness. Her remains were interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania. Her papers are held at the Smithsonian Institution and the Pennsylvania State Archives.