Edith Anna Ellis

Edith Anna Ellis (March 1, 1868 – July 31, 1940) was an American women's rights activist, writer, politician, and farmer from Tompkins County, New York. She ran for elected office with the slogan "Insist that no man shall occupy a position that a woman can fill", a quote from a War Industries Board mandate, and other wartime slogans contextualized to support women in politics.

Life Edith Anna Ellis was born on March 1, 1868, in Varna, New York, near the "Ellis Hollow" area of Dryden that is named for her family. She earned a Bachelor of Letters degree from Cornell University in 1890, then worked in the Cornell University Library. when she ran for county clerk in 1918, shortly after women were enfranchised in New York State. She argued that government should be turned over to women because men were needed to fight World War I, saying it was "necessary to release the available manpower" of politicians into the war effort, and to "substitute woman power" into government. Today her endowment funds the Ellis Collection of books, intended to encourage reading about farming and the life sciences for fun and personal development, rather than for coursework. The collection sits near the entryway of Mann Library on the Cornell University campus.

Ellis died on July 31, 1940, and was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Ithaca. At the time of her death, she was the only woman ever appointed as a party chair in her Assembly district.

Personal life Edith A. Ellis married Willard Waldo Ellis in 1903.