Mary-Cooke Branch Munford

Mary-Cooke Branch Munford (September 15, 1865 – July 3, 1938) was an activist for women's rights, civil rights, women's suffrage, and education in Virginia.

Life Mary-Cooke Branch was a native of Richmond, Virginia; she was the youngest daughter of James Read Branch and Martha Louise Patteson Branch. Her family, of English extraction, was prominent in local affairs; her grandfather, Thomas Branch, had served in the Confederate Congress, and nephews included the writer James Branch Cabell and the Episcopal preacher Walter Russell Bowie.

Her father drowned accidentally three years after her birth which began life in 1901. mainly through alumni of the university, Nevertheless, Munford went on to become a member of the university's Board of Visitors in 1926

Suffrage and civil rights Besides educational organizations, Munford was a member of many other clubs and civic groups during her career. These included the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense, the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, the National Municipal League, the National Consumer's League, the National Child Labor Committee, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Woman's Club of Richmond, and the Virginia Agricultural Council of Safety. With the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, she began to serve on the board of the Virginia League of Women Voters, and on the local branch in Richmond as well. She was appointed to the Democratic National Committee as well, in 1920. Munford Hall on the grounds of the University of Virginia was the school's first female dorm, and today houses a portion of the International Residential College; a former residence hall at William and Mary bears her name as well. Her papers are currently held by the Library of Virginia.