Mary Rankin Cranston

Mary Rankin Cranston ( Rankin; after first marriage, Cranston; after second marriage, Thomas; 1873–1931) was an American librarian, non-fiction writer, social researcher, and farmer. Born in Georgia, she moved to New York City where she became an authority on sociological engineering and wage-earning while also serving as the librarian for the American Institute of Social Service. Commissioned by social reformers, she conducted reseaerch on public playgrounds and made studies of cooperative distribution and production in Europe. After lecturing and contributing to publications for many years, Cranston purchased and developed a self-supporting farm she named "Pendidit" near New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Early life Mary (nickname, "Mamie") Rankin was born in Washington, Georgia, in 1873. Her father, Jesse Rankin, was a druggist.

Robert Garrett of Baltimore, a member of the institute, sent Cranston to study the public playgrounds for children all over the United States. She made a thorough examination of these and gave an exhaustive report. No sooner had she returned from this tour, however, than she was directed by Stanley Robert McCormick of Chicago, in 1903, to go to Europe to study social conditions, especially cooperative distribution and production, She lectured in London and in Stockholm, Sweden. These included, in 1905, in Birmingham, Alabama, lectures on social settlement work in the U.S. and in England. Later in the same year, she lectured in the public schools of New York City.

Tired of city life, Cranston decided to buy a farm.

Personal life On April 17, 1889, she married Henry Cranston (died in Charleston, South Carolina),

Secondly, she married Matthew Benjamin Thomas, a farmer. "Co-operative Industries: Civic Lessons from Europe. Illus.", Chatauquan, January 1905 "Cutting Loose From the City; Experience of One Woman", Country Life, May 1911 "Drink Evil in England, The Craftsman, January 1908 "England's Forgotten Wayside Villages", Countryside Magazine, November 1915 "Fourteen Acres and Freedom", Suburban Life, January 1913 "The Garden as a Civic Asset", The Craftsman, April 1909 "Homeless England", The Craftsman, February 1907 "Housing of the Negro in New York City", The Southern Workman, June 1902 (text) "How a Young Woman Made Good at a Man's Job on a New Jersey Farm", Suburban Life, September 1913 "How I Bought my Farm", The Outlook, New York city, January 1912 (text) "How I Found my Farm", the Craftsman, July 1910 "If you Know of a Vacant Lot", Ladies Home Journal, June 1911 "La Maison du Peuple", The Chautauquan, October 1904 (text, p. 152) "The Living-In System in London" "My Beginning as a Farmer", Canadian Colliers, September 1911 (text) "My Experience with Chickens", Suburban Life, October 1914 "Negro Colonies in New York City", via Southern Workman, Hampton, Virginia, June 1902 (text) "Schoolteacher's Farm in New Jersey", The Craftsman, November 1912 "The Shop Girls of Paris"