May Wright Sewall ( Mary Eliza Wright; May 27, 1844 – July 22, 1920) was an American reformer, who was known for her service to the causes of education, women's rights, and world peace. She was born in Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Sewall served as chairman of the National Woman Suffrage Association's executive committee from 1882 to 1890, and was the organization's first recording secretary. She also served as president of the National Council of Women of the United States from 1897 to 1899, and president of the International Council of Women from 1899 to 1904. In addition, she helped organize the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and served as its first vice-president. Sewall was also an organizer of the World's Congress of Representative Women, which was held in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. U.S. President William McKinley appointed her as a U.S. representative of women to the Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris.
Sewall became chairman of the National Council of Women's standing committee on peace and arbitration in 1904 and chaired and organized the International Conference of Women Workers to Promote Permanent Peace at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Sewall was also among the sixty delegates who joined Henry Ford's Peace Ship, an unofficial peace expedition aboard the Oscar II in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the war in Europe in 1915.
In addition to her work on women's rights Sewall was as an educator and lecturer, civic organizer, and spiritualist. In 1882 she and her second husband, Theodore Lovett Sewall, founded the Girls' Classical School in Indianapolis. The school was known for its rigorous college preparatory courses, physical education for women, and innovative adult education and domestic science programs. Sewall also helped to establish several civic organizations, most notably the Indianapolis Woman's Club, the Indianapolis Propylaeum, the Art Association of Indianapolis (later known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art), the Contemporary Club of Indianapolis, and the John Herron Art Institute, which became the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Although Sewall converted to spiritualism in 1897, she concealed her spiritualist activities from the public until the publication of her book, Neither Dead Nor Sleeping, two months prior to her death in 1920.
Early life and education Mary Eliza Wright was born on May 27, 1844, in Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. She was the second daughter and the youngest of four children born to Philander Montague Wright and his wife, Mary Weeks (Bracket) Wright. Mary Eliza's parents migrated from New England to Ohio, where they met and married, then moved to Wisconsin, where Philander, a former teacher, became a farmer. As a child Mary Eliza called herself May, a name she would retain throughout her life.
Philander Wright taught May at home, but she also attended public school in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and Bloomington, Wisconsin. He believed in equal opportunities among men and women, and encouraged his daughter to pursue higher education.
After teaching in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, from 1863 to 1865, May left the state to pursue studies at Northwestern Female College in Evanston, Illinois. The college was a respected school for women's education that was later absorbed into Northwestern University. May was awarded a laureate of science in 1866 and a Master of Arts degree in 1871.
Personal life May's first husband, Edwin W. Thompson, was an educator, as was her second husband, Theodore Lovett Sewall. She had no children from either marriage.Boomhower, p. 16.Robinson, p. 39.
May and Edwin W. Thompson, a mathematics teacher from Paw Paw, Michigan, were married on March 2, 1872. The couple met while she was teaching in Plainwell, Michigan. In 1873 the Thompsons moved to Franklin, Indiana, where they continued their careers as educators and school administrators, but they resigned the following year to assume teaching positions at Indianapolis High School, later known as Shortridge High School. The Thompsons moved to Indianapolis in 1874 and lived in a neighborhood known as College Corner. They became members of the College Corner Club, joined the Indianapolis Woman Suffrage Society, which was formed in April 1873, and were members of a local Unitarian church. After contracting tuberculosis, Thompson went to a sanitarium in Asheville, North Carolina, to try to regain his health. May joined him at Asheville, where he died on August 19, 1875. May returned to Indianapolis after his death to resume teaching.Boomhower, pp. 17–18 and 22.
May married Theodore Lovett Sewall on October 31, 1880. The two met at a Unitarian church service in Indianapolis. Sewall was born in Ohio and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated from Harvard University in 1874, and opened the Indianapolis Classical School for boys on September 25, 1876.Boomhower, pp. 29–31. Their marriage was an equal partnership. Sewall's steady disposition balanced his "energetic" and "sometimes impractical wife. "Stephens, p. 278.
May and Theodore Sewall were liberal-minded progressives, whose home became a social center in the city. The couple hosted weekly gatherings of Indianapolis's intellectual community at their home to discuss the major topics of the day. They also welcomed numerous overnight guests, many of whom were well-known authors, artists, politicians, suffragists, and other social activists. Theodore, a supporter of women's rights, encouraged his wife's interests in social reform, specifically educational advancement for women and women's suffrage. He died from tuberculosis at their Indianapolis home on December 23, 1895.Boomhower, p. 55–56.
Early career May began her teaching career in 1863, when she took a job at Waukesha County, Wisconsin, but left in 1865 to attend college in Evanston, Illinois.Boomhower, pp. 12–14. She returned to teaching after earning a college diploma in 1866, and took a job at Grant County, Wisconsin. She later moved to Michigan. In 1869 May became a high school teacher at Plainwell, Michigan, and subsequently its first woman principal.
In 1871 May moved to Franklin, Indiana, where she taught German at the local high school. She returned to Michigan in 1872 to marry to Edwin Thompson. The newlyweds moved to Franklin the following year. May became principal at Franklin's high school; Edwin was superintendent of schools. In 1874 the Thompsons resigned their positions at Franklin and moved to Indianapolis, where they became teachers at Indianapolis High School. May taught German and English literature; Edwin taught business classes.Boomhower, p. 17.
After her marriage to Sewall in 1880, May resigned her position at Indianapolis High School. May taught German and literature at the Indianapolis Classical School for boys; Theodore was the school's principal.
Educator
May spent more than three decades as an Indianapolis educator, twenty-five of them at the Girls' Classical School, which she founded with her second husband, Theodore. The school opened with forty-four students in September 1881. May served as the school's principal and taught literature. The Girls' Classical School became "one of the three leading girls' schools in Indianapolis.""Biographical Sketch" in
The girls' school initially occupied a building on the southeast corner of Pennsylvania and St. Joseph streets. In 1884 it expanded to new facilities in a three-story brick building at 426 North Pennsylvania Street. In 1886, a year after Theodore's death, Sewall leased a double brick building at 343 and 345 North Pennsylvania to serve as a school residence for students who lived outside the city.Stephens, pp. 278–80.Boomhower, p. 55.
The school's curriculum did not offer the traditional courses for girls at the time, such as art or music. Instead, its college preparatory courses included classical studies, modern languages, and science. The school's academic courses were based on Harvard's entrance requirements for women, which included admission requirements for Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley, among other colleges. The girls' school also offered a course of study for women who did not plan to enroll in college.Stephens, p. 279.Boomhower, p. 47.
In addition to academic classes, Sewall introduced dress reform and physical education for young women, which was not typical for a time when corsets, bustles, and petticoats were the norm. Sewall required students to wear shoes with low and broad heels. She also urged, but did not require, parents to provide students with simple dress that consisted of a "kilt skirt and loose waist with a sash" to allow for more freedom of movement.Boomhower, p. 52.
After 1885, when Sewall became the sole principal of the school, she added innovative programs such as adult education and courses in domestic science (later known as home economics), which included classes in physics, chemistry, and cooking. These courses were among the first of their kind to be offered in Indiana or the nation.Boomhower, p. 67.
By 1900 the Girls' Classical School was having financial problems as rival private schools were established in the city and public high schools became more common in Indiana.Stephens, p. 281.Boomhower, p. 68. Sewall's more progressive ideas may also have led to the drop in enrollment.
The Sewalls operated the school together until Theodore's death in 1885. May continued to run the school until her retirement in 1907. In 1905 she partnered with Anna F. Weaver, a former student and a graduate of Stanford University, to jointly operate the school. In 1907 Sewall announced her retirement, ending her twenty-five year career at the school.Boomhower, p. 70. Sewall sold the school's main building for $20,500. Weaver continued to run the Girls' Classical School from the double brick building they used as a school residence. Weaver permanently closed the school in 1910.
Sewall had no immediate plans after her retirement. In 1907 she donated items from her Indianapolis home to local organizations and left the city to deliver a public lecture at Eliot, Maine, and continued her work in the women's movement.Boomhower, p. 71.
Civic organizer
While a resident of Indianapolis Sewall was known for her active involvement in numerous civic and cultural organizations. Sewall's most significant civic work included founding the Indianapolis Woman's Club, the Indianapolis Propylaeum, the Art Association of Indianapolis, later known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and its affiliated art school, the John Herron Art Institute, which later became the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Many praised her work, but others criticized her as being "too dominant." Sewall thought that people "misunderstood her."Boomhower, p. 65.
Indianapolis Woman’s Club Sewall was among the small group of women who founded the Indianapolis Woman's Club, whose first meeting was held on February 18, 1875. The club was organized to further the "mental and social culture" of its members.Boomhower, p. 19. Although it was not the first, the Indianapolis Woman's Club is the longest running of its kind in the state.Boomhower, p. 18. Eliza Hendricks, wife of Indiana governor Thomas A. Hendricks, was the club's first president. Sewall became chair of its executive committee.James, James, and Boyer, p. 270. Formed at a time when most Indianapolis residents opposed a woman's role outside the home, the club encouraged "a liberal interchange of thoughts. ""Historical Sketch" in The club's activities also helped train future leaders in civic affairs and in the national effort to secure voting rights for women.Boomhower, p. 22.
Indianapolis Propylaeum