A photograph of Mary A. Livermore, the first president of the AAW. Circa 1880. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Founding the Association for the Advancement of Women
During the early years of the women's club movement, Maria Mitchell and other prominent women banded together to form the Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW). The association helped spur the growth of similar groups across the United States that also encouraged women to pursue their academic interests. Despite being disbanded in 1902, the AAW helped other women break barriers by providing them women's clubs where their opinions could be heard.
A photograph of Julia Ward Howe, the third president and co-founder of the AAW. Circa 1908. Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
A photo of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, one of the women who played a large role in the founding of the AAW. Date Unknown. Courtesy of findagrave.com.
"Young women should be encouraged to state their case, and our committee should be able to suggest methods — ways of increasing facilities — perhaps to find opportunities for work in science. But what a scientist most needs is leisure — time to think. We ought to be able to give aids, in the shape of a year's residence near large libraries, museums, laboratories, or observatories."
- Maria Mitchell in a speech, given at one of the association's meetings, titled, "The Need of Women in Science".
"The necessity of fellowship and concerted action among women interested in the advancement of the race, and more especially of their own sex, is so apparent, that we do not hesitate to assert that by far the larger portion of our efforts in that direction are fruitless, because they are solitary and isolated."
- An excerpt from a letter sent out by SOROSIS, an influential women's club at the time, encouraging women to join the association.