Mary Dewson

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Mary Williams (Molly) Dewson (1874 1962) was a feminist and political activist. She was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1874. She attended three private schools, including the prestigious Dana Hall School, before entering Wellesley College, from which she graduated as a social worker in 1897. At Wellesley, she was senior class president and her classmates believed she might one day be elected president of the United States. After graduating, Dewson began working as a secretary of the Domestic Reform Committee of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, a social and reform club in Boston. There she conducted statistical studies of homelife that led to several articles. She also reorganized the club's employment office for domestic workers, formed social clubs for them, and taught at a school for housekeeping. In 1899, she published The Twentieth Century Expense Book, about how to manage a household on a budget. In 1900, she left the union to set up the parole department of the Massachusetts State Industrial School for Girls. She was also the department's first superintendent.