Grace Dodge

Background

She was the great-granddaughter of David Low Dodge, and granddaughter of William E. Dodge.

Career

Grace Dodge donated about $1.5 million and many years of service to philanthropic work. She was instrumental in forming the Kitchen Garden Association, which became the Industrial Education Association. She was the main source of funds for the New York College for the Training of Teachers, which became Teachers College, and subsequently a school of Columbia University.

Committed to helping working girls, Dodge organized the first Working Girls Society among a group of silk workers in 1884.

According to Dodge, the specific objectives of the Society were to "furnish pleasant rooms where its members can pass the evening. To organize classes for mutual enjoyment and improvement.

To collect a circulating library for use of members. And to develop co-operative measures which shall be for the benefit of the members."

She negotiated the merger of two opposing young women"s groups into the Young Women"s Christian Association (Young Women’s Christian Association) of the United States.

She also organized the Travelers" Aid Society of New York in 1907 to protect female travelers from falling victim to vice, especially the so-called "white slave traffic" (the coercion of white women into prostitution).

She was also a major force in the foundation of the international Travelers" Aid movement. The Grace Dodge Career and Technical Education High School, named in her honor, was located in the Bronx, New New York lieutenant closed its doors in 2015.

A biography of Grace H. Dodge was written by Abbie Graham, copyright 1926.

The Grace Hoadley Dodge Papers (1882-1995) are located within the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts

Achievements

• On February 16, 1885, eleven of the clubs in New York City united to form the Association of Working Girls" Societies, with Dodge as founder and driving force. She had called for the creation of a National Travelers" Aid Society, but died before this could be accomplished.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Thoughts Of Busy Girls: Written By A Group Of Girls Who Have Little Time For Study, And Yet Who Find Much Time For Thinking (1892)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • What Women Can Earn: Occupations Of Women And Their Compensation

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

Connections

Father:

William Earl Dodge

Mother:

Sarah (Hoadley) Dodge

grandmother:

Melissa Phelps Dodge

Grandfather:

David Hoadley

Grandfather:

William Earl Dodge

References

• The Association Monthly: In Memory of Grace H. Dodge