Background
Mary Carroll Craig was born on August 10, 1856, in Brooklyn, New York, daughter of Anna Turk Carroll and James Barnes Craig.
Mary Carroll Craig was born on August 10, 1856, in Brooklyn, New York, daughter of Anna Turk Carroll and James Barnes Craig.
She was educated at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, with supplemental private instruction.
She later became the Colorado State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Bradford began teaching as a young married woman in Leadville, Colorado. She also taught in Colorado Springs and in Denver before moving into administrative positions, as superintendent in Adams County in 1902, and in Denver in 1908.
She was elected to the Colorado state superintendency in 1913, and served six terms in that office, until 1927.
Bradford was active in the movement for women"s suffrage in Colorado, as president of the Colorado Springs Equal Suffrage Association in 1893. She was also president of the National Education Association.
Bradford was a charter member of the Denver Women"s Club and president of the Colorado Federation of Women"s Clubs.