Society of Lady Geographers

The Society of Lady Geographers started in 1925 at any given time when women were excluded from membership in many professional organizations, like the Explorers Club, who’d not admit women until 1981.

It’s located in Washington, D.C. and is now offering roughly 500 people. Groups come in Chicago, Florida, La, New You are able to, and Bay Area.

The society was organized by four buddies, Gertrude Emerson Sen, Marguerite Harrison, Blair Niles and Gertrude Mathews Shelby, to create together women thinking about geography, world exploration, anthropology and related fields. Membership was limited to ladies who had “done distinctive work whereby they’ve put into the earth’s store of understanding in regards to the countries which they’ve specialized, and also have printed in gossip columns or perhaps in book form an eye on the work they do.”

The society’s first president was Harriet Chalmers Adams, who held the publish from December 1925 until 1933. Famous people incorporated: historian Mary Ritter Beard, professional photographer Margaret Bourke-White-colored, novelist Fannie Hurst, mountain climber Annie Cruz Peck, anthropologist Margaret Mead, Eleanor Roosevelt, and author Elegance Gallatin Seton Thompson.

The Society’s Gold Medal is its greatest recognition. It’s awarded to some member whose “original, innovative, or pioneering contributions have major significance to understand the earth’s cultures and atmosphere.”

The very first gold medal was given to Amelia Earhart in 1933. The medal was created by sculptor Lucille Sinclair Douglass, and shows Winged Victory around the arc around the globe.