Heterodoxy was the name adopted by a feminist debating group in Greenwich Village, New York City, in the early 20th century.[1]
The Heterodoxy Club was a dining club for ‘unorthodox’ women founded in Greenwich Village in 1912, about whose operations rather little is known, since its very unorthodoxy meant that no formal notes were ever kept of its meetings in order to protect its members. Clubs and organizations for women of various political hues on both sides of the Atlantic in this period played a crucial role in extending and cementing their connections and interests.
It was notable for providing a forum for the development of more radical conceptions of feminism than the suffrage and women's club movements of the time.[2] The group was considered important in the origins of American feminism.[3] Heterodoxy was founded in 1912 by Marie Jenney Howe, who specified only one requirement for membership: that the applicant "not be orthodox in her opinion".[2] The club's members had diverse political views. The membership also included bisexual and lesbian women, in addition to heterosexuals.[2] The luncheon club, which started with 25 members, met every two weeks on Saturdays.[2] The club was disestablished in the 1940s. Group members referred to themselves as "Heterodites".[4] Among the notable members were Susan Glaspell, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Ida Rauh.[5] Heterodites Alice Kimball, Alison Turnbull Hopkins, Doris Stevens, and Paula Jakobi were arrested in 1917 and 1918 suffrage protests, and served time in the Occoquan Workhouse, jail, or prison psychiatric wards. Grace Nail Johnson was the only African American woman who belonged to Heterodoxy. Heterodoxy meetings were valuable sources of information on the struggles for women's rights for its members. Many non-members addressed the group, including Helen Keller, Margaret Sanger, Emma Goldman, and Amy Lowell.[6]
The members of Heterodoxy lived primarily in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and the Lower East Side.[7] To track down the Heterodoxy members, there are two main sources: the scrapbook Heterodoxy to Marie and the address book of Helen Rose Hull.
Lucile Davidson Alsop
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Katharine Susan Anthony
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Helen Arthur (scrapbook),
(address book),
Bertha Kunz Baker (scrapbook), (address book),
Sara Josephine "Jo" Baker
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Stella Cominsky
Ballantine (scrapbook), (address book),
Bessie Beatty
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Edwine Behre (scrapbook),
(address book),
Zelma Corning Brandt
(address book),
Elinor Byrns (scrapbook),
(address book),
Bertha Carter (address book),
Mary L. Chamberlain
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Daisy Chase (address book),
Elizabeth Ellsworth Cook
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Marjorie Benton Cooke (scrapbook), (address book),
Marion B. Cothren (scrapbook),
(address book),
Mabel Potter Daggett (scrapbook), (address book),
Maida
Castelhun Darnton (scrapbook), (address book),
Nell P. Dawson (scrapbook),
(address book),
Mary Ware Dennett (scrapbook), (address book),
Agnes de Mille
(scrapbook), (address book),
Anna George de Mille
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Rheta Childe Dorr (address book),
Elsie Dufour
(scrapbook), (address book),
Crystal Eastman (scrapbook),
(address book),
Edith Ellis (scrapbook), (address book),
Mateel Howe Farnham
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Mary Fels (scrapbook), (address book),
Eleanor Fitzgerald (address
book),
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Sylvia Fuller (scrapbook), (address book),
Zona Gale (scrapbook), (address
book),
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Susan Glaspell (scrapbook), (address book),
Myran Louise Grant
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Beatrice
Forbes-Robertson Hale (scrapbook), (address book),
Mabel Hale
(scrapbook), (address book),
Ruth Hale (scrapbook),
(address book),
Anne Herendeen (scrapbook),
(address book),
Ami Mali Hicks (scrapbook), (address book),
Beatrice M. Hinkle (scrapbook), (address book),
Leta Stetter
Hollingworth (scrapbook), (address book),
Alison Turnbull Hopkins
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Marie Jenney Howe (scrapbook), (address book),
Helen Rose Hull (scrapbook),
(address book),
Fannie Hurst (scrapbook),
(address book),
Virginia Douglas Hyde (scrapbook), (address book),
Elisabeth Irwin (scrapbook),
(address book),
Inez Haynes Irwin (scrapbook),
(address book),
Paula O. Jakobi (scrapbook),
(address book),
Nina B. Jenney (scrapbook), (address book),
Grace Nail Johnson (scrapbook),
(address book),
Gertrude B. Kelley (scrapbook),
(address book),
Edna Kenton
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Fannie Kilbourne Schubart
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Alice Mary Kimball
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Virginia Kline
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Mary B. Knoblauch (scrapbook), (address book),
Fola La Follette (scrapbook),
(address book),
Ellen La Motte (scrapbook),
(address book),
Margaret Lane (address book),
Eleanor Lawson (scrapbook),
(address book),
Katherine Leckie (scrapbook), (address book),
Mabel Dodge Luhan (address
book),
Mary Margaret McBride,
(address book),
Frances Maule Bjorkman
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Inez Milholland (scrapbook),
(address book),
Alice Duer Miller
(scrapbook), (address book),
Clare Mumford (address book),
Elsie Clews Parsons
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Mary Field Parton (address book),
Ruth Pickering Pinchot
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Madeleine Plowman (address book),
Paula Pogany Bennett
(scrapbook), (address book),
Anna Marble Pollock
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Grace Potter (scrapbook), (address book),
Ida Sedgwick Proper
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Nina Wilcox Putnam
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Ida Rauh (scrapbook), (address book),
Mabel Reber (scrapbook),
(address book),
Mabel Robinson (address book),
Henrietta Rodman (scrapbook),
(address book),
Gwyneth King “Netha” Roe (scrapbook), (address book),
Lou Rogers
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Alice Rohe (scrapbook),
(address book),
Florence Guy Woolston
Seabury (scrapbook), (address book),
Mary Shaw (scrapbook), (address
book),
Anne O'Hagan Shinn (scrapbook), (address book),
Caroline Singer (scrapbook),
(address book),
Constance Smith (scrapbook),
(address book),
Leonora Speyer (address book),
Sarah Field Splint
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Doris Stevens (scrapbook),
(address book),
Rose Pastor Stokes
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Rose Strunsky Lorwin
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Vida Ravenscroft Sutton (scrapbook), (address book),
Kathleen de Vere Taylor
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Edith "Daisy" Haynes
Thompson (scrapbook), (address book),
Signe Toksvig (scrapbook),
(address book),
Olivia Torrence (scrapbook), (address book),
Mary Logan
Tucker (scrapbook), (address book),
Maude Sperry Turner (scrapbook),
(address book),
Florence Maule Cooley
(scrapbook),
(address book),
Mary Heaton Vorse (scrapbook), (address book),
Elizabeth
Watson (scrapbook), (address book),
Helen Westley (address book),
Vira
Boarman Whitehouse (scrapbook), (address book),
Margaret Widdemer (scrapbook),
(address book),
Gertrude Marvin Williams (scrapbook), (address book),
Margaret Wycherly (scrapbook),
(address book),
I. A. R. Wylie (scrapbook), (address book),
Rose Emmet Young (scrapbook), (address book).
My published books:
