Mary Carroll Craig Bradford (August 10, 1856 – January 15, 1938) was an American educator and administrator for public education from Colorado. She was the first female delegate at the 1908 Democratic National Convention[1][2] and later became the Colorado State Superintendent of Public Instruction, attaining national prominence through the work in her office.
Mary Carroll Craig Bradford | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Mary Carroll Craig August 10, 1856 New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 15, 1938 (aged 81) Colorado, U.S. |
| Education | Packer Collegiate Institute |
| Occupation | Colorado State Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| Spouse |
Edward Taylor Bradford
(m. 1876–1901) |
| Parent(s) | Anna Turk Carroll James Barnes Craig |
Early life and education
editMary Carroll Craig was born on August 10, 1856, in Brooklyn, New York, daughter of Anna Turk Carroll and James Barnes Craig.[3] She was educated at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, with supplemental private instruction.
Career
editBradford 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.[4]
Bradford was active in the movement for women's suffrage in Colorado, as president of the Colorado Springs Equal Suffrage Association in 1893.[5] After suffrage was won, she helped organize the Colorado Women's Democratic Club, and ran for State Superintendent of Education in 1894 (she lost to another woman, Anjanette J. Peavey).[6]
Bradford was a charter member of the Denver Women's Club and president of the Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs. She was also president of the National Education Association.[7]
Personal life
editShe married Edward Taylor Bradford in 1876, and the pair had four children. She was widowed in 1901, and died in 1938, age 71.[8]
References
edit- ^ "1908 convention spotlighted suffrage". Archived from the original on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
Probably the most famous among the five delegates was Mary C.C. Bradford, a seated delegate to the convention, who had been active in politics in Colorado nearly since Colorado was granted statehood in 1876. A woman described by the Rocky as an "eloquent platform speaker," she was the daughter of a prominent New York lawyer and a relative of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
- ^ "Only Woman Delegate. Mrs. Bradford, Of Denver, A Radical Politician. First Woman To Be Elected To A Seat At A Democratic National Convention Gives Her Views". Baltimore Sun. July 6, 1908. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, of Denver, one of the "big sis" of Colorado who will attend the Democratic National Convention as delegate-at-large, enjoying the tinction of being the first woman to be elected to a seat in a Democratic National Convention, gave her views to the World today on the political issues of the convention
- ^ Gove, Aaron; Hatch, Dorus Reuben; Barrett, Harry Mcwhirter; Coy, Nathan B; Smith, Henry Burnside; Mooney, William Barnard (1898). The Colorado school journal.
Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford was born August 10, 1856, in Brooklyn, New York. She is the descendant of a long line of lawyers, writers and educators. Her father, James B. Craig, of the once celebrated New York firm of Webster & Craig, won distinction as an authority on international revenue law, and it is to him that Mrs. Bradford owes her thorough mental training. She was first educated in New York and Paris, and later studied in Italy and Germany. She made her home in New York city until she came to Colorado eleven years ago. While living East she devoted herself to writing, and for years was connected with the Brooklyn Eagle, The Outlook, the Philadelphia Progress and the New Orleans Picayune. She was also a frequent contributor to all the leading magazines. ...
- ^ Heather Kleinpeter Caldwell, "Mary Carroll Craig Bradford: Providing Opportunities to Colorado's Women and Children through Suffrage and Education" (PhD dissertation, Texas A&M University, 2009): p. 3-4.
- ^ Mary C. C. Bradford, "The Equal Suffrage Victory in Colorado," The Outlook (December 23, 1893).
- ^ Colorado School Journal 10(1894): 57.
- ^ Grace Napier, "Mary C. C. Bradford," in John F. Ohles, ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Educators (Greenwood Publishing Group 1978): 163. ISBN 9780837198941
- ^ Heather Kleinpeter Caldwell, "Mary Carroll Craig Bradford: Providing Opportunities to Colorado's Women and Children through Suffrage and Education" (PhD dissertation, Texas A&M University, 2009): p. 2.