Inez Haynes Gillmore Irwin

Inez Haynes Irwin, 1923

Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Significance:

suffragist and writer

Place of Birth:

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Date of Birth:

March 2, 1873

Place of Death:

Norwell, MA

Date of Death:

September 25, 1970

Active suffragist and writer Inez Haynes Gillmore Irwin believed from an early age that women should be recognized as citizens "in the fullest sense."¹

Born in Rio De Janeiro in 1873, Inez Haynes spent most of her childhood in Boston, Massachusetts. One of 17 children, Irwin later recalled that while the family had been financially unstable in her youth, they had not been poor enough to "live in the slums." Regardless of the family’s status, Irwin received the typical upper-middle class education. From 1897-1900, she attended Radcliffe College.²

While at Radcliffe, Irwin became involved with the women’s suffrage movement. Along with Maud Wood Park, she co-founded the College Equal Suffrage League in 1900. The organization, which had an objective of bringing young women to the suffrage movement, spread across the nation. Irwin later went on to serve on the advisory council of the National Woman’s Party and published a nonfiction account of the organization titled, The Story of the Woman’s Party.³ 

In addition to her work with the suffrage movement, Irwin became a prolific author who wrote both fiction and nonfiction, novels, magazine articles, and even children’s books. Irwin often connected threads of feminist ideals, and geographic and metaphorical isolation. 

First published in 1914, Angel Island follows a group of men who are shipwrecked on an island devoid of human life. Frequently visited by winged women who come and go from the island, the men trick and capture the women, clipping their wings. The men eventually grow bored, and set off across the island every day, leaving the women alone. In the end they come to a compromise. The women stayed on the island, but the men no longer clipped their wings or those of their children. The role of the men in the story is a clear reflection on patriarchy, power, and the rationalization of violence.⁴ It offers an important look at the early days of the movement and the mindset of women—like Inez Haynes Gilmore—who led the way to women’s suffrage in the United States. 

Irwin’s children’s series, Maida’s Little Shop, follows the adventures of a group of children in the Boston area in the early 1900s. Published in 1921, Maida’s Little House directly references the Boston Harbor Islands. Maida tells her friends about 'Spectacles Island,' which she prefers to call "Tom Tiddler’s Ground."⁵ The children’s first venture out to Spectacle(s) Island is not until Maida’s Little Island. In each book of the series, the children experience a large degree of isolation from adults, thus having the independence to set the rules and norms of their small world. Irwin used this separation to explore ideas of freedom, health, gender norms, and camaraderie.  

Irwin published her last Maida book in 1951. Having long retired from writing, Irwin passed away in 1970 at 97 years old. 

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Footnotes  

1. "These Modern Women: Autobiographical Essays from the Twenties," ed. Elaine Showalter (New York: The Feminist Press, 1989), 33-40. 
2. "These Modern Women: Autobiographical Essays from the Twenties," 33-40; Notable American Women: the modern period, eds. Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980), 368-369, accessed November 2023. 
3. "Site of the College Equal Suffrage League Office," last modified March 25, 2021, accessed May 1, 2023; "College Woman for the Vote," last accessed May 1, 2023, https://beatleyweb.simmons.edu/suffrage/exhibits/show/simmons-university-and-the-suf/womens-colleges-womens-suffrag; Inez Haynes Irwin, "The Story of the Women’s Party," (Rahway: the Quinn & Boden Company, 1921). Notable American Women: the modern period, 368-369. 
4. Inez Haynes Irwin, Maida’s Little House, (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1921). 
5. Inez Haynes Gillmore, Angel Island, accessed May 2023, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4637/4637-h/4637-h.htm.