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This Week in 19th Amendment History: Agatha Tiegel Hanson
October 17, 1959
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.
“Woman should be free as the air to learn what she will and to devote her life to whatever vocation seems good to her.”
On October 17, 1959, Agatha Tiegel Hanson, the first female graduate (and valedictorian) of Gallaudet University and an early champion of both deaf and women’s rights, passed away at age 86.
Video of Agatha Tiegel Hanson, reminiscing [about her college experiences] with unnamed younger people. From the Gallaudet Archives. No transcript, undated.
Hanson was born in 1873 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She became deaf and lost her eyesight in one eye at the age of 7 due to spinal meningitis. In 1888, at only 15 years old, Hanson enrolled at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., which remains to this day the world’s only university designed to be barrier-free for deaf and hard of hearing students. Gallaudet had only provisionally accepted a small group of female students by that time, and none of them had completed the requirements for a degree.
In 1888, when Hanson entered Gallaudet, women were permanently allowed enrollment to the university. Enrollment, however, came with limitations. Because of the dearth of facilities for women, all female students were required to live in House One, an on-campus residence that also served as the president’s home.
Women could only participate in campus extracurriculars by invitation, and were not allowed to participate in debates with male students. Female students were also not permitted to leave the campus alone, and could only attend classes, extracurriculars, and meetings of the campus’s male-led literary societies with a chaperone.
In response to these various barriers placed on women at the university, Hanson organized a women’s debate group that would meet in their residence at House One. Due to the success of this endeavor, by 1889 the university president lifted the ban on women’s activities.
Hanson and a fellow student, May Martin, established O.W.L.S., a secret society for women. The group would meet to debate, discuss poetry and literature, and establish bonds of sisterhood – filling in the social gaps left in their male majority campus. In January of 1892, the group held its first meeting, and Hanson was elected its first president. The group, now known as the Phi Kappa Zeta sorority, still has an active chapter on the Gallaudet campus.
National Deaf Life Museum, at Chapel Hall, Gallaudet University, 2019. From 2015-2017 the Museum presented Deaf HERstory, which will become part of their virtual exhibition in the near future. Photo courtesy of Michelle Fernandez.
Hanson graduated from Gallaudet in 1893 as the university’s first woman to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree, and first female valedictorian. Upon graduation, Hanson delivered the commencement speech, entitled “The Intellect of Women,” in which she railed against the structural inequalities that stood between women and success:
"That such repression and restraint upon mental action are artificial has been demonstrated in all ages by women whose independence has bust every fetter and won them recognition in the fields of sciences, theology, literature, politics, and art. It is impossible to estimate the immensity of the influence that woman's mind has exerted on the history of the world, an influence silently wielded and never obtruded, but of a potency inferior to no other. If, during these ages of wrong custom, of false sentiment, she has often retained much of her greatness of intellect and soul, she will better do justice to her inborn powers when she has room and light in which to grow."
Following her graduation from Gallaudet, Hanson went on to teach at the Minnesota School for the Deaf. She later relocated to the Pacific Northwest, where she became involved in the Puget Sound Association of the Deaf, the Episcopal Church’s deaf mission, and the Washington State Association of the Deaf.
Hanson was also a prolific writer, contributing to “The Silent Worker” – a national newspaper serving the deaf community – as well as publishing a book of poetry entitled “Overflow Verses.” She also later served as an editor at the Seattle Observer, a newspaper for the deaf.
Learn more about the disability rights movement in “A Disability History of the United States” by Kim E. Nielsen, available in the Library catalog.
2020 marked the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States.
Library Receives Grant for Breast Cancer Materials from VBCF
Breast Cancer is a Cruel Disease
Information gained from trustworthy, vetted resources can assist those with cancer to discover treatments, conquer fears, and gain strength.
Start your Breast Cancer research with these books to help patients, caregivers and survivors navigate the complicated world of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship:
These materials have been provided by a grant from the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. Since 2000, the VCBF has financially supported local libraries and library systems across the Commonwealth. providing more than $60,000 in funding, helping libraries to purchase breast health books, e-books, periodicals, DVDs and other materials to to support women and their families in their community.
Community Archives Public Tour: October 16 & 23
Oral History: Presidential Sightings
Interview with Captain Carl Porter
Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.
Carl Washburn Porter, a retired Navy captain and veteran of both world wars, lived in Arlington for most of his life.
Porter’s father worked in construction in the area during the early 20th century and Carl worked alongside his father during the summers, often using a horse-drawn wagon to bring construction supplies to job sites throughout the county.
Carl Porter as Boy Scout, c. 1909. Porter was a member of Troop #1, one of the first Boy Scout troops organized in the United States.
On more than one occasion during his childhood, Porter saw some famous faces in his travels around the area. Porter and his father even met President Wilson when their car broke down on Lee Highway! Porter shares that story, and other tales of Presidential sightings, in the following audio clip:
Narrator: Captain Carl Porter
Interviewer: Arthur W. True
Date: March 5, 1975
CP: While I am speaking of this, I also remember another time that my dad was going up Lee Highway (above Cherrydale) and we had a flat tire; and this was not uncommon in those days. And Dad had pulled over to the far side of the road and just started to work on the car, when another car pulled up behind. Someone got out and walked over, and it was – again, it was President Wilson, who was probably on his way up to the Golf Club – and stopped and asked if they could be of any help in fixing the tire. It shows how times have changed.
While I am mentioning this, I also recall that Theodore Roosevelt (a number of years before that), when he was President, he used to walk around the area between the White House and the Ellipse and Lafayette Park; and I remember seeing him standing out on the street in from of the old Boy’s YMCA on G Street, between 17th and 18th Street, with derby hat, frock coat, and pince-nez glasses. I remember his sons, approximately the same age as my brother and me – they attended Friends School in Washington – but they were, of course, just the same as any other boys: they liked to play baseball and whatnot; and when they went into the White House, they wouldn’t hesitate to barge in the front door and yell, “Ma, where is my baseball glove?” or something like that – any more than youngsters do that we are familiar with, or as we did ourselves.
Porter died in 1989, at age 92. You can find his oral history interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.2 no.23.
Photo: Carl Porter, Boy Scout Troop #1, c. 1909.
The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.
The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.
To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.
Taking it Personally: National Coming Out Day
Friday, October 11, marks the 31st anniversary of National Coming Out Day, an annual observance to raise awareness of the interests and rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Arlington Public Library is honoring this date by displaying Pride flags at all of our locations.
As a gay person, National Coming Out Day holds personal significance.
I take it personally when we discover pages in our Library’s children’s books about gay moms and dads have been deliberately torn or defaced.
I take it personally when a patron writes me and tells me that the Library’s Pride Month book displays promote sexually deviant behavior.
And I take it personally when a patron threatens to trash a branch library because it has displayed the Pride flag.
As an Arlington County leader, my support of National Coming Out Day means that I encourage Library staff to show up at work as they truly are — proudly and without fear of consequence.
As a public library director, National Coming Out Day reminds me that each day in a library is coming out day. Libraries are judgement free zones – safe spaces that welcome all who enter their doors, regardless of beliefs, preferences, country of origin, age, income status or appearance.
And as a gay person, National Coming Out Day affirms a commitment I made to myself: to respect and honor my choices and to be who I am, this day and every day.
Diane
Stephanie Land: October 23
Stephanie Land’s bestselling debut memoir “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive” recounts her harrowing saga as a single mom navigating the poverty trap. Her unflinching and inspiring testimony exposes the physical, economic, and social brutality that domestic workers face, all while radiating a parent’s hope and resilience.
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Arlington’s Water System
Do you know where your water comes from?
By the 1920s, while a few Arlington communities were serviced by privately-owned water companies (including Aurora Hills and Cherrydale) most of the County’s 16,040 residents got their water from individual shallow wells, which were inconvenient and susceptible to pollution.
Arlington County Water Department Float for the Water Carnival, November 1927
In 1922, the State of Virginia passed legislation to permit the establishment of sanitary districts within the County for the purpose of constructing water and sewer systems.
The Arlington County Board of Supervisors contracted engineer Asa E. Phillips to investigate options for a County-wide water system in 1926. Phillips and the County Board proposed a number of solutions to County residents. Eventually residents decided that instead of building its own water filtration plant Arlington County would request water from Washington, D.C., which had recently finished construction on the Dalecarlia Water Plant.
After Congress passed two authorizing acts – the first to allow the sale of the federal water supply to Arlington County, and the second to connect the federal water system to the Arlington County water system – and the Virginia General Assembly authorized bonds for the construction and operation of the water supply, construction began on the water main that would connect Dalecarlia to Lyonhurst Station in North Arlington, one of the highest points in the County. Lyonhurst Station was equipped with a pump station, a 260,000-
gallon water tower, and a 1.5- million gallon reservoir.
On November 3, 1927, public water supply service began in Arlington. The County declared a special holiday and threw a Water Carnival in Lyon Village to celebrate. The Water Carnival consisted of a parade with floats decorated by various county groups, a fire hydrant demonstration, dancing, fireworks, a barbeque and even a jousting tournament! In the water spirit of the event, many of the afternoon activities were rained out, but that did not dampen the celebration too much, as the evening programs continued.
Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant, 2011
The distribution system in Arlington has significantly expanded and updated from the original 1927 system, and improvements to the system, initiated in 1953, have since made Lyonhurst Station obsolete.
Arlington County's water source is the Potomac River. The water is then treated and comes to us from the Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant, run by the Washington Aqueduct.
Read more about the Arlington County Water & Utilities Department and the water system:
- Arlington County Water Distribution System Master Plan, adopted September 2014
- Arlington County 26th Street North - Old Dominion Drive Site Master Planning Task Force DRAFT Report - Jan. 2, 2019
- Arlington County Water & Utilities
To learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library. The carnival float image is a part of CLH's Arlington Historical Society Photographs collection, part of which is available online.
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Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.
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Transfer of Historic Arlington Materials from the Library of Virginia
Arlington Public Library announces the return of thousands of historic materials from the Library of Virginia.
Some of these repatriated records date back to the late 1840’s, which make these the oldest records in the Center for Local History’s collection. A goldmine for genealogical research, these documents provide a window into Arlington’s social, economic and agricultural history.
Boxes, housed at the Archives, containing thousands of historic materials from the Library of Virginia.
“These early records represent a snapshot of a time in Arlington we know little about,” said Library Director Diane Kresh. “We are excited to learn more as we begin to examine these records.”
The acquisition includes:
- Personal property tax records dating back to the late 1840’s
- Precinct and teacher registers from the early 1900’s
- Election papers and other miscellaneous records
Page detail of a voter registration book from the Library of Virginia acquisition.
Years ago, a large quantity of historic documents was transferred to the Library of Virginia for storage and safe-keeping. The transfer included a small number of non-Circuit Court records. With the recent renovation of the Community Archives, Arlington Public Library is now able to provide space to house and catalog these historic documents.
A sample of the collection will be on display during two public viewings on October 16, 7-8:30 p.m. and October 23, 2-3:30 p.m. at the newly remodeled Community Archives.
The Center for Local History's Community Archives is an off-site storage facility which collects and preserves materials that illustrate the history and culture of Arlington County. The facility is located at the Woodmont Community Center on 2422 N. Fillmore St. in Arlington, VA 22207.
Once the records are processed, they will be made available to the public. Over time, records will be digitized as part of an ongoing effort to increase public access to government records and archival materials.
Cover image: Personal property interrogatories from the Library of Virginia acquisition.
American Archives Month, which takes places each October, raises awareness about the value of archives and archivists.
Tommy Orange: October 10
Arlington Reads Signature Author
On October 10, 2019, join us for Tommy Orange, acclaimed author of the New York Times bestselling novel “There There.”
Orange grapples with the history of a nation while showcasing a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans who have inherited a profound spirituality but who are also plagued by addiction, abuse and suicide.