| Blanche Ames was an artist, activist, editor, and inventor. Born into a prominent family in Lowell, Massachusetts, Ames attended the Rogers Hall School and was the president of her graduating class at Smith College in 1899 at a time when few women attended college. Ames' feminist activism was lifelong and multi-faceted. She supported a woman's right to vote, helped Margaret Sanger found the Birth Control League of Massachusetts, and served as President of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. She drew political cartoons promoting women's suffrage and was art editor of the Women's Journal, a women's rights periodical. Married to the botanist Oakes Ames, she provided botanically accurate illustrations for his seven volume Orchidaceae: Illustrations and Studies of the Family Orchidaceae. |
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