"Better Housekeeping Out of Doors": Mira Lloyd Dock, the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women, and Progressive Era Conservation

Abstract

This article focuses on the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women and its local affiliates during the Progressive era. Under the leadership of State Forest Commissioner and fellow clubwoman Mira Lloyd Dock, the Federation played a major role in the state's conservation and municipal improvement movements. As other Progressive era historians have shown, these reformers came from the elite and middle classes, and were as interested in converting their working-class neighbors as they were in transforming cities and conserving natural resources. Pennsylvania's clubwomen sincerely cared about the quality of life for their state's urban and rural populations. They believed education would win others to their causes, and they sought alliances whenever possible with less privileged folk. Keystone State females both worked with and opposed male reformers. Studying the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women and its Progressive era record thus illuminates the complexity of American conservation history.

Mind over Matter

“…Building constituencies with other politically underprivileged populations based on shared concerns regarding environmental health and access to resources, these women built alliances with other to mobilize for change. 13 The vast majority of historical research on gender and the environment has focused on women, particularly within the Mid-Atlantic. Some work has been done, however, that should also encourage the study of masculinity and the environment in this region.…”