Constitution.
Graham, Isabella Marshall. Constitution of the Ladies Society, Established in New-York [sic]; for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children. New-York [sic]: Printed by James Oram, 1800.
Small 8vo.; several pages dog-eared; heavily foxed; five sewn signatures; thin off-white wrappers, light wear; still a remarkable relic. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
Second edition; preceded by the first edition, published in 1799. Graham was instrumental in establishing, in 1797, the Ladies Society for the Relief of Poor Widows and Small Children, the earliest philanthropic society in America to focus on the welfare of women and children.
Isabella Marshall (1742-1814) was born in Lanark, Scotland and, after receiving a solid education at a small school in Elderslie (run by Mrs. Betty Morehead), Marshall married Dr. John Graham in 1765. She traveled to Quebec and, later, to Fort Niagara with her husband, who had been appointed a surgeon to His Britannic Majesty’s 60th Royal American Regiment. Tragically, her husband died while on military tour in Antigua, leaving her with three young children.
After her husband’s death, Graham retreated to Scotland and almost immediately began educational and philanthropic work drawing on her own schooling experience, as well as her first-hand knowledge of a life as a widowed mother. She took up employment as a teacher in a small school, and was soon after appointed director of a boarding school in Edinburgh. There she established “The Penny Society,” an organization for the destitute, which urged its members to set aside a penny each week for monetary support during times of illness; the society grew into the Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick. Upon the advice of friends, Graham went to New York in 1789 to establish a secondary school for young women, and continued to work to ameliorate the conditions of the poor. In November of 1797, she founded The Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, which similarly sought to provide relief for impecunious women. One year after the establishment of the Society, Graham relinquished her teaching position to dedicate herself to philanthropic work.
Graham went on to establish in 1811 the Magdalen Society, which supervised the internal management of Magdalen House, a settlement for destitute women; Graham was appointed president of the Society, a position she held until her death in 1814.
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