White Coaches and Feminism

Cornelia Bryce Pinchot (wearing hat) marching with striking clothing workers, Mahony City, PA, June 17, 1933

In an effort to prove my initial theory that the women driving white coaches in the Ladies Four In Hand Club processions might be a political statement, I looked first to Miss Cornelia Bryce, who was mentioned in the New York Times archive article as driving a white bodied coach trimmed in scarlet. I discovered an article at foresthistory.com, http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Places/GreyTowers/Severance_CorneliaPinchot.pdf

Miss Bryce was born in 1881, which would have put her in her early twenties when the original article I posted on Monday was published. She was raised with privileges of private education, European travel and was a product of political and philanthropic lineage. The article also states she "enjoyed competitive sports-especially hunting, polo and driving." In 1914, the New York Tribune wrote, "Miss Cornelia Bryce-beautiful, cultured, charming, with the utmost of wealth & position at her command, she chooses as her chief interest, the causes of the working woman."

Bryce served on the board of a hospital, in a study to promote the rights of working women, as a fire inspector on a safety committee, and in the suffrage movement. She met and married her husband, Gifford Pinchot while campaigning for Theodore Roosevelt and together they continued a tireless platform of human resources, education, labor reform, conservation and civil rights.

A remarkable woman, it is certain, but as they say on History Detectives: could she have been making a statement of feminism by driving a white bodied coach trimmed in scarlet during those promenades of the Ladies Four In Hand Club? I think, maybe. Bryce was described in the article as "a natural rebel-loved to upset people by doing outrageous things."

I can't be sure, but thus is the culmination of my historical detective work.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

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