Women’s Education Mary Carpenter Letter Celebrating a Woman’s School Board Election in 1877

Mary Carpenter Women's Education

Manuscripts & Autographs

Carpenter, Mary autograph letter signed, dated January 10, 1877, documents Carpenter’s support for women’s participation in school governance during the final months of her life, providing direct evidence of her work across women’s education, juvenile reform, prison reform, and public advocacy. Carpenter founded ragged schools and reformatories for poor children and young offenders in Bristol, advocated for women’s education, engaged anti-slavery work, and traveled to India, where she examined schools, prisons, and female education.

Carpenter, Mary. Autograph Letter Signed to Alderman Mansfield. Bristol: Mary Carpenter, 1877. January 10, 1877. 1 page. Original mailing envelope and two obituaries of Carpenter are pasted into the volume. The letter congratulates Mansfield on the election of his wife to the School Board, stating, “Thanks for sending us the paper containing the very gratifying announcement of the election of Mrs. Mansfield…It is a grand triumph!” A note at the bottom signed M. P. Mansfield explains, “This letter was written on the receipt of a paper containing the account of the election of my wife to the School Board.”

Written months before Carpenter’s death in June 1877, the letter links her educational reform career to the expanding civic role of women in nineteenth-century Britain. A biography materially strengthened by Carpenter’s own signed letter, joining printed memorialization with direct manuscript presence from a major woman reformer. Condition not stated in the supplied description. Strong association copy documenting Carpenter’s support for women’s public educational authority.

Item #16342

Price: $450.00