Zonia Baber
Mary Arizona "Zonia" Baber (August 24, 1862 – January 10, 1956) was an American geographer and geologist. She is best known for forming a way for teaching geography. [1]
Baber first worked as a teacher of geography and as a principal in a private school.[2] She began working at the University of Chicago in 1895. She got her Bachelor's degree there in 1904.
In 1898 Baber formed the Geographic Society of Chicago. She was the President and helped the Society for 50 years.[3] In 1948 she received a lifetime achievement award.
Baber also cared about social issues. She was called a feminist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist.[4] In 1926 she represented the women of Puerto Rico to help women get the right to vote. She worked as chairman of the Pan-American Committee of the International League for Peace and Freedom.[5]
Zonia Baber Media
Zonia Baber collecting fossils at Mazon Creek, Illinois as part of a Geology class in 1895 (University of Chicago Library).
Zonia Baber (left) and Burnita Shelton Matthews discussing a bill to extend suffrage to the women of Puerto Rico, 1926
School desk design patented by Zonia Baber on July 7, 1896.
A class in mathematical geography studying earth's rotation around the sun, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, ca 1899.
References
- ↑ Bailey, Martha J. (1994). American Women in Science:A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 0-87436-740-9.
- ↑ Marilyn Ogilvie and Joy Harvey, ed. (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. Great Britain: Routledge. pp. 65-66. ISBN 0-415-92038-8. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- ↑ Geographic Society of Chicago. "Our History". Retrieved 4 June 2011.
- ↑ Monk, Janice (25 May 2008). "Practically all the geographers were women". Presentation at Society of Woman Geographers Triennial. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
- ↑ Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party. "Baber, Zonia". The Library of Congress, American Memory. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
Further reading
- Pittser, Sharan E. (1999). "Early Women Geography Educators, 1783-1932". Journal of Geography. 98 (6): 302–307. doi:10.1080/00221349908978944.