Agnes Edna Ryan (November 10, 1878 – 1954) was an American

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

, suffragist and managing editor of ''

Woman's Journal ''Woman's Journal'' was an American women's rights periodical published from 1870 to 1931. It was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. In 1917 it was purchased by ...

'', 1910-1917."Guide to the Henry Bailey Stevens and Agnes Ryan Papers, 1891-1974"
. Retrieved November 13, 2019.

Biography

Agnes Edna Ryan was born in Stuart, Iowa, to Edward and Mary A. Ryan. She had two siblings, John and Katherine Ryan. Graduating from Boston University in 1903, Ryan went on to work for the Riverside Press in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, and as a staff member of the ''Congregationalist'' and ''National'' magazines, as well as the

Boston American The ''Boston American'' was a daily tabloid newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts from March 21, 1904 until September 30, 1961. The newspaper was part of William Randolph Hearst's chain, and thus was also known as ''Hearst's Boston Americ ...

. In 1910, she became managing editor of a suffrage publication, the ''Woman's Journal.'' In 1915, Agnes E. Ryan married Henry Bailey Stevens, who worked as the assistant editor for the ''Woman's Journal''. In order to keep her last name, she went to court and successfully challenged the law that required women to take their husband's last name. The couple adopted two children, Peter and Patricia. In 1917, Ryan and Stevens resigned from the ''Woman's Journal'' in part because of their opposition to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1918, when Henry accepted a job in Durham, N.H., as the director of th
Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
at the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, later the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

, Agnes followed, organizing the New Hampshire Peace Union, writing poetry, becoming active in the MacDowell Colony of

Peterborough, New Hampshire Peterborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,418 at the 2020 census. The main village, with 3,090 people at the 2020 census, is defined as the Peterborough census-designated place (CDP) and ...

, and serving as a speaker for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Ryan was among the feminist vegetarians who, during

, made a connection between meat eating and the killing of human beings in the Great War.Adams, C. J. (1990). '' The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory''. New York: Continuum. In Ryan's unpublished novel, "Who Can Fear Too Many Stars?," she depicts vegetarianism as a way of resisting male dominance. Ryan's papers are archived at the

Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, ...

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and include unpublished novels, diaries, correspondences, an autobiography, and other writings.

Reception

Carol J. Adams Carol J. Adams (born 1951) is an American writer, feminist, and animal rights advocate. She is the author of several books, including '' The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory'' (1990) and ''The Pornography of Meat'' ...

argues that Ryan's "the Cancer Bogy" was perhaps the first modern vegetarian health guide.

Josephine Donovan Josephine Donovan (born 1941) is an American scholar of comparative literature who is a professor emerita of English in the Department of English at the University of Maine, Orono. Her research and expertise has covered feminist theory, femini ...

mentions that Ryan is one of the many first-wave feminists who advocated for

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

Selected publications

*
The Torch Bearer. A Look Forward and Back at the Woman's Journal, the Organ of the Woman's Movement
' (1916) * ''A Whisper of Fire'' (1919) *''For the Church Door'' (1943) *A Ph.D. thesis, "Priestess of reform: The life of Agnes Ryan, 1878-1954," by Marcia Rollinson is housed at the University of New Hampshire.

External links

*
The Torch Bearer. A Look Forward and Back at the Woman's Journal, the Organ of the Woman's Movement
' (1916)
"If You Are a Minister," woman suffrage postcard
Social Welfare History Image Portal, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Agnes 1878 births 1954 deaths American animal rights activists American editors American feminists American pacifists American vegetarianism activists