Elina González Acha de Correa Morales (20 January 1861 – 13 August 1942) was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
educator, scientist and women's rights activist. In her early days, she was among the first graduates of the Argentine Normal School and was a painter, winning international recognition for both her textbooks and paintings. She was the driving force behind the founding of the and served as its president from its establishment until her death. She and her husband, Argentina's first renowned sculptor,
Elina González Acha was born on 20 January 1861 in
Chivilcoy
Chivilcoy is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, the head town of the Chivilcoy Partido. It has 64,185 inhabitants according to the .
Tourism
February Carnivals
In the month of February, a three-day carnival is held over an extended ...
,
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
, Argentina. She attended the School of the Irish Sisters ( es, Escuela de Hermanas Irlandesas) in Chivilcoy and studied French and drawing at home. Her mother, Cristina Acha, who was
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, enrolled her in the President Roque Sáenz Peña National Normal School of Professors Nº 1 ( es, École Nacional Normal de Profesores Nº 1 "Presidente Roque Sáenz Peña") in 1875. González graduated in 1879, becoming one of the first alumni of the Argentine
normal school
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...
system, and began teaching. She continued her own studies in English, French, German, Latin and drawing. In 1887, she took a position to work at the
Public Museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...
( es, Museo Publico) of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and applied to enter the in 1888. In 1890, she began teaching at the Escuela Normal de Belgrano, but resigned for a post as the chair of geography at the . After Ernestina A. López founded the Liceo Nacional de Señoritas later that same year, González became the school's Professor of Geography and Natural Sciences.
González also was married that year to Lucio Correa Morales, who would become the first renowned Argentine sculptor and they had seven children in quick succession. The couple ran an intellectual household and had many visitors from among the elite intelligentsia, as well as receiving delegations of indigenous peoples seeking their help with securing their ancestral rights. They were among those who advocated for promoting women's education and worked on strategies to defend the land claims of the Ona indigenous people. In 1900, González joined the National Council of Women ( es, Consejo Nacional de Mujeres) and completed two oil paintings on canvas, ''Cabeza'' and ''Amalita''.
Continuing her own education while teaching, González studied with
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg
Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg (27 July 1852, in Buenos Aires – 4 November 1937) was an Argentine natural historian and novelist, one of the leading figures in Argentine biology. Together with Florentino Ameghino he undertook the inventory of ...
, collecting insects, learning to embalm birds and began to publish books. Her first publication, ''Geografía elemental: Libro 1'' (Elementary Geography: First Book) was published in 1903 and was a textbook for teaching primary students. This was quickly followed by ''Ensayo de Geografía Argentina: Parte Física'' (Essay of Argentine Geography: Physical part) published in 1904 and two reading primers, ''Isondú'' and ''Isopós''. She also became one of the members of the executive committee of the Women's Library Association ( es, Asociación de Bibliotecas de Mujeres), which was organized by women to improve reading. Her textbook ''Isondú'' received a silver medal at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...
in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
in 1904. Over the next several years, González continued teaching and participated in numerous international conferences, presenting papers on geographic topics. She also participated along with her friends
Elisa Bachofen
Elisa Beatriz Bachofen was the first female civil engineer in Argentina and Latin America.
Biography
Elisa Beatriz Bachofen was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1891. She graduated from the University of Buenos Aires in 1918. Her thesis was ...
, Argentina's first woman civil engineer; Julianne Dilenius, first PhD of Anthropology in the country;
Cecilia Grierson
Cecilia Grierson (22 November 1859 – 10 April 1934) was an Argentine physician, Protestant Reformers, reformer, and prominent Freethought, Freethinker. She had the added distinction of being the first woman to receive a Medical Degree in Argen ...
, first Argentine female physician; and Berta Wernicke, first woman professor of physical education and promoter of women's participation in the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, in pressing for the
enfranchisement
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
of women and their political equality. She retired from teaching in 1910.
Later career
That same year, González presented a paper at the XVII International Congress of the Americas which was shared between Buenos Aires and Mexico. The subject of her presentation was indigenous hunting which she argued had evolved in the manner it had due to the environment. A few months later, she participated in the First International Scientific Conference of the Americas held in conjunction with Argentina's centennial celebrations. As part of a special supplement to the newspaper ''
La Nación
''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina.
Its motto is: "''La Nac ...
'', González published the ''Historia de los Conocimientos Geográficos'' (History of Geographic Knowledge), which gave a record of the country's topography and boundaries. Of the 300 papers presented in the supplement, only two were authored by women, González and Ernestina A. López. In 1913, her artistic career was boosted when the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes purchased one of her oil paintings, ''Cabeza''. Two years later, the painting received a silver medal (one of her husband's sculptures won the bronze) at the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition
The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely se ...
in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
In 1922, González became the driving force in the creation of the ( es, Sociedad Argentina de Estudios Geográficos) (GÆA), for which she served as president until her death. She became the first female correspondent member of the Geographical Society of Berlin in 1924 and that same year was appointed by the Government to represent Argentina at the International Congress of Geography and Ethnology to be held the following year in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, Egypt. Two years later joined the Mexican National Academy of History and Geography. In 1927, she became a partner in the Parisian Society of the Americas (french: La Société des Américanistes de Paris) and in 1932 was invited to join the
Society of Woman Geographers The Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981.
It is based in Washington, D.C., and h ...
.
In 1935, González published, with her daughter, Cristina, ''Amalita: libro de lectura para cuarto grado'', a 4th grade primer. The book described the country's landscapes, folk history, and talked about natural phenomena like wind and eclipses. González met with and the board of directors of GÆA in 1937 to design and construct relief maps of the country showing all of the provinces. In 1939, her textbooks were honored by the United States. González strove throughout her career to highlight the importance of preserving the geographic history, nomenclature and customs of Argentina and she advocated for standardization and cataloging. In 1941, she presented a proposal for a bill to be submitted through the legislature to protect the national
toponymy
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
.
González died on 13 August 1942 in Buenos Aires. Two years later when GÆA established their new headquarters, a portrait of González, painted by her daughter Lía Correa Morales de Yrurtia was installed in her memory. In 1962, on the 40th anniversary of GÆA's founding, a memorial was held at the Recoleta Cemetery in her honor. In 1972, a prize bearing her name, to honor the best graduate in geography was established by the Ministry of Culture and in 1991 a chair bearing her name was established by the National Academy of Geography. She and Ana Palese de Torres are the only two Argentinian women so honored, in the academy's forty chairs.