Elizabeth Smith Miller ( Smith; September 20, 1822 – May 23, 1911), known as "Libby", was an American advocate and financial supporter of the women's rights movement.NY History Net

(April 21, 2011).

Biography

Elizabeth Smith was born September 20, 1822 in

Peterboro, New York Peterboro, located approximately southeast of Syracuse, New York, is a historic hamlet and currently the administrative center for the Town of Smithfield, Madison County, New York, United States. Peterboro has a Post Office, ZIP code 13134. ...

. She was the daughter of antislavery philanthropist Gerrit Smith and his spouse, the abolitionist Ann Carroll Fitzhugh. In 1843, Elizabeth married Charles Dudley Miller. Elizabeth and Charles occupied the "Cottage Across the Brook", on her father's estate at

. It was later the home of their son, Gerrit Smith Miller. The family later moved to

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

, where Miller died on May 23, 1911, aged 88.

National Women's Right Convention

At the third

National Women's Rights Convention The National Women's Rights Convention was an annual series of meetings that increased the visibility of the early women's rights movement in the United States. First held in 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the National Women's Rights Convention ...

gavelled in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

, Smith Miller was the author of a motion to create state-based women's rights organizations when the motion to create a national organization failed. She was with

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...

and Susan B. Anthony in the founding of the

National Woman Suffrage Association The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement s ...

Literary activity

Following her father's death in 1874, Elizabeth Smith Miller worked on a biography of his life along with author

Octavius Brooks Frothingham Octavius Brooks Frothingham (November 26, 1822 – November 27, 1895) was an American clergyman and author. Biography He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1793–1870), a prominent Unitarianism, Unitari ...

. When Frothingham went so far as to allege that Smith had prior knowledge of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, Elizabeth ordered the publisher to recall the tomes, break their bindings, and remove the information. In her later years, she penned a home economics treatise.

"Bloomers"

An advocate of

Victorian dress reform Victorian dress reform was an objective of the Victorian dress reform movement (also known as the rational dress movement) of the middle and late Victorian era, led by various reformers who proposed, designed, and wore clothing considered more ...

, Elizabeth Smith Miller first wore the Turkish pantaloons and knee length skirt later popularized by

Amelia Bloomer Amelia Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818 – December 30, 1894) was an American newspaper editor, women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associat ...

in ''The Lily''. The apparel and its

undergarment Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

was similar to utilitarian outfits also worn by women of the utopian

Oneida Community The Oneida Community was a perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70, making it possible for the ...

and the Oneida Nation's women. Dress reform was seen as essential in liberating women from the functional constraints imposed on their activities by conventions reinforcing a male dominated society. " Bloomers" were worn by leaders of the women's rights movement as an act of rebellion until the amount of attention the protest received in the popular press became a distraction from the movement.

Publications

* ''In the Kitchen'', Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1875. full text available a
the Library of CongressArchive.orgGoogle Books

References

External links

Elizabeth Smith Miller and Anne Fitzhugh Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks

Webcast-Catch the Suffragist's Spirit: Miller Scrapbooks
from the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

Carrie Chapman Catt Collection
at the

has volumes from the library of Elizabeth Smith Miller.
''In the Kitchen''
by Elizabeth Smith Miller. From th

at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith Miller, Elizabeth 1842 births 1911 deaths American abolitionists American suffragists People from Geneva, New York Women civil rights activists Gerrit Smith