Florence Bishop Trader (August 19, 1878 — February 22, 1964) was an American philanthropist, founder of
Clovernook, a residential training school for blind girls and women, and of the Cincinnati Library Society for the Blind.
Early life
Florence Bishop Trader was born in
Xenia, Ohio, the daughter of James Franklin Trader and Elizabeth Jane Duckworth Trader. Both of her parents were born in Ohio. She attended Miss Armstrong's School for Girls in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
[John William Leonard, ed.]
''Woman's Who's who of America''
(American Commonwealth Publishing 1914): 822.
Career
Florence and her sister
Georgia Duckworth Trader Georgia Duckworth Trader (January 30, 1876 — March 12, 1944) was an American philanthropist, co-founder of Clovernook, a home for blind women, Clovernook Braille Press, and of the Cincinnati Library Society for the Blind.
Early life
Georgia Duckw ...
, who was blind, taught
braille classes at the
Cincinnati Public Library
Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL) is a public library system in the United States. In addition to its main library location in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, CHPL operates 40 regional and branch locations throughout Hamil ...
, and established the
Cincinnati Library Society for the Blind in 1901. They expanded this work in 1903 when they opened the
Clovernook Home for the Blind, in the home previously owned by poet sisters
Phoebe Cary
Phoebe Cary (September 4, 1824 – July 31, 1871) was an American poet, and the younger sister of poet Alice Cary (1820–1871).She was a great poet who composed a Legend of Northland which is a very beautiful poem. The sisters co-published po ...
and
Alice Cary in what is now
North College Hill, Ohio
North College Hill is a city in Hamilton County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio approximately ten miles north of downtown Cincinnati. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,397. The city takes its name from its proxim ...
near Cincinnati.
[Jane Finneran]
"At Random..."
''Cincinnati Enquirer'' (September 22, 1946): 69. via Newspapers.com Among the major benefactors of their work were Cincinnati mayor
Murray Seasongood, and
William Cooper Procter, of the family that founded
Procter & Gamble. Clovernook soon had weaving and braille printing shops for vocational training and fundraising.
[Libby Lackman]
"Lady of Light for Blind Dies"
''Cincinnati Enquirer'' (February 23, 1964): 6. via Newspapers.com
The Cincinnati public schools added provisions for blind students and for preventive vision screenings, as a result of the Trader sisters' work, in 1905.
In 1944, the Trader sisters were honored by the
American Foundation for the Blind with the Migel Medal for their contributions to improving blind people's lives in the United States.
Clovernook Braille Press was printing sixty million
Braille pages a year in 1946, including nine monthly magazines, making it one of the largest braille presses in the United States.
Personal life and legacy
Florence Bishop Trader died in 1964, aged 85 years. Before she died, in 1958, Clovernook became a nonprofit organization, and continues today as a center for educational, vocational, and recreational services for the blind community of greater Cincinnati. The publishing house at Clovernook continues to be one of the larger publishers for blind readers.
"People Power Drives Vision"
''Cincinnati Magazine'' (December 2005): D14.
References
External links
*
Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
(official website).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trader, Florence Bishop
1878 births
1964 deaths
People from Xenia, Ohio
American women philanthropists