Katharine%20Wright
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Katharine Wright Haskell (August 19, 1874 – March 3, 1929) was the younger sister of
aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright. She worked closely with her brothers, managing their bicycle shop in
Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
, when they were away; acting as their right-hand woman and general factotum in Europe; assisting with their voluminous correspondence and business affairs; and providing a sounding board for their far-ranging ideas. She pursued a professional career as a high school teacher in Dayton, at a time when few middle-class American women worked outside the home, and went on to become an international celebrity in her own right. A significant figure in the early-twentieth-century women’s movement, she worked actively on behalf of
woman suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...
in Ohio and served as the third female trustee of
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
.


Early years

Katharine Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio, on August 19, 1874, exactly three years after Orville Wright. She was the youngest of five surviving children of Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Koerner Wright. When her mother died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
in 1889, 14-year-old Katharine, as the only female child, was expected to fill her shoes. Throughout her teenage years and early adulthood, she pursued her education and teaching career while managing the home she shared with her father, an itinerant preacher, and older brothers. She was especially close to Wilbur and Orville, providing crucial moral and material support as they worked to solve the problem of powered human flight. (The two oldest Wright brothers, Reuchlin and Lorin, left home while she was growing up.) Katharine attended Central High School in Dayton and completed her secondary education at Oberlin Academy in 1893–94. After two years at what was then Oberlin’s preparatory division, she attended Oberlin College, one of the few coeducational institutions in the United States at the time. The only Wright sibling to earn a college degree, she graduated in 1898, just shy of her twenty-fourth birthday. Katharine was exceptionally gifted, intellectually curious, and determined to become financially independent. Upon graduating from Oberlin, she took a position teaching Latin and English at Steele High School in Dayton. Although she found the work rewarding, she complained of earning less than her male colleagues and being assigned less desirable courses to teach. This early experience of gender inequality in the workplace kindled a lifelong commitment to women’s rights and education. To assist with the household chores that she continued to perform on top of her full-time job, Katharine hired a teenage maid, Carrie Kayler, who would remain with the family for decades.


Collaboration with brothers

The Wright Brothers, having neither independent resources nor government support, funded their aeronautical endeavors with earnings from their bicycle shop. After they began spending summers at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, Dare County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of what is known as North Carolina's Outer Banks. The population was 3,708 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 Census. It was establ ...
, in 1901, Katharine not only helped run the shop but packed supplies for their experiments and handled their official correspondence and relations with the press. As Wilbur and Orville’s efforts to market the
Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...
took them to Washington, D.C., and Europe, Katharine wrote hundreds of letters in which she kept them abreast of the progress of the family businesses, as well as personal and hometown news. She often scolded her unmarried brothers when they failed to keep up their end of the correspondence and warned them against amorous liaisons and other “distractions” that lay in wait for them abroad. (Many of Katharine’s letters from this and later periods are available as digital scan
on the Library of Congress website
) In 1908, after nearly three years of trying, the brothers convinced the
U.S. Signal Corps ) , colors = Orange and white , colors_label = Corps colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = ...
to allow them to test their Flyer for possible sale to the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
at Fort Myer, Virginia. Orville was the pilot for the demonstrations. After a week of successful and record-breaking flights, disaster struck: on September 17, 1908, a split propeller sent the airplane out of control. The ensuing crash killed the passenger, U.S. Army Lieutenant
Thomas Selfridge Thomas Etholen Selfridge (February 8, 1882 – September 17, 1908) was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and the first person to die in an airplane crash. He was also the first active-duty member of the U.S. military to die in a crash whil ...
, and seriously injured Orville, who suffered broken ribs and a broken leg. Katharine took emergency leave from her teaching job and rushed to his bedside at an Army hospital in northern Virginia. She rarely left Orville’s room during his seven-week recuperation and never returned to the career that had given her both intellectual satisfaction and an independent income. Orville later said that he would have died without his sister’s aid. In the aftermath of the crash, Katharine helped her brothers negotiate a one-year extension of their contract with the Signal Corps.


Celebrity

Soon after Orville’s near-fatal accident, Wilbur asked Katharine to sail to France with their recuperating brother. She and Orville joined Wilbur in Pau in early 1909.  Katharine dominated the social scene in Europe, being far more outgoing and charming than her notoriously shy brothers. She put her proficiency in French to use in liaising with European royalty and influential dignitaries like
Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...
,
King of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
,
Georges Clémenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
,
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...
, and
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (german: Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Karl Ernst Alexander Heinrich von Preußen; 12 July 18809 March 1925) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern, great-grandson of King Frederick William III of Prussia. ...
. She also made three flights with Wilbur while they were in Pau, becoming one of the first women to go up in an airplane.French journalists were captivated by what they saw as the human side of the Wright Brothers. They even concocted a story--which Katharine would take pains to refute in later years--that the “Wright sister” had assisted Wilbur and Orville with their mathematical computations. In recognition of Katharine’s vital importance to the Wright family team, the French government honored her as an Officier de l’Instruction Publique –one of France’s highest academic distinctions--when her brothers received the prestigious
Légion d’Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
in 1909. The three Wrights returned to the United States as national heroes and international celebrities. Back home in Dayton, Katharine took on formal business responsibilities, serving briefly on the board of the
Wright Company The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing o ...
before Orville sold the family airplane business in 1915. At the same time, she became an outspoken supporter of the woman suffrage movement in Ohio. In anticipation of an unsuccessful attempt to amend the state constitution, she marched in a suffrage parade in Dayton on October 24, 1914, along with her octogenarian father and brothers Orville and Lorin.Derringer, Sherri Lynn (2007).
Women's Campaign for Culture: Women's Clubs and the Formation of Women's Institutions in Dayton, Ohio, 1883-1933
(dissertation, Wright State University).
A pioneering feminist, Katharine would later write: “I get all ‘het up’ over living forever in a ‘man’s world,’ with so much discussion about what kind of women men like and so little concern over what kind of men women like, that it’s a good deal like the particular subject of woman suffrage used to be with me. Orv always teased me about that. When we were working for it, he used to say that woman suffrage was like Rome, in one respect: all roads led to it, with me.” Katharine traveled to Columbus to lobby state legislators on behalf of woman suffrage, an effort that ultimately bore fruit in 1919, when Ohio became the fifth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.


Life after the deaths of Wilbur and Bishop Milton Wright

In 1914, some two years after Wilbur’s premature death, Katharine, Orville, and Bishop Milton Wright moved to
Hawthorn Hill Hawthorn Hill in Oakwood, Ohio, USA, was the post-1914 home of Orville, Milton and Katharine Wright. Wilbur and Orville Wright intended for it to be their joint home, but Wilbur died in 1912, before the home's 1914 completion. The brothers ...
, a newly constructed mansion in the Dayton suburb of Oakwood. Bishop Wright died three years later. Carrie Kayler and her husband, Charles Grumbach, also had an apartment in the house. As his scientific career wound down, Orville became increasingly dependent on Katharine. While continuing to manage the household, she looked after his social schedule, correspondence, and business engagements along with his salaried secretary, Mabel Beck. She also played an active behind-the-scenes role in Orville’s decades-long struggle with the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
to gain appropriate recognition for the Wright Brothers’ invention. As Orville’s consort, Katharine attended many formal ceremonies and aviation events, such the International Air Races in St. Louis in 1923 and Dayton in 1924. In September 1922, they helped the Wright Aeronautical Company christen the ''Wilbur Wright'' flying boat, designed by aviation pioneer
Grover Loening Grover Cleveland Loening (September 12, 1888 – February 29, 1976) was an American aircraft manufacturer. Biography Loening was born in Bremen, in what was then Imperial Germany, on September 12, 1888, while his American-born father was station ...
, and participated in its maiden flight over the Hudson River. At the launch, Katharine and Orville were photographed standing beside Arctic explorer
Vilhjalmur Stefansson Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 – August 26, 1962) was an Arctic explorer and ethnologist. He was born in Manitoba, Canada. Early life Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had ...
, whose professional relationship with the youngest Wright brother led to a brief but intense emotional entanglement with Katharine in the early 1920s, as documented in their extensive correspondence. Prominent in Dayton society, Katharine was an active member of the Helen Hunt Club, a women’s literary group; president of the Young Women’s League; and a supporter of other civic organizations. She was also the moving force behind the Oberlin Alumni Association in Dayton and served as her class secretary for many years. In 1923, she was elected to the Oberlin College board of trustees and served her alma mater in that capacity from 1924 until her death in 1929. As only the third female trustee in Oberlin’s history, she exerted a strong influence in areas such as faculty and presidential appointments, building plans, and academic freedom.


Marriage, later life, and death

Over the years Katharine stayed in touch with newspaperman Henry (Harry) J. Haskell, a close friend from her college days who had once tutored her in math. Associate editor (later editor) of the
Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...
, Haskell lived in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, where Katharine and Orville visited him on several occasions. (Their older brother Reuchlin and his family also lived in Kansas City.) Haskell was one of a handful of influential journalists who spearheaded the campaign to vindicate the Wright brothers in their dispute with the Smithsonian. After his wife’s death in 1923, he and Katharine began a long-distance romance that was conducted primarily through letters. Although her secret fiancé and Orville had long been friends, Katharine was apprehensive about her brother’s likely reaction to their marriage. Her fears were borne out when Haskell belatedly broke the news to Orville: the surviving Wright brother was devastated and virtually stopped speaking to his sister. After procrastinating for more than a year, Katharine finally married Harry on November 20, 1926, in a small private ceremony at the Oberlin home of their mutual friend Professor Louis Lord, a well-known classicist. Orville, convinced that his sister had violated a family pact to remain unmarried, refused to attend the wedding and severed all contact with his sister. Other family members were more supportive, however, and one of Katharine’s nieces even attended the ceremony with her husband. Leaving Hawthorn Hill in secret and with a heavy heart, Katharine made her new home with Harry in Kansas City. Although they enjoyed a happy marriage, she continued to grieve over her broken relationship with Orville. In early 1929, as the Haskells were preparing to embark on their belated honeymoon in Europe, Katharine contracted pneumonia. When Orville found out, he still refused to contact her. Their brother Lorin, who had enthusiastically supported Katharine’s marriage plans, prevailed on Orville to visit her, and he was at her bedside when she died on March 3, 1929, at age 54.


Legacy

In a posthumous citation, Katharine’s fellow Oberlin trustees described her as “a world figure who emerged from and dwelt in a model American home.” In 1931 Haskell donated a fountain to the college in her memory. Featuring a replica of a bronze sculpture by Verrocchio, it stands near the entrance to the
Allen Memorial Art Museum The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is an art museum located in Oberlin, Ohio, and it is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, the collection contains over 15,000 works of art. Overview The AMAM is primarily a teaching museum and is aimed at ...
, a short distance from the college’s Wilbur and Orville Wright Laboratory of Physics. For decades historians and biographers of the Wright Brothers ignored or downplayed Katharine’s role as an integral member of the family team. Only with the surge of interest in women’s history in the late twentieth century, and the concomitant discovery of previously unknown letters and other documents, did she come to be recognized as both Wilbur and Orville’s unsung partner and a significant figure in the women’s movement. Richard Maurer’s ''The Wright Sister'' and Ian Mackersey’s ''The Wright Brothers,'' both published to coincide with the centenary of the first flight in 2003, and David McCullough’s ''The Wright Brothers'' (2015) reflect the ongoing effort to restore Katharine Wright Haskell to her rightful place in the Wright brothers’ saga. In 2017, Henry J. Haskell’s grandson published ''Maiden Flight'', a work of creative nonfiction about her late-life marriage, followed by a three-part biographical podcast titled ''In Her Own Wright''. Novelist Patty Dann adopted a less rigorously source-based approach in ''The Wright Sister'' (2020). Dramatic treatments of Katharine’s life range from one-woman shows to the 2022 opera ''Finding Wright'' by composer
Laura Kaminsky Laura Kaminsky (born September 28, 1956) is an American composer, producer of musical and multi-disciplinary cultural events, and educator. She was born in New York City, graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and studied with Joseph ...
and librettist Andrea Fellows Fineberg. In 2022 the Smithsonian Institution’s
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
unveiled a new Wright Brothers exhibit in which Katharine’s role is highlighted.


References


Further reading

* Howard, Fred (1987). ''Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers''. Knopf. . * Crouch, Tom D. (1989). ''The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright''. W. W. Norton. . * Maurer, Richard (2003). ''The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and Her Famous Brothers'' (1st ed.). Roaring Brook Press. . * Mackersey, Ian (2003). ''The Wright Brothers: The Remarkable Story of the Aviation Pioneers Who Changed the World''. Little, Brown. . * McCullough, David (2015). ''The Wright Brothers''. Simon & Schuster. . * Haskell, Harry (2017). ''Maiden Flight''. Academy Chicago. . * Dann, Patty (2020). ''The Wright Sister''. Harper Perennial. .


External links

* Katharine Wright at
Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...
*
n Her Own Wright: three-part podcast about Katharine Wright Haskell
sponsored by the National Park Service and public radio station 91.3 WYSO (Yellow Springs, Ohio)
Public Radio interview with historian Cindy Wilkey
about Katharine's role in the Wright Brothers' success
Digital scans of Katharine Wright Haskell’s letters
in the Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress

* ttps://wrightstories.com/the-wright-brothers-plus-one-the-influence-of-their-sister/ Biographical essay by Dr. Richard Stimson
Interview with the screenwriter
of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers f ...
-supported script about Katharine Wright {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Katharine 1874 births 1929 deaths Schoolteachers from Ohio Burials at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum Deaths from pneumonia in Kansas Oberlin College alumni People from Dayton, Ohio Wright brothers American people of English descent American people of Dutch descent American people of German descent American people of Swiss descent Wright family American suffragists American women educators