Mabeth Hurd Paige (November 22, 1869 – August 19, 1961) was a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

politician, a member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint ...

from 1923 to 1945.

Biography

Mabeth Hurd was born in

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

, in 1869, and educated there through high school. After graduation, she went to Nebraska to take care of her grandmother and attend the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. She then attended the Massachusetts Art School in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and studied at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

in Paris, France. When she returned to the United States in 1891, Hurd moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

and accepted a job teaching art in the Minneapolis public schools. In 1895 she married James Paige, a professor of law at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. James encouraged Mabeth to obtain a law degree which she did, at the University. In 1914 Paige was asked to become president of the Women's Christian Association in Minneapolis that ran a boarding and rooming house for women. She was the founder of the Minneapolis chapter of the Urban League and was a board member for 25 years. She raised money for the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House. In 1922 Paige filed for the office of Representative of the 30th Legislative District of the State of Minnesota. In November she was elected as one Minnesota's first four-woman legislators, alongside

Hannah Kempfer Hannah Jensen Kempfer (December 22, 1880 – September 27, 1943) was a Minnesota schoolteacher, farmer and politician. She was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1923 to 1930 and from 1933 to 1942, representing District 50 a ...

Sue Metzger Dickey Hough Sue Metzger Dickey Hough (November 22, 1883 – December 28, 1980) was an American lawyer, businesswoman, and politician. Hough was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota with her family when she was two years ...

, and

Myrtle Cain Myrtle Agnes Cain (April 11, 1894 – February 6, 1980) was an American politician and labor activist. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Irish immigrant parents, Cain went to the Minneapolis public schools and to the St. Anthony's Convent. ...

. Her district, which covered part of downtown Minneapolis to the North Side up to about Lowry Avenue, returned her to the House in every election year until she retired in 1945. As the chair of the public welfare and social legislation committee, she introduced bills that outlawed "loan sharks" charging high interest rates that she believed helped keep people in poverty. She also passed bills that shortened the work week for girls and women who worked 10–13 hours each day seven days a week. She also appropriated money to build a University of Minnesota mental hospital and to take care of orphans. Other legislation that Paige introduced outlawed "counterfeit correspondence schools" and protected the environment. In 1949, at the state centennial banquet commemorating Minnesota's admission as a state, the Minnesota Junior Chamber of Commerce named Mabeth Paige as one of eight women among the Hundred Living Great Minnesotans. She noted women's working and political conditions wherever she traveled. "My observations abroad brought out the need of independent citizenship for women, not be interwoven with that of men by reason of marriage or other conditions." She died in 1961, at age 91, in Minneapolis, only a few months after she voted in the 1960 national elections.

Notes

References

* Aldrich, Darragh. 1950. ''Lady in Law: A Biography of Mabeth Hurd Paige''. Chicago: Ralph Fletcher Seymour. * Erwin, Caroline. 1965. "Mabeth Hurd Paige 1869–1961 Her Contributions as Humanitarian and Legislator: A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History : Farleigh Dickinson University."

External links

Mabeth Hurd Paige
at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
Mabeth Hurd Paige papers
at the Hennepin County Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Paige, Mabeth Hurd Politicians from Newburyport, Massachusetts Politicians from Minneapolis Women state legislators in Minnesota Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives University of Minnesota Law School alumni 1869 births 1961 deaths Académie Julian alumni