Narcissa Cox Vanderlip, née Mabel Narcissa Cox (1879-1966) was an American

suffragist 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 ...

. She attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, but left in her senior year to get married. On May 19, 1903, she married Frank A. Vanderlip in her home town of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1905, they purchased Beechwood, on the Hudson in the hamlet of Scarborough, in

Briarcliff Manor, New York Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor in ...

. In 1910, Frank bought the nearby mansion

Woodlea Sleepy Hollow Country Club is a historic country club in Scarborough-on-Hudson in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The club was founded in 1911, and its clubhouse was known as Woodlea, a 140-room Vanderbilt mansion owned by Colonel Elliott Fitch She ...

, although Narcissa prevented the family from moving, due to her preference of Beechwood over the grandiose Woodlea. In Beachwood in 1913 Narcissa and Frank founded the

Scarborough School The Scarborough Day School was a private school in Scarborough-on-Hudson, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Frank and Narcissa Cox Vanderlip established the school in 1913 at their estate, Beechwood. The school, a nonsectarian nonprofit college pre ...

, the first

Montessori school The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

in the U.S. The Vanderlips also helped develop landmarks in Rancho Palos Verdes, notably

Wayfarers Chapel Wayfarers Chapel, also known as "The Glass Church" is located in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. It is noted for its unique organic architecture and location on cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Swedenborgian Church of North Amer ...

, Marineland of the Pacific, Portuguese Bend Riding Club, Portuguese Bend Beach Club, Nansen Field, Marymount College and

Chadwick School Chadwick School is a nonsectarian independent K-12 day school located in an unincorporated area on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Specifically it is located at the top of the neighborhood referre ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

they traveled America selling bonds to aid the war effort. They had six children - Charlotte, Narcissa, Virginia, Frank Jr., Kelvin and John. Narcissa was a leading New York suffragist and a co-founder of the New York State League of Women Voters. From 1919 to 1923 she chaired the New York State League of Women Voters. She also recruited

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

to join the League of Women Voters board of directors, having previously worked with her on wartime relief projects, and they were friends. In 1929 she became the president of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, which position she held for thirty-seven years. A notable event associated with her concerns how, in 1934,

Edward Bernays Edward Louis Bernays ( , ; November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) was an American theorist, considered a pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". His best-known ca ...

was asked to deal with women's apparent reluctance to buy Lucky Strikes because their green and red package clashed with standard female fashions. When Bernays suggested changing the package to a neutral color,

George Washington Hill George Washington Hill (October 22, 1884, Philadelphia – September 13, 1946, Matapédia, Quebec) became President of American Tobacco Co. after his father Percival Hill. He hired public relations expert Edward Bernays to reverse the taboo aga ...

, head of the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...

, refused, saying that he had already spent millions advertising the package. Bernays then endeavored to make green a fashionable color. The centerpiece of his efforts was the Green Ball, a social event at the Waldorf Astoria, hosted by Narcissa. The pretext for the ball and its unnamed underwriter was that proceeds would go to charity. Famous society women would attend wearing green dresses. Manufacturers and retailers of clothing and accessories were advised of the excitement growing around the color green. Intellectuals were enlisted to give highbrow talks on the theme of green. Before the ball had actually taken place, newspapers and magazines (encouraged in various ways by Bernays's office) had latched on to the idea that green was all the rage.Tye (1999), p. 39. "Vogelman signed up and invited fashion editors to the Waldorf for a Green Fashions Fall Luncheon with, of course, green menus featuring green beans, asparagus-tip salad, broiled French lamb chops with haricots verts and olivette potatoes, pistachio mousse glacé, green mints, and crème de menthe. The head of the Hunter College art department gave a talk entitled "Green in the Work of Great Artists," and a noted psychologist enlightened guests on the psychological implications of the color green. The press took note, with the ''New York Sun'' headline reading, "It looks like a Green Winter." The ''Post'' predicted a "Green Autumn," and one of the wire services wrote about "fall fashions stalking the forests for their color note, picking green as the modish fall wear."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderlip, Cox Narcissa 1879 births 1966 deaths American suffragists American women's rights activists People from Briarcliff Manor, New York