Winifred Holt

Winifred Holt (17 November 1870 – June 14, 1945) was an American sculptor and philanthropist who founded the New York Association for the Blind, later known as Lighthouse International.

Winifred Holt
Winifred Holt, from a photograph in the Library of Congress.
Born(1870-11-17)17 November 1870
New York, New York, United States
Died14 June 1945(1945-06-14) (aged 74)
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Other namesWinifred Holt Mather, Winifred Mather
OccupationArtist, philanthropist
Parent(s)Henry Holt (publisher)
RelativesJoseph Colt Bloodgood (brother-in-law)

Early life and education

Winifred Holt was born in New York on 17 November 1870, the daughter of Henry Holt and Mary Florence West Holt.[1] Her father was a wealthy publisher, and her maternal grandfather was financier James Selby West. Her sister Edith married surgeon Joseph Colt Bloodgood.[2]

Holt was educated at the Brearley School in New York. She took lessons in sculpture, anatomy, and drawing during a visit to Florence in 1894.[2]

Career

With her father's encouragement, Holt assisted at a settlement house the Bowery district of New York for several years, while also attending plays, concerts and opera performances. On another visit to Italy, in 1901, she and her sister Edith observed a group of blind students at a concert, engrossed by the music.[3] In 1903 they started New York's Ticket Bureau for the Blind, and Winifred devoted the rest of her life to assisting blind people. She campaigned for New York's first census of blind residents. She worked for sight-saving measures for babies and schoolchildren, and against firecrackers: "She urges that patriotism may be taught the rising generation without such ruthless sacrifice as 600 children losing their sight on one day, in the celebration of our national independence," reported a 1913 profile.[4]

The New York Association for the Blind was founded at the Holt's home in 1905.[5] The organization is today known as Lighthouse International. In 1913 the first "Lighthouse" center opened in New York City, a six-story building modeled on a settlement house, and dedicated by President William Howard Taft.[3] Lighthouse centers assisted blind people in education, vocational training, job placement, and recreation.[4][6] She opened similar centers in many other cities in the United States, and then in other countries, including Italy, Japan, China, and Brazil.[2] She attended international conferences on blindness in Edinburgh in 1908 and in London in 1914. In 1914 she was awarded a gold medal by the National Institute of Social Sciences, for her contributions to social welfare work.[7]

During and after World War I, Holt spent eighteen months in France, where she met with blinded veterans and worked towards rehabilitation and vocational opportunities for them.[8][9] In 1921 Winifred Holt was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.[10][11]

Personal life

Winifred married Rufus Graves Mather on 16 November 1922.[12] She died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1945 of hypertensive heart disease, aged 74 years.[2] Her husband and sister compiled a biography of Holt after she died, and published it in 1952.[13]

References
  1. "Blind People Taught How to Work and to be Happy". The Burlington Free Press. 1911-09-12. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-07-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (1945-06-16). "MRS. MATHER DEAD; AIDED WORLD BLIND; Former Winifred Holt Founded New York Association and Created Lighthouses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
  3. Kraft, Irma (1914). "People of the Night". The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine. 88: 353–361.
  4. Patterson, Ada (April 10, 1913). "Winifred Holt, Maiden Mother to the Blind". The Interior. 44: 491.
  5. James 1971, p. 209.
  6. "'Lady of Lighthouse' to Tell Washingtonians of Work". Evening Star. 1923-12-07. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-07-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S.; College, Radcliffe (1971). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-0-674-62734-5.
  8. "To Speak on Care of Battle Blind; Miss Winifred Holt Will Tell Work of Lighthouse Committee in France". Columbia Daily Spectator. March 26, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved July 2, 2020 – via Columbia Spectator Archive.
  9. "Miss Holt Does Wonderful Work for Blind Soldiers". Evening Star. 1917-03-11. p. 43. Retrieved 2020-07-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. James 1971, p. 210.
  11. "Winifred Holt Decorated". Evening Public Ledger. 1921-08-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-07-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Friend of Blind Weds". Chicago Tribune. 1922-11-17. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-07-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Bloodgood, Edith Holt, ed. (1952). First lady of the Lighthouse: a biography of Winifred Holt Mather. The Lighthouse, New York Association for the Blind.
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