Here is a list of Virginian women that I've discovered through my work with the Library of Virginia. Hopefully all of them can pass notability guidelines, but I'm aware that some of them may fall short of GNG. However, ideally we should be able to find some way to include them somewhere, if at all possible. I'm going to include some sourcing for them, but this is not an exhaustive list of sourcing since I wasn't always able to make as thorough a search as possible. I will also include some names for women who have articles but are woefully slim in details.
Given that there's been interest in some of these for Black History Month next year, I'm going to try to bold the names of African Americans in this list in case anyone wants to get a jump start on them.
Sarah Ann Brock, also known as "Virginia Madison" (pseudonym) and also referred to occasionally as Sallie Brock Putnam. Author, whose work is still in print today.
Lucy Goode Brooks, a former slave that was integral in establishing the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans, an orphanage for African-American children that was opened after the Civil War.
Naomi Silverman Cohn, civic activist, cofounded the Virginia Women's Council of Legislative Chairmen of State Organizations (later the Virginia Council on State Organizations)
Katherine Cabell Claiborne Cox, historian, was VP (elected and then permanently honorary) of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (
Preservation Virginia) and president of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, organizations that helped save the
John Marshall House (may not be notable enough for her own article, there's little out there)
Fanny Graves Crenshaw, Professor of Physical Education, Emerita at the
University of Richmond, Director of Athletics, Westhampton College (not sure if she'd pass NPROF or not, which seems to be the main thing she may qualify for)
Bertha Louise Douglass, attorney, civil rights activist, one of the first three black women to become an attorney in Virginia (finding sources for her will be hard)
Lillie Pearl Havermale Fearnow, chef, businesswoman, and the titular "Mrs. Fearnow" of "Mrs. Fearnow’s Brunswick Stew", a popular brand of canned
Brunswick stew that was sold in the South.
In This Our Life (novel). While this is a novel and not a person, it was written by
Ellen Glasgow and even won a Pulitzer Prize... and is extremely incomplete, despite even being made into a
feature film
Mary Catherine "Kate" Williams Jeter, Baptist lay leader, pres. VaWMU (may very likely not be notable enough for an article - I couldn't find anything that was a RS)
Lora McGlasson Robins, philanthropist and art collector - her husband
E. Claiborne Robins doesn't have an article either and the two could perhaps merit an article together if all else fails?
Here is a list of Virginian women that I've discovered through my work with the Library of Virginia. Hopefully all of them can pass notability guidelines, but I'm aware that some of them may fall short of GNG. However, ideally we should be able to find some way to include them somewhere, if at all possible. I'm going to include some sourcing for them, but this is not an exhaustive list of sourcing since I wasn't always able to make as thorough a search as possible. I will also include some names for women who have articles but are woefully slim in details.
Given that there's been interest in some of these for Black History Month next year, I'm going to try to bold the names of African Americans in this list in case anyone wants to get a jump start on them.
Sarah Ann Brock, also known as "Virginia Madison" (pseudonym) and also referred to occasionally as Sallie Brock Putnam. Author, whose work is still in print today.
Lucy Goode Brooks, a former slave that was integral in establishing the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans, an orphanage for African-American children that was opened after the Civil War.
Naomi Silverman Cohn, civic activist, cofounded the Virginia Women's Council of Legislative Chairmen of State Organizations (later the Virginia Council on State Organizations)
Katherine Cabell Claiborne Cox, historian, was VP (elected and then permanently honorary) of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (
Preservation Virginia) and president of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, organizations that helped save the
John Marshall House (may not be notable enough for her own article, there's little out there)
Fanny Graves Crenshaw, Professor of Physical Education, Emerita at the
University of Richmond, Director of Athletics, Westhampton College (not sure if she'd pass NPROF or not, which seems to be the main thing she may qualify for)
Bertha Louise Douglass, attorney, civil rights activist, one of the first three black women to become an attorney in Virginia (finding sources for her will be hard)
Lillie Pearl Havermale Fearnow, chef, businesswoman, and the titular "Mrs. Fearnow" of "Mrs. Fearnow’s Brunswick Stew", a popular brand of canned
Brunswick stew that was sold in the South.
In This Our Life (novel). While this is a novel and not a person, it was written by
Ellen Glasgow and even won a Pulitzer Prize... and is extremely incomplete, despite even being made into a
feature film
Mary Catherine "Kate" Williams Jeter, Baptist lay leader, pres. VaWMU (may very likely not be notable enough for an article - I couldn't find anything that was a RS)
Lora McGlasson Robins, philanthropist and art collector - her husband
E. Claiborne Robins doesn't have an article either and the two could perhaps merit an article together if all else fails?