Spencer, Anna Garlin (1851-1931), was an American reformer, minister, and educator. She was actively involved in the woman suffrage movement. She also worked to promote world peace, to ban the sale of liquor, and to strengthen family life. She was a founding member of the Woman’s Peace Party and an active member of several other women’s organizations. Her books included Woman’s Share in Social Culture (1913) and The Family and Its Members (1923).
Anna Garlin was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, on May 17, 1851. In 1878, she married William H. Spencer, a Unitarian minister. In 1891, she became minister of the Bell Street Chapel in Providence, Rhode Island. She was the state’s first woman minister. As an educator, she held positions at a number of institutions, including the New York School of Philanthropy. Anna Spencer died on Feb. 12, 1931.
See also Woman suffrage .
