Title: Barrett, Kate Waller
Source: The Alexandria Library
More informationKate Waller Barrett was a
prominent physician, social reformer, humanitarian, and leader of the National
Florence Crittenton Mission, a progressive organization established in 1883 to assist
unmarried women and teenage girls who either had children or were trying to leave
prostitution.
Barrett was born Katherine Waller in Falmouth, Virginia, to Ann Eliza Stribbling Waller and Withers Waller in 1858. She attended Arlington Institute for Girls in Alexandria. On July 19, 1876, she married Robert Barrett, an Episcopal minister. The couple eventually had six children. With her husband's encouragement, she continued her education, earning a medical degree from the Women's College of Georgia, in Atlanta, in 1892 and completing the nursing course in 1894 at the Florence Nightingale Training School in London.
Title: "Delays Signature of
Bill to Abolish Red Light
District"
Source: Library of Congress,
Manuscript Division
More informationWhile in Atlanta, Barrett had attempted to
open a shelter for unwed mothers, despite opposition from church and city officials.
She was later successful in securing funding from Charles Nelson Crittenton, a
wealthy New York wholesale druggist who, in 1883, had established a shelter for young
prostitutes, unwed mothers, and their infants on Bleecker Street. He had named the
facility for his four-year-old daughter Florence, who had died the year before. By
1895, the Florence Crittenton Mission became a national movement and local centers
were established across the United States.
Following her husband's death in 1896, Barrett became superintendent of the National Florence Crittenton Mission and, following Mr. Crittenton's death in 1909, became its president. Barrett's leadership advanced the organization's national prominence and established her as one of the leading social reformers of her time. The mission provided health care, education, and vocational training to unwed mothers, needy immigrant women, reformed prostitutes, and women who had contracted venereal diseases. Barrett and the work carried out by the mission were an integral part of the effort to end prostitution.
Title: Woman's Party Booth at
San Francisco Exposition
Source: Library of Congress,
Manuscript Division
More informationBarrett wrote several books describing her
approach to social reform, including Fourteen Years' Work Among
Erring Girls (1901) and Some Practical Suggestions on the
Conduct of a Rescue Home (1903). Her philosophy emphasized spiritual rebirth
through motherhood and promoted the advantages of homemaking and domesticity. Against
the conventional wisdom of her time, Barrett advocated that children remain with
their mothers and nurse them for six months or longer. Women under her care were
expected to cook, clean, and care for children. Barrett also established vocational
training programs designed to encourage women to live independently and to better
care for themselves and their children.
Title: Kate Waller Barrett
Branch, Alexandria Library
Source: The Alexandria Library
More informationBarrett supported woman suffrage and served as honorary vice president of
the Equal Suffrage League of
Virginia. She served as president of the American Legion Auxiliary and the
National Council of Women and was active in the National Congress of Mothers, the
National Prison Association, and the League of Women Voters. Barrett also sat on the
board of the College of William and
Mary.
Kate Waller Barrett died at her home in Alexandria in 1925. The Kate Waller Barrett Branch of the Alexandria Library was built in 1937 as a memorial to Barrett. Her name is also attached to an elementary school in Stafford, Virginia.
Library of Virginia Papers of Kate Waller Barrett, 1895–1950
First published: October 8, 2008 | Last modified: April 7, 2011
Email SignupVirginia Foundation for the Humanities | 145 Ednam Drive, Charlottesville, VA 22903-4629
Phone 434.924.3296 | Fax 434.296.4714
