Emalea Pusey Warner

Emalea Pusey Warner (June 21, 1853 – April 13, 1948) was an American educator, clubwoman, and suffragist. She was the first president of the Delaware State Federation of Women's Clubs in 1898, and in 1927 she was the first woman appointed a trustee of the University of Delaware. She was inducted into the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame in 1982.

Emalea Pusey Warner
Emalea P. Warner
Born	June 21, 1853 Yorklyn, Delaware
Died	April 13, 1948 (aged 94) Wilmington, Delaware
Occupation(s)	Educator, clubwoman, suffragist

Early life and education

Emalea^[1] Pusey was born in Yorklyn, Delaware, the daughter of Lea Pusey and Anna Kersey Pusey. Her father was a cotton manufacturer. Her family were Quakers.^[2] She attended Wilmington Friends School.^[3]

Career

Warner helped organize Associated Charities of Wilmington, and later the Wilmington New Century Club, a women's club that sponsored cultural events and raised money for kindergartens, libraries, school lunch programs and other community causes.^[2] In 1898, she became the first president of the Delaware State Federation of Women's Clubs.^[4][5]

In 1911, Warner succeeded in lobbying for the creation of a Women's College at the University of Delaware.^[6] She served on the school's building committee and in 1927 became the first woman trustee at the university.^[4] In 1940, a dormitory on the campus of the University of Delaware was named Warner Hall in her honor.^[6][7]

Warner was vice-president of the Delaware Woman's Suffrage Association, president of the Delaware chapter of the League of Women Voters, and president of the state's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for over 20 years.^[4]

Personal life

Emalea Pusey married businessman Alfred DuPont Warner. They had five children together; her husband died in 1915. Emalea P. Warner died in 1948, in Wilmington, Delaware, aged 94 years.^[6][8] The University of Delaware gives an annual Emalea P. Warner Award to an outstanding woman graduate.^[9] An elementary school in Wilmington is named in her memory.^[6] In 1982 she was posthumously inducted into the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame.^[4]

References

1. Her first name is found with various spellings, such as Emilia and Emmalea, but Emalea is the one most often used, and the one used on her gravestone in Wilmington Brandywine Cemetery.
2. Taggart, Robert J. (1988). Private Philanthropy and Public Education: Pierre S. Du Pont and the Delaware Schools, 1890-1940. University of Delaware Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-87413-318-9.
3. "Emalea Pusey Warner: Social Reformer, Educator, Philanthropist... and Youthful Artist?" (PDF). Quaker Hill Quill: 10. March 2018.
4. "Emalea Pusey Warner from the collection of The Delaware Women's Hall of Fame". Artwork Archive. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
5. Croly, Jane Cunningham (1898). The History of the Woman's Club Movement in America. H. G. Allen & Company. p. 338.
6. Parra, Esteban (September 13, 2016). "Family of Warner Elementary School namesake tour city". The News Journal. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
7. Hessey, Theresa (2021). Photographs from the Newark Historical Society. Arcadia Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-4671-0716-7.
8. "Mrs. Emalea P. Warner". The New York Times. 1948-04-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
9. "Emalea Pusey Warner (1853-1948) Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2022-05-11.