Info

The National League of American Pen Women was founded in 1897. Realizing a need for an organization that would include women of the press, Marian Longfellow O'Donohue, niece of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, decided to create such an organization. Along with Margaret Sullivan Burke and Anna Sanborne Hamilton, Marian made plans for "bringing together women journalists, authors, and illustrators for mutual benefits and the strength that comes of union." On June 26, 1897, these three women brought together 17 writers, novelists, newspaper women, a teacher, a poet, and an artist for the first meeting. Alice R. Morgan, an illustrator for New York publishers, designed the League insignia, the owl, symbolic of wisdom, placed in a triangle formed by a red pen, a blue pencil, and a white brush, colors of the American flag. The first National Convention was held in Washington, D.C., in April 1921, and the 300 women in attendance were received by President and Mrs. Warren G. Harding. Mrs. Harding was a distinguished member of the League, as was Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1978, following its 80th birthday, the League was presented with the Literary Hall of Fame Award in recognition of its contribution to the cultural life of the United States. Other recipients of the award have included Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Ariel and Will Durant. and Charles Schulz. The official League headquarters is the Pen Arts Building, built in 1895 and part of the Dupont Historical District in Washington, D.C. Its most famous occupant was Robert Todd Lincoln, eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln. This twenty-room mansion was purchased by the League in 1951 and was entered on the National Register of Historical Sites in 1978.