At Connecticut Audubon, Women’s History is Our History

March is Women’s History Month, and its relevance to the Connecticut Audubon Society is about as far from abstract as can be: our organization was founded, in 1898, by Mabel Osgood Wright at a time when the bird and habitat conservation movement was just getting started. And our first sanctuary – in fact, the first private bird sanctuary in the country, Birdcraft – was created by Wright 16 years later with financial and moral support by her friend, Annie Burr Jennings, who along with Lottie Lacey were members of the organization’s Board of Directors.

To get an idea of how extraordinary that was, peruse any list of important turn-of-the-century conservationists and look for female names. You’ll find almost none.

To be sure, other issues had the attention of smart, ambitious women – the right to vote, for example. But at a time when birds were being decimated and in some cases driven to the edge of extinction by hunters for the millinery trade and the meat market, Mabel Osgood Wright was the leading female voice for conservation.

We’d like to share with you two pieces about Wright. Kathy Van Der Aue, a member of our Fairfield regional Board of Directors and president of the Connecticut Ornithological Society, happily let us re-publish her essay about Wright and the founding of Birdcraft, first published earlier this year in the COA’s journal, The Connecticut Warbler.

And for historical context about Wright’s place among the world of birders, we’re happy to link to a piece by writer Jaya Saxena, titled “How Early Feminists Helped Revolutionize Birding.”