The fifth talk in the Hoboken Historical Museum’s #NJWomenMakeHistory series will take place Sunday, Nov. 15, at 4 pm, featuring the series organizer Eileen Lynch, Hoboken Museum’s program, membership and development manager,  talking about Hoboken philanthropist Martha Stevens and her daughter Caroline Stevens Wittpenn. (details and registration link below)

#NJWomenMakeHistory is an eight-part lecture series focusing on New Jersey women who made their mark on history, as part of New Jersey’s celebration of the centennial of women’s right to vote. From groundbreaking photographer Dorothea Lange, to gender barrier-breaking baseball player Maria Pepe, both Hoboken natives, the series covers women who made history in a variety of spheres, including politics, finance, philanthropy, art, poetry and sports.

Guest speakers include distinguished authors and scholars, as well as the live participation of New Jersey women poets, and an in-person interview with Hoboken’s own Maria Pepe. The lecture series will be streamed online, with some lectures offering limited in-person seating at the Hoboken Museum, 1301 Hudson Street.

To attend in person, face masks, hand hygiene and social distance guidelines will be observed. All talks are free to attend, thanks to a generous grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Reservations are required for in-person and online participation. Visit https://bit.ly/NJWomenMakeHistory to reserve a spot.

Tickets

On Sunday, Nov. 15, at 4 pm, Eileen Lynch, the Museum’s program, membership and development manager, will speak about Hoboken’s own Martha Stevens (1831-1899)/Caroline Stevens Alexander Wittpenn (1859-1932), the respective wife and daughter of Edwin Stevens. Both mother and daughter had lifelong commitments to working for the alleviation of poverty and injustice.

Martha had a strong interest in children’s and women’s issues and founded a foundling hospital as well as birthing center. She worked to fulfill her late husband’s wish for the establishment of a school of higher learning, which she did by creating the engineering school, Stevens Institute of Technology. She also founded a training school for young low-income students, the Hoboken Free Public Library, as well as helped to design Willow Terrace, two cobblestone streets lined with housing originally built for the workers of the Stevens estate that are still occupied today. Martha was born in Princeton and died in Hoboken.

Caroline had a lifelong dedication to justice reform and served as an adviser on state welfare issues to NJ governor Woodrow Wilson; was the first committeewoman for the Democratic National Committee in NJ; sat on the Board of Control of New Jersey Department of Institutions and Agencies as part of reorganization of state’s charitable and correctional institutions. She was appointed by President Herbert Hoover to International Prison Commission in 1929. She was born and died in Hoboken. 

Eileen Lynch has worked at the Hoboken Historical Museum since 2009, securing annual operating and special projects grants that have sustained the Museum in addition to cultivating a loyal membership and many donors and event sponsors. Her previous talk at the Museum was how popular music during World War I. She holds a BA from Smith College.

Remaining lecture schedule: (all events begin at 4 pm)

• Sunday, 11/22 – Anne Ryan: Her Art and Life, by Nancy Nikkal
• Sunday, 12/6 – NJ Women Poets Make History, with live readings by 6 NJ poets 
• Sunday, 12/13 – An Interview with Maria Pepe

*(all events will stream online, with limited in-person seating)

Join our book club! Amy Gilman Srebnick has agreed to host an online book discussion of The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, Saturday, November 14 at 4 pm. Click on the button below to join the book discussion session. Buy the book on our online gift shop (or in our gift shop at 1301 Hudson St., Hoboken). 

Join the book club!

In addition to a generous Action Grant of $16,500 from the NJ Council for the Humanities to fund this lecture series, the Hoboken Historical Museum received a $5,000 COVID-19 grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the federal CARES Act. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this [publication, program, exhibition, film, etc.] do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.