Sarah Brown Ingersoll Cooper

Sarah Brown Ingersoll Cooper
"A Woman of the Century"
Born	Sarah Brown Ingersoll (1835-12-12)December 12, 1835 Cazenovia, New York
Died	December 11, 1896(1896-12-11) (aged 60)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Cazenovia Seminary, Troy Female Seminary
Occupation(s)	Educator, suffragist
Spouse	Halsey Fenimore Cooper ​ ​ (m. 1855; died 1885)​
Signature

Sarah Brown Ingersoll Cooper (December 12, 1835 – December 11, 1896) was an American educator, author, evangelist, philanthropist, and civic activist. She is remembered as a religious teacher and for her efforts to increase the interest in kindergarten work. Cooper was the first president of the International Kindergarten Union, president of the National Kindergarten Union, president and vice-president of the Woman's Press Association, president of the Woman's Suffrage Association, and president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.^[1]

She was vice-president of the Century Club, treasurer of the World's Federation of Woman's Clubs, a director of the Associated Charities, and one of the five women elected to the Pan-Republican Congress. At the 1893 World's Fair, she delivered thirty-six addresses, and on her return, helped to organize the Woman's Congress of which she was president for two years and at the time of her death. Several years before her death, Cooper became a convert to equal suffrage and was president of the Amendment Campaign Committee.^[2] A few months before her death, Cooper stated that she was an officer of nineteen societies for charitable purposes.^[3][4]

She wrote and received many letters.^[2] The assertion was made that the letters which she answered in the year before she died numbered 11,000.^[1] She wrote extensively on topics related to women, children, and education.^[5]