Van Vorst, Bessie (1873-1928) Also known as: Van Vorst, Mrs. John

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Winifred Salisbury to Jane Addams, January 5, 1910

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Birth Date

1873

Death Date

1928-05-19

Birthplace

New York, NY

Biographical Text

Bessie McGinnis Van Vorst, often published under the name "Mrs. John Van Vorst," was an accomplished author and journalist. She started working for the New York Evening Post in 1898. Upon the passing of her first husband, she moved to Paris with his sister, Marie, and the two co-authored a novel, Bagsby's Daughter, which was published in 1901. The two then return to the United States for a time, traveling to South Carolina and Massachusetts, where they shed their upper-class statuses, created aliases and began working at pickle factories, cotton mills, and shoe factories. In 1902, they began a column on this experiment in Everybody's Magazine and then, in 1903, they published a memoir, titled The Woman Who Toils: Being the Experiences of Two Ladies as Factory Girls, that looked back on their experiences and critiqued working conditions, as well as the gender inequality they observed. After a series of magazine publications in 1907, Van Vorst went on to write The Cry of the Children in 1908, which took a look at what child labor looked like in mills in New Hampshire and Alabama. Even after returning to Paris, she continued writing and served as a correspondent for publications operating out of both France and the United States, offering her feelings on a number of social issues.

Van Vorst was married to John Van Vorst, until his death. She later remarried to Hugues Le Roux in 1914. Van Vorst died in 1928.

Occupation

Author

Child welfare activist

Source

Picture: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Mrs. John Van Vorst. Author of "The issues of life."" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed September 13, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/023bd240-93eb-0130-dd84-58d385a7bbd0

Collection

People

Map

Edited By

Sciancalepore, Victoria

Biebrich, Caitlin

Rights

Public domain

Gender

Female

First appears

1910

Bibliography and Links

A Society Woman's Experiment, Star Tribune September 28, 1902, p. 12

Applegate, Edd. Muckrakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2008. p 189-91.

Bessie Van Vorst Dies, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, The Evening News May 19, 1928, p. 4

Bessie Van Vorst Married., Parsons Daily Eclipse December 26, 1914, p. 1

Bessie Van Vorst, Writer, Is Dead, The Boston Globe May 19, 1928, p. 18

Boyer, Paul S.; Edward T. James; Janet Wilson James. Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971. p 514-5.

SNAC

Citation

“Van Vorst, Bessie (1873-1928),” Jane Addams Digital Edition, accessed May 16, 2024, https://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/5607.