// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Laura Dainty Pelham? Pel-ham it on me.
Laura Dainty Pelham | |
|---|---|
 Pelham, from a 1924 newspaper | |
| Born | Laura Mount August 30, 1846 Southwick, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 22, 1924 (aged 77) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupations | actress, social worker, director, gardens advocate, clubwoman |
Laura Mount Dainty Pelham (August 30, 1846 – January 22, 1924) was an American actress, social worker, clubwoman, and theatrical director based in Chicago. She was director of the Hull House Dramatic Association, president of the Hull House Woman's Club, and founder of the City Gardens Association.
Early life and education
[edit]Mount was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, the daughter of Charles T. Mount and Maria Hannah Perkins Mount (later Craft).
Career
[edit]Mount was a teacher as a young woman. Beginning in 1871, she toured giving dramatic recitations[1] on the Chautauqua platform[2] and with the Redpath Lyceum Bureau.[3] She began acting in plays in 1875, often in soubrette roles.[4] She starred in A Mountain Pink on tour in 1885.[5] While traveling as an actress, she also gave readings at institutions, including prisons and mental hospitals.[6] "She stands the undisputed queen of the rostrum as an elocutionist," a Nebraska newspaper assured readers in 1882.[3]
Mount became involved with Hull House in the early 1890s. In 1899, she was vice-president of the Hull House Woman's Club; in 1900, she became the club's president.[7][8] Jane Addams appointed her as director of the Hull House Dramatic Association in 1900. Far from being light amateur entertainments, she directed the company in productions of serious plays by Synge, Lady Gregory, Boucicault,[4] Ben Jonson, "Shaw, Pinero, Galsworthy, and Ibsen".[9] The Hull House Players made a tour in England, Ireland, France and the Netherlands in 1913.[6]
Pelham ran unsuccessfully for the office of alderman in 1902.[10] "I would give the streets a good scrubbing," she explained of her platform.[11] Also that year, she managed the American tour of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.[8] In 1909 Pelham founded the City Gardens Association, which involved acquiring and preparing land in Chicago to become gardens, tended by workers to supplement their income and diet.[12][4] In 1910 she helped the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) to organize garment workers during a strike in Chicago.[13]
Personal life
[edit]Mount married Albert H. Dainty in 1880. She married theatrical manager Fred Taunton Pelham[14] in 1892; they separated in 1904.[6] She had a daughter, also named Laura Dainty, who also became an actress.[15] Her daughter died in 1918, and Pelham died in 1924, at the age of 77, at Hull House.[11][16][17] The Laura Dainty Pelham Cottage at Bowen Country Club in Waukegan was named in 1925 in her memory.[6]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Tuscola Club Hears Hull House Reader; Mrs. Laura Pelham Gives Readings on Plays". The Daily Review. 1917-02-05. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Summer Assembly to be The Best in State". Mexico Ledger. 1908-12-29. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Laura Dainty". The Fairmont Bulletin. 1882-02-04. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 Weil, Elsie F. (September 1913). "The Hull House Players". The Theatre. 18 (151): xix–xxii.
- ↑ "'A Mountain Pink'; Laura Dainty at the Opera House Last Night". The Wichita Eagle. 1885-10-24. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 Addams, Jane (2019-02-15). The Selected Papers of Jane Addams: Vol. 3: Creating Hull-House and an International Presence, 1889-1900. University of Illinois Press. pp. note 6. ISBN 978-0-252-09952-6.
- ↑ "Pelham, Laura Dainty (1849-1924)". Jane Addams Digital Edition. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- 1 2 "Hull House Woman's Club; Mrs. Laura Dainty Pelham Writes About its Growth and Management". The Weekly Pantagraph. 1902-01-31. p. 10. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Chinoy, Helen Krich; Jenkins, Linda Walsh (2006). Women in American Theatre. Theatre Communications Grou. pp. 190–192. ISBN 978-1-55936-263-4.
- ↑ "Now for an Alderwoman; Club Workers of Hull House Have a Candidate". Chicago Tribune. 1902-03-20. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Laura D. Pelham, Social Worker, Dies; Ill 2 Days; Was Famed Stage Beauty Forty Years Ago". Chicago Tribune. 1924-01-23. p. 10. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Ela, Nate (July 29, 2026). "How Hull-House Got into Gardening". Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ "The Garment Workers' Strike". Life and Labor. 1 (1): 5. January 1911.
- ↑ "Hull House Pays Last Tribute to Laura D. Pelham". Chicago Tribune. 1924-01-26. p. 10. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Laura Dainty Weds; Beautiful Actress Marries the Grandson of a Dixon Woman, Mrs. A. T. Murphy". Dixon Evening Telegraph. 1905-07-07. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Mrs. Laura Dainty Pelham". The New York Times. 1924-01-23. p. 17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
- ↑ "Laura Dainty Pelham is Dead at 78 Years". Republican-Northwestern. 1924-01-25. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-09-25 – via Newspapers.com.
