Anna Howard Shaw and Women’s History

This chapter reviews Anna Howard Shaw's life and accomplishments, and presents some final thoughts. The author says that over the years of researching Anna Howard Shaw, she was driven by a quest to understand not only the life of this remarkable woman but also how women's history transformed this transgressive, irreverent pioneering woman into an incompetent and conservative leader. She argues that denying the immensity of Shaw's contributions to woman suffrage demands ignoring a great deal of documentation. Although one book and one view can hardly answer all the questions concerning Shaw's place in U.S. and woman suffrage history, hopefully this biography, by bringing new sources and new evidence into the discussion and by reframing the issues, has kept the inquiry open.