[5][6] On December 28, 1871, Husted married Thomas Winans Harper (1847–1908), a University of Michigan law school graduate and an American Civil War veteran from Ohio.

[4] The couple established their home in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he practiced law, was elected city attorney in 1879, and served for nearly twenty years as the chief legal counsel for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, a railroad union established by Eugene V. Debs, a socialist leader who also lived in Terre Haute.

[5][14] In addition, Harper continued her advocacy for women's suffrage, including her election in 1887 as secretary of the Indiana chapter of the NWSA.

In that capacity she coordinated thirteen district conventions in a drive to pass a statewide bill to allow women to vote in municipal elections.

While her daughter attended school, Harper worked for two years on the editorial staff of the Indianapolis News, a newspaper to which she continued to contribute long after her departure from Indiana.

[17] Anthony praised Harper's writing abilities, saying, "The moment I give the idea—the point—she formulates it into a good sentence—while I should have to haggle over it half an hour.

Harper also worked with Anthony to write and edit the fourth volume, published in 1902, of the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage.

[8][19] Around the turn of the century Harper spent several years traveling extensively with Anthony, attending women's rights gatherings and delivering lectures.

[17] Harper also wrote for a large number of newspapers, including the Christian Union, Western Christian Advocate, Advance, Chicago Inter Ocean, Chicago Times, the Detroit Free Press," the Toledo Blade, the Boston Evening Traveller, The Cleveland Leader, the Indianapolis Journal and the Terre Haute Gazette and Express.

[17][20] In addition to Harper's newspaper articles and lectures around the country, she became active in the International Council of Women, which Anthony had been instrumental in creating.

From 1899 to 1902, Harper was chairwoman of the press committee of the ICW and wrote articles for International Suffrage News, which was published in Europe.

In 1910 Harper became head of the NAWSA's national press bureau in New York City, supplying information and developing a market for articles about women's suffrage in magazines and newspapers around the country.

[17] Harper's major legacy include the three-volume The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, her contributions to volumes four through six of the History of Woman's Suffrage, and the newspaper columns and magazine articles from the 1870s through the 1920s that outline her changing views on women's rights.

After she sought and secured a divorce at the age of thirty-nine, Harper struck out on her own, moved away from her long-time home in Indiana, and reestablished herself as a prolific writer and women's rights advocate in California, New York, and Washington, D.C.[22] The Archives and Manuscripts Division of the New York Public Library holds a collection of Harper's papers.