New England Woman's Press Association

NEWPA sought not only to bring female colleagues together and further their careers in a male-dominated field, but to use the power of the press for the good of society.

[1] On November 17, six women met at the office of Boston Herald reporter Sallie Joy White and formed the New England Woman's Press Association (NEWPA).

[1] The group met at the headquarters of the Woman's Journal until it outgrew that space and moved to the Parker House Hotel.

To make clear that NEWPA was a professional association and not a social club, membership was limited to women living in New England who were "regularly and professionally connected with the press of New England, either as writers, editors, business managers, or correspondents—all, in short, for whom work on the press is a vocation, and not an avocation, a breadwinning occupation, and not an amusement."

[5] Most of NEWPA's members were from the Boston area; others hailed from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Nova Scotia.

[5] Lillian A. Lewis, the first African-American woman reporter in Boston, made national headlines when she was admitted to the association in 1889.

[11] For the first few years, NEWPA held literary and business meetings twice a month, elections each November, and an outing each spring.

[5] They invited prominent authors and newspaper women such as Jane Cunningham Croly,[12] Amelia Edwards,[13] and Frances H. Burnett[14] to speak about their work.

Each February, male friends and relatives of members were invited to a "Gentlemen's Night" at the Hotel Vendome, featuring guest speakers such as Mayor Josiah Quincy.

[19]In February, the "lady newspaper men" of NEWPA voted to show their support for the movement by signing a petition to the state legislature.

[20] A few days later, a short article in the Boston Globe reminded readers of the need for police matrons, and encouraged activists to keep the pressure on city and state officials.

By early May the legislature had passed a bill to appoint police matrons in Massachusetts cities and establish a house of detention for women in Boston.

One former president, Muriel Knight, said members were too busy to devote much time to activism, while another, Evelena Hudson, attributed the change to conservative leadership.