Her "How to Institute School Savings Banks," "A Plea for Economic Teaching " and other leaflet literature on the subject had broad circulation.

She was widely instrumental in establishing school savings banks in the United States, Canada, Australia and the Sandwich Islands.

World's Superintendent of School Savings Banks, Oberholtzer hoped to introduce this system in other countries beyond the U.S.[3] Sara Louisa Vickers was born in Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania, on May 20, 1841.

Besides the hundreds of fugitives assisted on their way to Canada, the home entertained such guests as John G. Whittier, Lucretia Mott, William Lloyd Garrison, and Bayard Taylor.

She was at that time active president of a soldier's aid society, which rendered efficient assistance to the Union Army during the Civil War.

Her bulletin on “School Savings Banks,” written for the United States Bureau of Education, and printed by the government in 1914, was widely distributed.

She wrote extensively for periodicals and magazines on economic subjects, biography, travel, ornithology and other topics, and did considerable local reporting.

Among the books she published are:[5] Her songs and hymns, set to music by different composers, were found in hymnals, and many of them in sheet form.