TL;DL: Blanche Ames Ames

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Blanche Ames Ames

Early Life: 

• Blanche Ames was born in the Highlands, New Jersey, on February 18, 1878.

• She came from a line of politicians and army generals and grew up comfortably upper class.

• Her father, Adelbert Ames, was a Union Army general and served as a Reconstructionist Mississippi senator, then governor, before moving the family to Massachusetts.

• Her mother, Blanche Butler, wrote a series of famous letters reflecting on the life of a woman from the North living in the South during Reconstruction.

• Blanche’s parents were interested in modern “controversial theories, Darwin and the Theologians, Freud, Jung, and their detractors… Scientific and religious theories were discussed as their enterprising children vied with each other to bring forward the latest treasures of thought.”

• Blanch graduated from Smith College in 1899 with a  bachelor’s degree and a separate degree from Smith’s art school.

• During her time there, she was an ardent feminist and supporter of the Spanish-American war. 

• Briefly, in 1898, Blanche worked as a nurse for the troops in Long Island during the Spanish-American War, which only lasted 8 months.

A young Blanche Ames. Source.

Marriage and Collaborations with Oakes Ames:

• In 1900, Blanche married Oakes Ames (no relation), a wealthy man and Harvard botanist. 

• Initially, the couple often clashed over their roles in the relationship, with Oakes both advocating for feminist ideals politically, but finding it irksome in his own wife.