All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Biographical Bytes from Bala #018

Three Quaker sisters – Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katharine Shipley – decided to start a school.  Not another finishing school where girls learned to cook and crochet and behave in society, but a rigorous academic school specifically to train girls in languages and the sciences so they could get into Bryn Mawr and other colleges that were springing up for women in the late 19th century.  In this podcast, you will learn about the evolution of girls’ education from before the founding of the country, and some special personalities that populated the Shipley School for its first 75 years.

ABC #048 - Part 3

Elizabeth Head Fetter, older sister to maverick inventor Howard Head, was writing under the pen name of Hannah Lees about topics like masturbation and women’s extra-marital affairs in the prudish 1940s, several years before the Kinsey Report was released.

ABC #048 - Part 2

Sara Yorke Stevenson was a self-trained Egyptologist, a founder of the Penn Museum, a leader in women’s rights, and a popular newspaper columnist who gained respect from colleagues around the world – her story is told by fellow Laurel Hill Cemetery docent Pat Rose.

ABC #048 - Part 1

Dr. Nellie Neilson was one of the best – and best known – Medieval history scholars in the world, but she struggled to climb every rung to the top during her long career. 

March is Women’s History Month. 

• Dr. Nellie Neilson was one of the best – and best known – Medieval history scholars in the world, but she struggled to climb every rung to the top during her long career.

These three remarkable women shattered many glass ceilings in their long careers.  I hope you enjoy their stories.  

Biographical Bytes from Bala #017

Raphael Coel was a World War II veteran and insurance executive. His wife Julia was a lifelong swimmer who served as the first Black female lifeguard for the City of Philadelphia. They serve as an anchor for this month's "Biographical Bytes from Bala."  If you are White, learn what it was like to attempt to “Swim While Black” in the United States.  If you are Black, you already know.  

ABC #047 - Part 3

Douglas “Jocko” Henderson was one of the top deejays on the East Coast, introduced Little Stevie Wonder to the Apollo Theater audience, and is considered by many to be the first “Rap MC” from Philadelphia.

ABC #047 - Part 2

Barbara Blackshear rose from working as a “computer” who helped produce the legendary Xerox 8010 “Star” to become vice-president of strategic planning for the company.

ABC #047 - Part 1

Dr. James Alexander Batts was an early champion of improving prenatal care for Philadelphia’s African American population.  

February is Black History Month.  All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories gives you Three More Black Trailblazers.

• Dr. James Alexander Batts was an early champion of improving prenatal care for Philadelphia’s African American population.

All three of these Black pioneers are interred at Laurel Hill West.