About Mary M. Bryant (1844–1921)
On September 5, 1893, Mary M. Bryant ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Grand Rapids Board of Education, polling 198 votes to John DeVries’ 621. She threw her hat in the ring again in 1903, this time in a race for the newly formed Grand Rapids Library Commission. Governance of the library had been under the control of the school board before a 1903 amendment to the city charter created a separate library commission that would be elected by popular vote. While no women won seats in the first election, five ran: Mary M. Bryant, Ellen Dean, Alde L. T. Blake, Lois Felker, and Cornelia Steketee Hulst.
“For School Trustee—Fifth Ward Mary M. Bryant,” Ephemera from the Emily Burton Ketcham Scrapbook on the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Grand Rapids Public Library Digital Collections.
Bryant was a prominent figure in Grand Rapids civic and social life. She was an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage and a member of the Grand Rapids Political Equality Club, which she represented as a delegate to the 1893 Michigan Equal Suffrage Association Convention in Lansing. In 1894, she served as Association Matron of the Peninsular Chapter of the Eastern Star, a local masonic organization. And she was a member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, where she led parliamentary drills and gave talks on topics like “home sanitation.” In 1896 she was elected business secretary of the Grand Rapids City Federation of Women’s Clubs, and in 1900 she was elected to the executive committee of the Grand Rapids Consumers’ League, which advocated on behalf of workers for better working conditions and treatment.
Bryant was also interested in literary and mutual improvement clubs. In 1903, she served as president of the North End Woman’s Club and from 1910 to at least 1911 she served as vice president of the Creston Literary Society.
Campaign Information
FIRST CAMPAIGN
Political Office: Board of Education
Election Year: 1893
Party Affiliation: Nonpartisan race
Elected: No
SECOND CAMPAIGN
Political Office: Library Commission
Election Year: 1903
Party Affiliation: Nonpartisan race
Elected: No
Biographical Information
Full Name: Mary M. Landon Bryant
Life Dates: June 13, 1844–June 17, 1921
Birthplace: Michigan
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: No formal occupation
Party Affiliation: Unknown
Social Reform Activism: Women’s Clubs, Women’s Suffrage, Civic Reform, Temperance
Sources
“City News in Brief.” Grand Rapids Herald, October 30, 1899.
“Chosen to Pilot the Consumer’s League.” Grand Rapids Herald, May 27, 1900.
Croly, Jennie June. The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America. New York: Henry G. Allen and Co., 1898.
“Delegates to Lansing.” Grand Rapids Herald, January 19, 1893.
“Grand Chapter of Michigan.” The Eastern Star 7, no. 10 (March 1895): 146.
“Kent County W.C.T.U. Convention Opens Thursday.” Grand Rapids Evening Press, October 31, 1905.
“New Literary Club Formed.” Grand Rapids Herald, September 30, 1910.
“Seen and Heard in Clubland.” Grand Rapids Press, February 21, 1903.
“The School Election.” Grand Rapids Evening Press, September 6, 1893.
“Trustees Led the Battle.” Grand Rapids Herald, September 2, 1903.