The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lowell, Josephine Shaw

LOWELL, Josephine Shaw, American philanthropist: b. West Roxbury, Mass., 16 Dec. 1843; d. New York City, 12 Oct. 1905. She was educated in Boston, New York and in Europe, and during the Civil War she was connected with the work of the Sanitary Commission, and subsequently with labors among the freedmen and with other causes of philanthropy and reform. In 1863 she married Col. Charles Russell Lowell, who was killed at Cedar Creek, Va., 1864. She was a founder of the Charity Organization Society of New York in 1881, in 1886-89 was commissioner of the State Board of Charities of New York, and in 1899 was appointed to the board of managers of the New York State reformatory for women. Among her writings are ‘Public Relief and Private Charity’ (1884); ‘Industrial Arbitration and Conciliation’ (1893). Consult Stewart, W. R., ‘Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell’ (New York 1911).