“P” is for Poppenheim, Mary Barnett [1866-1936], and Louisa Bouknight Poppenheim [1868-1957]. Clubwomen, social reformers. After graduating from Vassar, the Poppenheim sisters returned to their native Charleston with leadership skills and a desire to promote women’s education. They helped bring the burgeoning women’s club movement to Charleston as founding members and officers of numerous women’s civic and cultural organizaitons. Louisa played a major role in bringing southern women into the national club movement. She used the Keystone, a monthly journal she and her sister owned, to encourage southern clubwomen’s activities. While Louisa embraced women’s clubs, Mary focused on the United Daughters of the Confederacy and served as president of the South Carolina Division and then president-general of the national organization. The Poppenheim sisters lived in their parents’ Meeting Street home in Charleston until their deaths.
“P” is for Poppenheim, Mary Barnett
