The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony

What it is

Written by Ida Husted Harper between 1898 and 1908, this two-volume biography was produced in close collaboration with Susan B. Anthony during her lifetime and reproduces many of her letters, public addresses and diary passages. It is held by the Library of Congress.

Why it matters

Because Anthony herself worked with Harper on the book, it preserves firsthand material — her own words and papers — that might otherwise have been lost, even though it was written and published for public readership rather than left as a private record. It shows how Anthony wanted her life's work in the suffrage movement to be remembered.

Look closer

• Why might a biography written with its subject's cooperation be useful to historians, and what cautions does that require?
• What kinds of sources did Harper use to build this account of fifty years of activism?
• What does the dedication "to woman, for whose freedom" tell you about the purpose of the book?