Woman of the Century/Eliza Archard Conner

CONNER, Mrs. Eliza Archard, journalist and lecturer, was born on a farm near Cincinnati, Ohio. Her ancestors were among the pioneers of southern Ohio, and one of them founded the town of New Richmond. Her maiden name was Eliza Archard She was educated in Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, taking the full course in classics and higher mathematics. In i860 she became the wife of Or. George Conner, of Cincinnati. In her early years she was a teacher, part of the time instructor in Latin and German in the Indianapolis high school. There her persistent refusal to accept less wages than had been previously paid to a man teacher for doing the same work resulted in the passing of a rule by the school board that teachers of both sexes in the high school should receive the same salary, a rule that remains in force to this day. Her first newspaper contribution was printed when she was thirteen years old. In 1865 she became a regular contributor to the "Saturday Evening Post," of Philadelphia, under the name of "Zig." Later she wrote for the Cincinnati "Commercial," signing the initials E. A. Her contributions attracted attention. In 1878 she became a member of the editorial staff of the "Commercial." She went to New York City in 1884 as literary editor of the "World " In 1885 she accepted a place on the editorial staff of the American Press Association syndicate in New York. She is a member of Sorosis and of the New York Women's Press Club. Mrs. Conner has probably written as much newspaper matter as any other woman living. In editorial writing she furnishes regularly two columns daily of a thousand words each. She has done all kinds of newspaper work, from police-court reporting up. Her letters to the Cincinnati "Commercial" from Europe were published in a volume called "E. A. Abroad" (Cincinnati, 1883). ELIZA ARCHARD CONNER. She has also written several serial stories. An important part of her work for the American Press Association has been the preparation of a series of newspaper pages of war history, descriptive of the battles of the Civil War. In her girlhood Mrs Conner entered enthusiastically into the struggle for the emancipation and advancement of women. She originated classes in parliamentary usage and extempore speaking among women. Wherever occasion permitted, she has written and spoken in favor of equal pay for equal work, and of widening the industrial field for women. As a speaker she possesses the magnetic quality. She is deeply interested in psychological studies and in oriental philosophy, accepting the ancient doctrine of repeated incarnation for the same individual. She is an enthusiast on the subject of physical culture for women, believing that mankind were meant to live out-doors and sleep in houses.