Mrs. I. Lowenberg
{{Short description|American author and clubwoman (1845–1924)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Mrs. I. Lowenberg
| image = Mrs. I. Lowenberg (1903).png
| image_size = 200px
| caption = (1903)
| birth_name = Bettie Lilienfeld
| birth_date = December 11, 1845
| birth_place = Prairie Bluff, Alabama, U.S.
| death_date = December 30/31 1924
| death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|author|clubwoman|reformer|socialite}}
| genre = novels
| subject = social reform
| notable_works = The Voices
| spouse = {{marriage|Isidore Lowenberg|1862|1919|reason=died}}
| children = 2
}}
Mrs. I. Lowenberg ({{nee}}, Bettie Lilienfeld; December 11, 1845 – December 1924) was an American author, clubwoman,{{cite book | year = 1927 | title = Who's who in American Jewry |volume= 1 | publisher = Jewish Biographical Bureau | page = 403 | oclc = 1001898903 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uWrXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA403}} {{Source-attribution}} reformer, and socialite. Born in Alabama and educated in Missouri, she removed to San Francisco, California in 1860 and spent the rest of her life there.{{cite book | editor-first1 = David |editor-last1=Brauner | date = 7 June 2015 | title = Edinburgh Companion to Modern Jewish Fiction | publisher = Edinburgh University Press | page = 28 | isbn = 978-0-7486-4616-6 | oclc = 1090481270 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A-IkDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA28}} Lowenberg was the founder of San Francisco's Philomath Club, the first club in the world composed of Jewish women with a regularly adopted constitution.{{cite book | first = A. W. |last=Voorsanger | year = 1916 | title = Western Jewry: An Account of the Achievements of the Jews and Judaism in California, Including Eulogies and Biographies. "The Jews in California," by Martin A. Meyer | publisher = Emanu-el | pages = 57–58 |chapter=The Philomath Club, A Review by Mrs. I. Lowenberg | oclc = 1018092845 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jW_Z8q-8FvUC&pg=PA57}} {{source-attribution}} Her essays focused on various topics, especially on peace and arbitration. All three of her novels advocated for various types of reform.
Early life and education
Bettie Lilienfeld was born December 11, 1845, in Prairie Bluff, Alabama, near Mobile. Her parents, William and Pauline (Levy) Lilienfeld, had immigrated from Prussia and Germany.{{cite web |title=This is (Not) What a Jewish Feminist Looks Like: San Francisco Women's Clubs and Jewish Literary History |url=https://blogs.brandeis.edu/freshideasfromhbi/this-is-not-what-a-jewish-feminist-looks-like-san-francisco-womens-clubs-and-jewish-literary-history/ |website=blogs.brandeis.edu |access-date=31 May 2023 |date=7 April 2016}} Bettie's siblings were Jane, Anice, Emma, and Alfred.
She received her education at the convent of St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Career
File:Bettie Lowenberg (1912) Mrs. I. Lowenberg.png
Lowenberg was very active in women's club work. Subsequent to her visit to the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), where she attended the Parliament of the World's Religions's Jewish Women's Congress, Lowenberg established the Philomath Club, a Jewish women's literary association. She assisted in organizing the California State Federation of Women's Clubs (est. 1900) and was the first recording secretary and subsequently, president of the San Francisco district of that federation (1902). She served as president of the auxiliary board of the California Prison Commission; president, Pacific Coast Women's Press Association (1912–14); president, Laurel Hall Club; and president, San Francisco Maternity.{{cite book | first = A. W. |last=Voorsanger | year = 1916 | title = Western Jewry: An Account of the Achievements of the Jews and Judaism in California, Including Eulogies and Biographies. "The Jews in California," by Martin A. Meyer | publisher = Emanu-el | pages = 208–09 | oclc = 1018092845 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jW_Z8q-8FvUC&pg=PA208}} {{source-attribution}}
During the Spanish–American War, Lowenberg was the chair of the hospital commission of the American Red Cross, and a member of the executive committee of the ARC's San Francisco Chapter. She also served as distributing manager of the Manila Library Association, which organized for the comfort and accommodation of the army in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War.{{cite encyclopedia | editor-first1 = Cyrus |editor-last1=Adler | editor-first2 = Isidore |editor-last2=Singer | year = 1907 | title = The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |volume= 3 | publisher = Funk & Wagnalls | page = 513 | oclc = 3624632 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J3M_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA513}} {{source-attribution}}
Lowenberg was a member of the Local Section of the Home Advisory Board for the International Conference of Women Workers to Promote Permanent Peace (San Francisco, 1915).{{cite journal|title=To Promote Permanent Peace |first1=Marie Hicks |last1=Davidson | date = May 1915 | journal = Table Talk |volume= 30 |issue =5 | publisher = Arthur H. Crist Company | pages = 270–75 | oclc = 1715377 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JwJBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA270}} {{source-attribution}} At the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco, 1915), she was the First vice-president of the Authors' Congress, and Second vice-president of the exposition's Women's Board. During World War I, she served as Vice-regent of the California Preparedness Chapter of the Women's Naval Service, Inc. She was also a member of the State Commission on Marriage and Divorce, and the Board of National Arbitration and Peace Committee.
Lowenberg contributed short stories to various magazines. She also wrote speeches and plays, as well as essays on various topics, especially on peace and arbitration. The first of her three novels, The Irresistible Current (1908),{{cite book | first = Mrs. I. |last=Lowenberg | year = 1908 | title = The Irresistible Current | publisher = Broadway publishing Company | oclc = 2925734 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4ExFAAAAIAAJ}} {{source-attribution}} was a plea for universal religion. A Nation's Crime (1910){{cite book | first = Mrs. I. |last=Lowenberg | year = 1910 | title = A Nation's Crime: A Novel | publisher = Neale Publishing Company | pages = | oclc = 13819674 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ajs7AQAAIAAJ}} {{source-attribution}} served as a plea for uniform divorce laws.
The last of her novels, The Voices (1920),{{cite book | first = Bettie |last=Lowenberg | year = 1920 | title = The Voices | publisher = H. Wagner publishing | oclc = 14526619 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dI9vwgEACAAJ}} {{source-attribution}} contained much matter on the necessity of political reforms. Described as a novel for the 1920 United States presidential election, it revolves around a present-day Joan, not of Arc, but of one who listened to small voices within and became, in consequence, a leader in industrial and political happenings. A university graduate, the heroine secured a position in an iron and steel plant and took part in the questions which arose there between capital and labor. Romance and love-interest are also a part of the story which introduces personalities on both sides of the issues of industry.{{cite magazine |title=Fiction | date = 1920 | magazine = The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer |volume= 53 |issue= 9 | publisher = Excelsior Publishing House | page = 457 | oclc = 9959778 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XVMwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA457}} {{source-attribution}} "Equal rights to all — unions and non-unions, organized and unorganized labor", declares the heroine, her intelligence stimulated by the mystic voices that speak to her from out the impalpable air.{{cite journal |title="The Voices", A Book of Knowledge as Well as Romance | date = April 1919 |volume=LXXV |issue=4 | journal = The Overland Monthly | publisher = Samuel Carson | pages = 337–38 | oclc = 4894800 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rA0NAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA337}} {{source-attribution}}
Many years of her life were spent in the interests of others. Two endowment funds at the San Francisco Nursery for Homeless Children, and many gifts to women's clubs and other charities, both public and private, were among her philanthropy.
Personal life
On October 12, 1862, she married Isidore Lowenberg (1835–1919) of Prussia, a prominent civic leader. The couple had two children, Albert (1864–1948) and Ruby (1872–1962).
Lowenberg was a member of San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El.{{cite book | editor-first1= Barbara |editor-last1=Cantalupo | first1 = Emma |last1=Wolf | year = 2002 | title = Other Things Being Equal | publisher = Wayne State University Press | page = 41 | isbn = 978-0-8143-3022-7 | oclc = 1114452274 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xcp-sH8TQT8C&pg=PA41}} For a number of years, she served as vice-president of Temple Emanu-El kindergarten school, as well as vice-president of the local Council of Jewish Women.
She lived for several years at the city's Clift Hotel, where she died in December 1924.{{efn|According to familysearch.org, Lowenberg died December 30, 1924,{{cite web |title=Bettie Lilienfeld 1845–1924 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G39H-PH6 |website=www.familysearch.org |access-date=31 May 2023}} while according to her obituary in the Oakland Tribune, she died December 31.{{cite news |title=Club Women Mourn Mrs. Lowenberg Loss |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-obit-mrs-i-lowenberg/125616367/ |access-date=31 May 2023 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=1 January 1925 |page=10 |language=en}} {{source-attribution}}}} Her scrapbooks and other materials are held by the Bancroft Library, at the University of California, Berkeley.{{cite web |title=Bettie Lowenberg scrapbooks and other materials, approximately 1908–1923. |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;titlesAZ=b;idT=UCb231328989 |website=oac.cdlib.org |access-date=31 May 2023}}
Selected works
- The Irresistible Current (1908)
- A Nation's Crime (1910)
- The Voices (1920)
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowenberg, I., Mrs.}}
Category:19th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:Jewish American novelists
Category:People from Wilcox County, Alabama