One of Center City’s highest-rated boutique hotels has a rich history as an incubator for women’s rights and advancement.
Founded in 1882 by teacher and writer Eliza Sproat Turner, the New Century Guild started out as a group with the goal of supporting working women in Philadelphia.
At the time, women lacked the ability to be full participants in U.S. society. The workforce was beginning to grow more female, but women were still a clear minority.
For the first several decades of its existence, the Guild acted as a hub for women in or planning to join the labor force, where they could take classes, hear speakers, rent a room, or eat lunch.
Hundreds of women joined, and members included bookbinders, writers, clerks, cashiers, secretaries, lawyers, nurses, and physicians, among other professions. Many, like Turner, were also progressive activists who spoke out for causes like suffrage and better labor protections.
The organization’s role shifted throughout the years, and a descendant of the organization — the Gender Justice Fund — still operates today as a local philanthropic grant-making foundation.
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