MSS 907 AV Mary Ida Powelson Papers

              OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/ Audiovisual Collections
MSS 907 AV
Mary Ida Powelson Papers
1861- 1961 ( bulk 1899- 1961)
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number:
MSS 907 AV
Title:
Mary Ida Powelson Papers
Creator:
Mary Ida Powelson
Dates:
1861- 1961; bulk, 1899- 1961
Media:
Correspondence, documents, ephemera, newspaper clippings, photographs
Quantity:
1.16 cu. ft.
Location:
Manuscripts: 3/ 30/ 2B
Audiovisuals: AV Cage, 3/ 1/ 1C
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
Mary Ida ( Polly) Powelson was a native of Coshocton, Ohio. While working as an assistant in the office of the official stenographers of the Franklin County Courts, Powelson took testimonies and reported cases in which George K. Nash ( Governor of Ohio, 1900- 1904) was engaged as legal counsel. In 1900, she was a stenographer for J. E. Sater, attorney for the Citizen’s Savings Bank of Columbus. She substituted for the Columbus law office of Harrison, Olds, Henderson & Harrison that same year. Shortly thereafter, she went to New York to pursue her occupation as a stenographer and typist.
From approximately 1902 to 1911, Powelson was secretary to New York lawyer Henry W. Taft ( 1859- 1945), brother of President William Howard Taft, candidate for Justice of the New York Supreme Court in 1898 and a delegate to the Republican National Convention from New York in 1920 and 1924. She left this position because Mr. Taft’s office was “ to have only men stenographers, and she [ was] the only woman [ there].” Her beginning salary for Mr. Taft was $ 1,200 a year. She continued living and working in New York until the 1960s.