Avery, Martha Moore, 1851-1929
Dates
- Existence: 1851 - 1929
Biographical Note
Martha Moore Avery (1851-1929) was born in Steuben, Maine. She worked as a milliner before marrying Millard Fillmore Avery in 1880. Their daughter Katherine was born in 1881. In 1888, Avery and her family moved to Boston. Avery joined the Socialist Labor Party in 1891, where she met fellow Socialist Labor Party member David Goldstein. She founded the Karl Marx Class (later called the Boston School of Political Economy) in 1896 to educate Socialists about Marx's economic theories. Avery resigned from the Socialist Party in 1903 and converted to Catholicism, influenced by her daughter, who had become a nun in 1902. Also in 1903, Avery co-authored Socialism: The Nation of Fatherless Children with Goldstein. In 1912, they founded the Common Cause Society, an Anti-Socialist Catholic workingman's organization. Avery was instrumental in founding the Philomatheia Club, a ladies auxiliary to Boston College, in 1915. In 1917, she and Goldstein co-founded the Catholic Truth Guild (later Catholic Campaigners for Christ). She continued lecturing and advocating for Catholicism and Catholic education until her death.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
David Goldstein and Martha Moore Avery papers
The David Goldstein and Martha Moore Avery papers relate mainly to their association with and disavowal of the Socialist Party, their conversion to Catholicism, and their subsequent lecture tours. The bulk of the material consists of Goldstein's professional papers, with a smaller amount of his personal papers and of Avery's papers. The collection includes artifacts, correspondence, financial records, pamphlets and clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, subject files, and writings.
Collection is open for research. Some scrapbooks are too fragile to be used without supervision; please consult the Archivist.