“P” is for Poppenheim, Mary Barnett (1866-1936) and Louisa Bouknight Poppenheim (1868-1957)

“P” is for Poppenheim, Mary Barnett (1866-1936) and Louisa Bouknight Poppenheim (1868-1957). Club women, social reformers. Born in Charleston Mary and Louisa attended Vassar College. They returned to Charleston with leadership skills and a desire to promote women's education. The Poppenheims helped bring the burgeoning women's club movement to Charleston, as founding members and officers of numerous organizations and the Charleston City Federation of Clubs. Louisa later became president of the South Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and entreated South Carolina women to take up social reform in addition to literary study. Mary Barnett Poppenheim was most interested in reserving history and was one of the editors of the first two volumes of South Carolina Women in the Confederacy. Beyond South Carolina, Louisa Bouknight Poppenheim played a key role in bringing southern women into the national club movement.