From collection Candidates
In 1895 Katharine Bement Davis was nominated by the Civic Club as a candidate for School Director of the fifth ward school committee in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Davis was part of the College Settlement in the city. In 1914 Davis ran unsuccessfully on the Progressive Party ticket for the position of at-large delegate to the upcoming New York State constitutional convention. She was nominated by the Women's Committee of the State of New York for Representation in the Constitutional Convention. The state Progressive Party endorsed her candidacy. Davis received 87,273 votes according to a New York Times article on December 6, 1914 reporting the ballot tallies. Davis was a noted criminologist. In January 1914 Mayor John Mitchel selected her to be the Corrections Commissioner for the city of New York, making her the first woman to head an agency in this city. Davis was born in Buffalo, New York. After completing her local education, she taught chemistry for ten years while saving the money needed to attend college. Davis went to Vassar and Columbia, and took a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.
