From collection Candidates
Maria S. Porter was elected to the School Board of Melrose, Masschusetts in 1874. Melrose was a friend of author Louisa May Alcott. On her election Alcott wrote to Porter recommending that one of her first actions as a member of the school committee would be to reduce the salary of the local headmaster and raise the salary of his female assistant. Melrose was a member of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association.
