From collection Candidates
In 1912 Margaret D. Robbins ran as a candidate of the Progressive Party for the office of University of Illinois Trustee. She received 317,891 votes (9.36%), a good showing, but lost in a tight race for the three positions to be filled. Two of the three winners were Democratic Party women candidates. Margaret attended school in Brooklyn Heights but none of the children were allowed to go to college. She read a great deal and was influenced by the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1902 Dreier met the social reformer Josephine Lowell, a the leader of the Woman's Municipal League (WML) who discussed with her the importance of the well-being of working people. Dreier joined the WML. Dreier met other members of reform groups and in 1904 joined the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL). She came to know Jane Addams through the WTUL. In 1905 Dreier heard Raymond Robins talk on the social gospel in a Brooklyn church. They married. Dreier became a leading figure in the Women's Trade Union League and served as its president between 1907 and 1922. Three years later she moved to Florida and remained active in progressive politics until her death in 1945.
