Thursday, November 19, 2026 · 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Children's Activity Room — 129 Main St., Concord, MA
Beginning her career as a reporter who became known for her coverage of the 1893 Lizzie Borden murder trial, Elizabeth Garver Jordan was a late nineteenth-century “influencer.” She used her platforms as a prominent editor, suffrage activist, and popular mystery author to shape cultural conversations about women’s lives. Like so many overlooked women of the past, she deserves rediscovery for the way her life and work cast new light on the revolutions of her era. Fortuitously, Jordan is the subject of two recent books, each exploring different parts of the puzzle she represents. This panel of brief presentations and robust discussion will illuminate Jordan’s fascinating life. The panelists will discuss her pioneering work as a woman journalist, the story of how she leveraged her professional reputation to campaign for the woman’s vote, and her prolific career as the author of gripping mystery novels. They will also address Jordan’s personal history, focusing on how she, as an unmarried woman living in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, forged an unconventional, boundary-breaking life, which included a passionate friendship with The Secret Garden author Frances…