Miriam Allen deFord

From Philosopedia

DeFord, Miriam Allen (21 August 1888 - 22 February 1975)

DeFord was a published writer from the time she was twelve, a freethinker since she was thirteen, and a feminist all her life.

From the age of 14, deFord started working at the woman's suffrage headquarters in Philadelphia. She continued to participate in the movement by overseeing their public relations and by participating in parades in Philadelphia and in New York. She continued her suffrage activities when she moved to Boston.

Between 1912-1915 she was "soapboxing" for the suffragist cause for the Massachusetts Woman's Suffrage Society. She went on to be a writer and was very involved in radical political activities in the San Francisco Bay Area beginning in 1920.

Both with Maynard Shipley, her husband, and independently, she played an active role in the major radical causes of the day. She helped Shipley organize the Science League of America during the anti-evolution fights of the 1920s. Her published writings range from poetry and verse in Scribners, Harpers, Woman Voter, to murder mystery stories, science fiction, book reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle, and biographies. One of her books, Who was When, was unique in graphically showing which authors lived during the same time periods. In addition, she worked as one of the first (if not the first) female insurance claims adjusters. She won the 1961 Edgar Award of the Mystery Writers of America.

An honorary secretary of the Rationalist Press Association, she was a member of the editorial board of The Humanist. To fellow editor Warren Allen Smith, she wrote about humanism:

Since the Latin language has been one of the chief interests of my life, I suppose I might call myself a lexicographical Humanist; or, without being an Existentialist, with my convinced views on religion I might well be called an atheistic Humanist. But all in all, taking your definitions at face value, naturalistic Humanism perhaps comes closest to my beliefs. As Maynard Shipley said, “It is quite enough if one devote oneself to the welfare of humanity.” No other devotion is needed. I am inclined to look on the word Humanism as just another in the series of terms by which we try to describe a philosophy oriented toward man instead of toward a supernatural system—one with Rationalism, Free Thought, Secularism, Agnosticism, Atheism, and all the rest.

I consider religion - any religion - to be the greatest curse of humanity, and I confess I am not altogether comfortable with some of the mildly religious-minded people included in the American Humanist Association, even though in general I am in accord with their principles. My ethical views and ideals are completely naturalistic. I come nearer, perhaps, to Lucretius than to any philosopher since, and if any writer has influenced me, it is he. I cannot, however, say that either writers or speakers have done more than reinforce the view I first worked out for myself at the precocious age of thirteen! As for the other Humanisms, that is one of my chief objections to the word - that it connotes so many disparate and contradictory things. Semantically, it is too fuzzy a word for exact definition.

In 1973, deFord signed Humanist Manifesto II. In 1975 she was recognized with the Humanist Pioneer Award of the American Humanist Association.

Originals of the following were contributed to Harvard's Houghton Library:

Miscellaneous

Letters to the book review editor of The Humanist were numerous. The attached 30 illustrate deFord's intellectuality and her close working relationship with her editor.

{FUS; HM2; HNS; PK; WAS, 16 March 1956 and numerous correspondence}