Restoring the Paintings of a President General

Did you know? Anne Rogers Minor was a Patriot, President General and…. an accomplished Painter, too?

A Connecticut Daughter, Mrs. Minor served as our 11^th President General, taking office exactly a century ago in 1920 and presiding over the 30th-32nd Continental Congresses. Her administration’s accomplishments were impressive, e.g. dedication of the National Society’s water system in Tilloloy, France, as part of post-World War I recovery aid; unveiling of the statue of Joan of Arc in Washington, D.C., a gift from the women of France to the women of America, whom DAR was selected to represent at its acceptance; establishment of the Ellis Island Committee to provide skills for arriving immigrants; creation of the “DAR Manual for Citizenship”; and erection of the original portion of the Administration wing of our National Headquarters. She had previously served as DAR Magazine Committee Chair and brought our publication to solvency through the institution of paid subscriptions.

I was recently delighted to be given a copy of “Anne Belle Rogers Minor: A Masterpiece in Modesty” by Vivian Ackerman Brooks, by Victoria Taylor, Regent of Lucretia Shaw Chapter, which Mrs. Minor joined in 1894. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of this outstanding woman, who was also an accomplished businesswoman. You will find her portrait on display in the Connecticut Board Room when next you visit our headquarters.

A Connecticut Explored magazine feature written by William Hosley in October 2015 and titled “A National Stage for Anne Rogers Minor,” described her as follows: “…Rogers was not just an artist. She was, in every sense, a ‘New Woman’—a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 1890s that described the educated, independent career women in Europe and the United States — women who pushed the limits. Rogers was avowedly a suffragist, though the right to vote was not her main concern. The essential achievement of this new breed of women was personal liberty.”

In 1917, Mrs. Minor was appointed by Connecticut’s governor to the board that established the state’s first prison for women. She also served on the board of Connecticut College for Women and as a trustee of the American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where DAR built a girls’ dormitory in 1925. She was appointed to the Connecticut Tercentenary Commission and in the late 1930s served as president of the New London County Historical Society.

“Instilling a sense of gratitude and reverence in the public sphere is the essence of Anne Rogers Minor’s life and legacy. There were no female CEOs in those days. For much of Minor’s life, women couldn’t vote, and women of her mother’s generation had been tied by need and by custom to domestic duties. After the death of her husband George in 1924, she led a life in which place, past, and community were a benediction she served and enriched with passion, vision, and determination,” wrote Hosley in the 2015 magazine article.