Bertha Hirsch Baruch

Bertha Hirsch Baruch was a German-born American writer, social worker, and suffragist.

Bertha Hirsch Baruch

Baruch was born in the Province of Posen, Germany. She immigrated to New London, Connecticut with her father in 1876.^[1] Baruch wrote poetry as an adolescent and had been encouraged by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop in her literary efforts.^[1] Active in College Settlement and university extension work, she attended Pennsylvania University and Yale.^[1] She later worked on the editorial staff for the Los Angeles Times.^[1] In 1906 she lived at 1168 W. 36th St., Los Angeles, California.^[1]

Baruch was active in the women's suffrage movement. She became the county president of the Los Angeles Suffrage Association in 1905 when two conventions were hosted:

• the Women's Parliament, October 10–11, and
• the county convention of the Equal Suffrage League October 12.^[2]

In 1908 Baruch became the treasurer of the Los Angeles Jewish Women's Foreign Relief Association. She started a branch of the Optimist Club in Los Angeles and was the third woman to hold office in the organization.^[3] Baruch was also the founder of the Los Angeles branch of the National Council of Jewish Women.^[4]

She published Dress as a Social Factor in 1912.^[5]

References

1. James, George Wharton (1909). The California Birthday Book: Prose and Poetical Selections from the Writings of Living California Authors, with a Brief Biographical Sketch of Each. Arroyo Guild Press. p. 393.
2. "Women Demand Jurors' Right". Los Angeles Herald. 1905-10-13. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Will Form Optimist Club in Los Angeles". Los Angeles Herald. 1909-05-09. p. 31. Retrieved 2023-10-06 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Tribute to Labor". Norwich Bulletin. 9 January 1912. Retrieved 2023-10-05 – via Newspaper Archive.
5. Baruch, Bertha Hirsch (1912). Dress as a Social Factor. hdl:2027/uc1.$b260620.

• Knoles, Tully C. "What Is Nationality?" Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California 10, no. 3 (1917): 5–12. Accessed March 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/41168739.