Dawes, Anna Laurens, 1851-1938

Anna Laurens Dawes (b. May 14, 1851, North Adams, MA–d. Sept. 25, 1938) was an American author and anti-suffragist. She was the daughter of Henry Laurens Dawes, a Republican United States Senator and Representative of Massachusetts.

Dawes created the Wednesday Morning Club in 1879 and was its president for sixty years. She later became a trustee of Smith College. In 1883, she secured governmental aid for the Leif exposition to search for Major General A. W. Greely, who had been missing in the Arctic for three years. She was also the vice-president of the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. Dawes served on the board of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1892-1894, as well as the St. Louis Exposition of 1902-1904.