The Mother's Day, Jarvis and Reist Collection documents the efforts of local attorney Linnaeus L. Reist to establish that Anna Jarvis was the founder of Mother's Day. The items include correspondence, newspaper articles, Mother's Day buttons and stationery, as well as objections to PA House Bill #830 and Resolution S. J. #115.
Admin/Biographical History
Miss Anna Maria Jarvis was born on 1 May 1864 in Webster, Taylor County, West Virginia. After the death of her father in 1902, she moved to Philadelphia with her mother and a sister. When her mother passed away on 9 May 1905, Anna vowed to fulfill her mother's wish to have a day to honor and remember mothers. This wish became her life's work.
Anna succeeded nationally in 1914 when both houses of the United States Congress passed resolutions establishing a Mother's Day observance on the second Sunday in May. She dedicated her life to promoting Mother's Day and obtaining legal recognition for this holiday around the world. Mother's Day is still celebrated the second Sunday in May.
Due to her failing health, Anna's friends moved her to the Marshall Square Sanitarium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She passed away on 24 November 1948 at the age of 84 and was interred beside her mother in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.
