Marcet Haldeman-Julius

Marcet Haldeman-Julius (née Anna Marcet Haldeman; June 18, 1887 – February 13, 1941) was an American feminist, actress, playwright, civil rights advocate, editor, author, and bank president.

Life and career

She was born in Girard, Kansas, the daughter of physician Henry Winfield Haldeman and his wife Alice. Alice was the sister of social activist Jane Addams, with whom Marcet maintained a close relation until the end of the Addams's life.

Marcet studied at the Rockford Seminary for Young Ladies (alma mater also of her aunt Jane) and then the Dearborn Seminary in Chicago, until the death of her father in 1905, followed by Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. While at Bryn Mawr she became one of the closest friends and confidantes of the poet Marianne Moore. After three years she left the college to continue her stage acting, graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1910. Between 1910 and 1915 she performed with the Orpheum Players and other stock companies in Newark, New York, Montreal, St. Louis and other cities, under the name Jean Marcet.

Marcet's father and mother ran the Bank of Girard. When her mother Alice died in 1915, Marcet once again returned to her hometown, where she took over management of the bank. That same year she founded The Jolly Club in nearby Radley, for the benefit of the many young immigrants (from numerous countries, but especially Italy) who had come to work in the area's mines. The Jolly Club provided English lessons, practical training and safe diversion. The following year she began to found other clubs as well, including one for younger boys and an Italian language club. These became quite popular and in 1921 she turned one of them into a school, where she taught. During her youth Marcet had spent many summers with her aunt, Jane Addams, at Hull House; she credited Addams with much of her inspiration and over the years the two of them discussed Marcet's clubs both in person and through correspondence.