Women Who Ran: Mary Hinsdale

About Mary Hinsdale (1866–1946)

Dr. Mary Hinsdale, Michigan Alumnus, 1946

In 1919, Mary Hinsdale ran an unsuccessful campaign for Michigan State Superintendent of Instruction. She received 4,611 votes, a respectable turnout but not enough to win the office. She tried out for the same office again in 1921 but once again lost.

Mary Hinsdale was born on February 24, 1866 in Solon, Ohio. Her father, Burke A. Hinsdale, was a respected educator and historian who would later go on to chair the Science and Art of Teaching Department at the University of Michigan. Her father shared his passion for education with his daughters, all of whom went on to pursue higher education. In 1885, Mary Hinsdale graduated with an A.B. degree from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University. She went on to pursue graduate education at Radcliffe and at the University of Michigan, where she earned a PhD in 1912.

A recent profile of Hinsdale from the University of Michigan includes an anecdote told by one of Hinsdale’s doctoral examiners that illustrates her range of knowledge and skill as an emerging historian: “She began to ask us questions which we could not answer. I looked to see whether I could gracefully get out of the room, but Miss Mary was between the door and me. Then I looked out the window and found Arthur Cross was already climbing out.”

Hinsdale explored the history of the presidential cabinet in the thesis she submitted for her doctoral degree. Her authoritative historical account—A History of the President’s Cabinet—has remained an oft-cited secondary source since its publication in 1911, informing works of history published as recently as 2018.

“Women Voters: Five Women Are Candidates for State Offices.” Bay City Time, April 5, 1919.

At some point after earning her PhD, Hinsdale moved to West Michigan to join the faculty of the Grand Rapids Junior College, where she taught political science and history. Hinsdale was already a seasoned educator and administrator when she ran for Michigan State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1919 and 1921. Even prior to this, she had worked as superintendent of schools in Grandville, Michigan; as well as in “rural schools, high schools, junior colleges, and normal schools.” Despite her qualifications, Hinsdale lost both elections.

But Hinsdale’s work in education and politics was far from over. In 1921, she helped found the Grand Rapids League of Women Voters and was also elected its vice president. That same year, Hinsdale was elected a delegate to the Michigan Democratic convention, and in 1928 she was invited by the Russian Minister of Education to study the Russian education system. And she continued her international education work the next year, when she was named as a delegate to the World Federation of Education Associations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Hinsdale retired from the Grand Rapids Junior College in 1936. The community celebrated her tenure at the college with a feature in the Grand Rapids Press that noted her role in founding the International Relations Club at the college and her work as a founder of the Grand Rapids Chapter of the League of Nations Association.

Mary Hinsdale died in 1948. Two years prior, the University of Michigan had honored her by establishing a scholarship in her name. Moreover, the university students who lived in a house named for Hinsdale memorialized her life at a dinner where they presented Hinsdale’s sisters with a copy of her influential history of the presidential cabinet. Among her many achievements, this book may indeed be Hinsdale’s most lasting legacy.