Margaret Center Klingelsmith

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Margaret Center Klingelsmith (1852–1931) was an American suffragist, lawyer, translator, and law librarian. She was born in Portland, Maine, the daughter of Isaac Center and Carolina Center. She earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1898, becoming one of the first women to practice law in Philadelphia. Klingelsmith was the third law librarian at Penn’s Biddle Law Library, leading it for about 30 years, expanding its collections and services, and writing a history of the library. She also translated a Norman French legal text, Statham’s Abridgement.

She played a key role in the suffrage movement and in professional associations. Klingelsmith was the only woman charter member of the American Association of Law Libraries when it was founded in 1906 and served as its vice president from 1912 to 1914. She wrote on legal issues for the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association and held leadership positions in several Philadelphia women’s organizations. In 1916, the University of Pennsylvania awarded her an honorary LL.M. for her scholarship and service.

She married Joseph M. Klingelsmith in 1884. Klingelsmith died in Philadelphia on January 19, 1931, at age 78. She is buried in Portland, Maine, and the Biddle Law Library honors her with a placard. In 1976, she was recognized among prominent Maine women, and in 2010 she was inducted into the American Association of Law Libraries Hall of Fame.