Mary Dreier
Mary Elisabeth Dreier (1875–1963) was an American social reformer from New York who worked to improve the lives of working women and push for women’s rights.
Born in New York City to German immigrant parents, Theodor and Dorthea Dreier, she grew up with sisters who also pursued public work. Her sister Margaret was a labor reformer. Mary was educated by private tutors and later studied at the New York School of Philanthropy. She lived with her lifelong partner, Frances Kellor, from 1905 until Kellor’s death in 1952, forming part of a network of lesbian reformers.
Dreier became a leader of the New York Women’s Trade Union League (NYWTUL). She served as president from 1906 to 1914 and remained active until the organization ended. She helped garment workers organize and supported strikes, and she was arrested during a shirtwaist workers’ demonstration in 1909.
She also worked on factory reform. From 1911 to 1915 she served on the New York State Factory Investigating Commission, collecting information used to pass factory laws. She wrote for Life and Labor, the WTUL’s journal, to promote union organizing.
In 1915 Mayor John Mitchell named her to the New York City Board of Education, but she resigned the same year to focus on winning votes for women. In 1917 she became chair of the New York State Committee on Women in Industry.
After World War I, Dreier continued public service. She helped lead efforts on armament and war issues and headed the WTUL’s Outlawry of War committee. She also led New York’s Woman Suffrage Party, reflecting her strong commitment to women’s rights. Nationally she supported Progressive Party candidates and later backed Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
In her later years she turned more to international affairs and foreign policy. She spoke in favor of Soviet‑American friendship and opposed Nazi Germany. After World War II she argued against nuclear weapons.
The FBI looked into her politics in the 1950s. She wrote a novel about working women, Barbara Richards, which was not published. In 1950 she published a biography of her sister, Margaret Dreier Robins: Her Life, Letters and Work.
Mary Dreier died in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 1963. She and Frances Kellor are buried together at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 02:29 (CET).