Katharine Ludington

Ludington was born in New York City, one of the seven children of Charles Henry Ludington (1825–1910) and Josephine Lord Noyes Ludington (1839–1908).^[1] Her mother was part of the prominent Noyes family.^[2] Her father was a banker and a member of the prominent Ludington family of New York and New England.^[3] Revolutionary War colonel Henry Ludington was her great-grandfather, and Sybil Ludington was her great-aunt. The library in Old Lyme, Connecticut, is named for her maternal grandmother, Phoebe Griffin Noyes.^[4]

Ludington was educated at Miss Porter's School, and studied painting with portrait artist Montague Flagg at the Art Students League in New York City.^[5][6]

Ludington was a founding member of the Old Lyme Equal Suffrage League in 1914, and president of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association from 1918 until it disbanded in 1921, succeeding Katharine Houghton Hepburn.^[5][7][8] In 1917 she spoke at a suffrage event in Washington, D.C. She created a library of women's works at the Old Lyme Inn, and held a suffrage study group in her home.^[9] Despite her vigorous efforts,^[10][11][12] Connecticut did not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until after it became part of the United States Constitution in 1920.^[7]

Ludington helped to form and lead the Connecticut League of Women Voters.^[13] She continued to be active in civic leadership,^[14] and in 1922^[6] became the first New England director of the League of Women Voters (LWV).^[15][16] She was also head of the LWV's financial committee on the national level,^[17] and president of the Connecticut Women's Suffrage Association.^[13] She actively supported the establishment of the United Nations.^[5][18] She published a pamphlet, "The Connecticut Idea" (1919), and a family history, Lyme — And Our Family (1928).^[19]