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Elisabeth Achelis

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Elisabeth Achelis
Born(1880-01-11)January 11, 1880
Brooklyn, New York, US
DiedFebruary 11, 1973(1973-02-11) (aged 93)
Brooklyn, New York, US
NationalityAmerican
Years active1930–56
Known forFounding The World Calendar Association
Notable workJournal of Calendar Reform

Elisabeth Achelis (January 11, 1880 – February 11, 1973)[1] was founder of the World Calendar Association in 1930 and served as its president.

Biography

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Elisabeth Achelis was born in 1880 in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Frederick and Bertha Franziska Achelis. She had a twin sister named Margaret,[2] and attended Brooklyn Heights Seminary and the Ogontz School in Pennsylvania.[3] She was an heir to the American Hard Rubber Company fortune.[4]

In 1929 she attended a lecture by Melvil Dewey[5] at the Lake Placid Club on the idea of a thirteen month calendar, proposed by Moses B. Cotsworth.[6] She was taken by the idea of calendar reform but was appalled by the strict rigidity of the 28-day month, 13-month system.[7]

Achelis founded The World Calendar Association (TWCA) in 193, in direct opposition to Cotsworth's International Fixed Calendar League, with the goal of worldwide adoption of the World Calendar. It functioned for most of the next twenty-five years as The World Calendar Association, Inc. Throughout the 1930s, support for the concept grew in the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations. Achelis started the Journal of Calendar Reform in 1931, publishing it for twenty-five years,[8] and wrote five books.

Also, Achelis wrote in 1955, "While Affiliates and Committees have over the years and still are able to approach all branches of their governments, the Incorporated (International) Association was prevented from seeking legislation in the United States lest it lose its tax exempt status. Because of this I have been prevented from doing in my own country that which I have been urging all other Affiliates to do in theirs."[9]

She died in her sleep at age 93 on February 11, 1973, in New York.[3]

Works

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  • The World Calendar – Addresses and Occasional Papers Chronologically Arranged on the Progress of Calendar Reform Since 1930. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1937. OCLC 1169241 – via Internet Archive.
  • The Calendar for Everybody. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1943. OCLC 1416471. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2020 – via HathiTrust.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  • The Calendar for the Modern Age. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons. 1951. OCLC 1048617 – via Internet Archive.
  • Of Time and the Calendar. New York: Hermitage House Inc. 1955. OCLC 795816.
  • Be Not Silent. New York: Pageant Press, Inc. 1961. OCLC 1009359252 – via Google Books. (Autobiography)


See also

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References

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  1. ^ McCarty, Richard. "Miss Elisabeth Achelis". East Carolina University. Archived from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Downs, Winfield Scott, ed. (1941). "Achelis, Elisabeth, President, World Calendar Association". Encyclopedia of American Biography: New Series. Vol. 12. New York: American Historical Society. p. 249. OCLC 649569887 – via HathiTrust.
  3. ^ a b "Elisabeth Achelis, Calendar Reformer". The New York Times. February 15, 1973. p. 46.
  4. ^ Lepore, Jill (15 November 2021). "How the Week Organizes and Tyrannizes Our Lives". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  5. ^ Haunsperger, Deanna; Kennedy, Stephen (2006). The Edge of the Universe: Celebrating 10 Years of Math Horizons. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America. pp. 133–134. ISBN 9780883855553. OCLC 255472170 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Cook, Anna J (2024). A Man Beyond Time: Moses Cotsworth's fight for the 13-month calendar. Independent Publishing Network. ISBN 9781805177203.
  7. ^ Ogle, Vanessa (2015). The Global Transformation of Time: 1870-1950. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 180, 190–191. ISBN 9780674737020. OCLC 1162010231 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Journal of Calendar Reform, published and distributed quarterly 1930–1955 by The World Calendar Association
  9. ^ JCR Vol. 25, page 169
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