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Laura Drake Gill

Laura Drake Gill (August 24, 1860 – February 3, 1926), was an American educator known for her role in establishing the first vocational bureau for college women in Boston, MA. She also has a Liberty ship in her namesake, the SS Laura Drake Gill, launched in July, 1944.

Early life

Laura was born in Chesterville, Maine, in 1860 to Elisha and Huldah (Capen) Gill.

Career

She received an A.B. (1881), and A.M. (1885) from Smith College, and pursued advanced studies at the Universities of Leipzig, Geneva, and Sorbonne (Paris). She later graduated with a doctorate degree in civil law from the University of the South. Upon graduating from Smith, Gill taught mathematics for 17 years at Miss Capen’s School for girls in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1898, Gill joined and led the first group of Red Cross nurses to Cuba at the outset of the Spanish-American War. Gill continued her work after the war organizing hospitals in Cuba under the governorship of General Leonard Wood. She also took leadership of the Cuban Orphan Society where she worked to provide education and housing to orphans. In 1901, she became the 3rd dean of Barnard College in New York City where she served until 1907.

In 1909, Gill moved to Boston to lead the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston. She worked to provide a placement program for educated women to find employment. In 1911 she worked on staff at the University of the South. Afterward she worked at Trinity College in Durham, North Carolina from 1914-1915. During World War I, Gill served as a special agent for the U.S. Employment Service of the Department of Labor. Gill finished her career as a teacher at Berea College in Kentucky.