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Anna Laurens Dawes (May 14, 1851-September 25, 1938) was an American author and suffragist. She was the daughter of Henry Laurens Dawes (October 30, 1816- February 5, 1903) who was a Republican United States Senator and Representative of Massachusetts. Dawes attended Maplewood Institute in Pittsfield, Massachusetts before coming to Abbot Academy.

Dawes created the Wednesday Morning Club in 1879 and was the president of the organization for sixty years. Dawes later became a trustee of Smith College (1889-1896). In 1883, Dawes secured governmental aid for the Leif exposition to search for Major General A. W. Greely who had been missing in the Arctic for three years. She was also the vice-president of the Massachusetts State Suffrage Society. Anna served on the board of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1892-1894, as well as the St. Louis Exposition of 1902-1904.

Noteable works include: How We are Governed (1885), The Modern Jew: His Present and his Future (1886), A United State's Prison (1886), An Unknown Nation (1888), Charles Sumner (1892), The Indian as Citizen (1917).

== Biography                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      == Anna Laurens Dawes was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, but her family later moved to the town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Though she attended both the Maplewood Institute and Abbot Academy, Dawes did not graduate from either institution. Dawes also did not have any formal college education. She spent much of her life in Washington D.C. with her father, coming back to Massachusetts shortly after his death in 1903. Though she got her start writing for newspapers, her main area of interests was the support of women's rights and women's education. Because of these interests she was considered a beloved and generous alumna of Abbot Academy, serving as president of the Alumnae Association for two terms (1910-1914). There is even a building named after her (Dawes House) at Smith College.

Professional life and Activism
Despite her lack of a formal education, Anna Dawes began a successful career as a writer at the age of twenty, joining her father in Washington D.C. There, she became a correspondent for the Springfield Republican, Boston Congregationalist, and the Christian Union. Much of her life, Dawes spent assisting her father in Washington, serving as his private secretary. This allowed her to meet many of the presidents and varying political entities up until her father's death in 1903. Political in her own right, Anna L. Dawes belonged to many women's groups and was very active in political groups that peaked her interested, especially those that pertained to women's rights and women's education (later becoming a trustee of Smith College from 1889-1896 ). This includes groups like the Wednesday Morning Club, which Dawes established in 1879 and served as president of the organization for sixty years. In 1883, Dawes secured governmental aid for the Leif exposition to search for Major General A. W. Greely who had been missing in the Arctic for three years. She was also the vice-president of the Massachusetts State Suffrage Society. Anna served on the board of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1892-1894, as well as the St. Louis Exposition of 1902-1904.