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Home > Community Projects > Mill at Anselma > Sara Louisa Oberholtzer Image Gallery

The Life and Legacy of Sara Louisa Oberholtzer

Sara Louisa Oberholtzer was a woman with many beliefs, and she spent her life fighting for her ideals. At a time when women were expected to remain in the home, Sara traveled the world to promote causes she believed in, such as temperance and thrift. Many of her beliefs were framed in the Quaker lifestyle, such as her disdain for chewing tobacco and drinking alcohol.

Sara did not let her womanhood hold her back. Instead, she used it to her advantage by framing her arguments in a way that emphasized the safety of children. After all, what kind of 19th century wife, mother, and woman would she be if she did not leave her home to protect the children?

Sara’s life story is worth looking into if you are interested in 19th century women, activists, writers, poets, and Quakers. Also if you are interested in local history she is a great person to look into, as she was born in Chester County and lived both near and in Philadelphia for her entire life. Many of her poems make reference to places not too far from Ursinus College, such as Lionville, PA and the Mill at Anselma. Finally, anybody who is researching the Temperance Movement or school savings banks will find it useful to read about Sara’s life.

For additional information about Sara Oberholtzer, please consult the links on the left side of this page. Other useful sources include The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Ancestry, and West Chester University Libraries. (Of special note is a thesis held at WCU entitled Recovering Sara Louisa Oberholtzer: Chester County Poet and Activist by Shannon P. Steel)

Two articles of note are "School Savings Banks" by Sara Louisa Oberholtzer in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May 1894, and "Sara Oberholtzer and the School Savings Bank Movement" by Andrew L. Yarrow in Pennsylvania Legacies, November 2012. Books of interest include Thrift: The History of an American Cultural Movement by Andrew L. Yarrow, Notable Women of Pennsylvania edited by Gertrude Bosler Biddle and Sarah Dickinson Lowrie, History of the Conestoga Turnpike Through Chester County, Pennsylvania by Stuart H. Quillman, 30,000 Acres: Vincent and Pikeland Townships, 1686 to 1850 by Estelle Cremers and Uwchlan Township: 300 Years Above the Valley by Susannah Wilson Brody.

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  • The Vickers Homestead. Red Lion, Pa.- Postcard

    The Vickers Homestead. Red Lion, Pa.- Postcard

  • Mrs. Sara Louisa Oberholtzer- Biography on Sara's Life

    Mrs. Sara Louisa Oberholtzer- Biography on Sara's Life

  • Friendly Poems

    Friendly Poems

  • General Store and Railroad Siding by The Mill at Anselma

    General Store and Railroad Siding

  • Inside the General Store by The Mill at Anselma

    Inside the General Store

  • Suffragists Differ with Supreme Court

    Suffragists Differ with Supreme Court

  • Girl Student Fatally Burned in Bath Room

    Girl Student Fatally Burned in Bath Room

  • Sara Oberholtzer Family Tree

    Sara Oberholtzer Family Tree

  • Sara Louisa Vickers Oberholtzer- Bookmark by Andy Dinniman

    Sara Louisa Vickers Oberholtzer- Bookmark

  • Sara Louisa Oberholtzer: Chester County Poet by Robyn Young

    Sara Louisa Oberholtzer: Chester County Poet

  • Picture of Sara Oberholtzer from "A Woman of the Century"

    Picture of Sara Oberholtzer from "A Woman of the Century"

  • Sara O, John O Emmarine and Harvey James

    Sara O, John O Emmarine and Harvey James

  • Portrait of Dr. Ellis P. Oberholtzer by Conrad Frederick Haeseler

    Portrait of Dr. Ellis P. Oberholtzer

  • The Store and The Railroad, The Name Anselma, and Allen Simmers by The Mill at Anselma

    The Store and The Railroad, The Name Anselma, and Allen Simmers

  • Portrait of Sara Oberholtzer from Come for Arbutus by Frederick Gutekunst

    Portrait of Sara Oberholtzer from Come for Arbutus

  • Sara Louisa Vickers- Sign at The Mill at Anselma by The Mill at Anselma

    Sara Louisa Vickers- Sign at The Mill at Anselma

  • The Oberholtzer-Simmers Era

    The Oberholtzer-Simmers Era

  • John Oberholtzer Mills' Seal by The Mill at Anselma

    John Oberholtzer Mills' Seal

  • 1880 U.S. Census of Manufacture and John Oberholtzer's Milling Accident by The Mill at Anselma

    1880 U.S. Census of Manufacture and John Oberholtzer's Milling Accident

  • Butter Production at Anselma by The Mill at Anselma

    Butter Production at Anselma

  • Significance as Custom Grist Mill by The Mill at Anselma

    Significance as Custom Grist Mill

  • Sara Vickers Oberholtzer- Information Brief 5 by The Mill at Anselma

    Sara Vickers Oberholtzer- Information Brief 5

  • Weights and Measures: What Do We Know About Our Mill's Production? by The Mill at Anselma

    Weights and Measures: What Do We Know About Our Mill's Production?

  • Notes for Lecture on Mill- Sara by The Mill at Anselma

    Notes for Lecture on Mill- Sara

 
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  • The Mill at Anselma in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania
  • Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia: "Thrift" by Beth A. Twiss Houting
  • Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the 19th Century
  • Thumb Nail Sketches of White Ribbon Women
  • A Woman of the Century: Biographical Sketches
  • Inventory of Friends Historical Library's Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection
  • Painter Family Papers of the Chester County Historical Society
  • Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; A History

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