ABSTRACT

Katherine Bement Davis was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1860 to parents she described as reformers. She taught school for ten years after graduating from high school and before going on to earn a degree at Vassar. Katherine attended the University of Chicago on a political economics fellowship and received a doctorate. She returned to Vassar to teach for several years. In 1901, Davis was appointed to run Bedford Hill, the first female reformatory, in Westfield, New York. She was superintendent of the facility for thirteen years.