The Molly Brown House

While in Kansas, I visited the Molly Brown house.  Though it's not exactly a literary site, she certainly did encourage a lot of legislative writing and she is an important historical figure.  The Brown house was gorgeous and ornate, with stained glass windows, furniture original to the Brown family and also donated by others, art pieces and photos of the family.  

I was so surprised to learn that Molly Brown was born in none other than HANNIBAL, Missouri. Before this week that wouldn't have meant too much to me, but under the circumstances it was definitely cool.  There was a painting of Hannibal on her bedroom wall and the tour guide also told us that Molly Brown perhaps waited on Mark Twain during her Hannibal days.  There's also a rumor that Molly made up a story that Mark Twain saved her from drowning in the Mississippi River, but this was found to be most untrue.  

Another thing I was impressed by was a picture of Molly Brown in life boat number six, finding her way to safety after the Titanic started to go down.

Molly Brown was important woman in history, influencing the way woman viewed themselves, fighting for the woman's right to vote, and also balancing her ritzy background with a deep concern for social justice, modeling what it means to be a truly progressive female.