Helena Rubinstein opens her first beauty salon in the United States. She starts the Helena Rubinstein Foundation in 1953 to put in action her often-expressed principle: “My fortune comes from women and should benefit them and their children, to better their quality of life.” The foundation provides scholarship grants to young women to encourage them to pursue their education.
Mary Phelps Jacob receives a patent for the “backless brassiere”; it is the first patent for an undergarment with the name brassiere.
President Wilson proclaims Mother’s Day a national holiday.
Ruth St. Denis is a cofounder of the first major professional dance school.
Ruth Sawyer publishes The Primrose Ring, which is made into a movie in 1917; in 1937 she receives a Newbery Medal for her novel Roller Skates.
Heralded as the “premier black pianist” for over four decades, Hazel Harrison launches a full-time career as a pianist.
Marianne Moore publishes her first poems; she has a long, successful career editing The Dial (a famous literary magazine) and publishing poetry and literary criticism.
The Women’s Peace Party is formed; by 1917 it has more than forty thousand members.