Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer (1851–1934)

Mariana Griswold, born to a prosperous New York City family, married Schuyler Van Rensselaer in 1873 and began publishing soon after. Her art and architecture writings made her famous and won her honorary membership in the American Institute of Architects. She also won an honorary degree from Columbia University in 1909 for her massive History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century. Later in life she turned to social reform issues. One of her educational campaigns was to hang reproductions of great works of art in classrooms.