burleson

This is Albert S. Burleson, Postmaster General under Wilson, 1913-1921. I guess that had cabinet rank then, so the title was "secretary". There was some debate about a female Burleson in another LOC photo from earlier--during the suffrage parade the day before Wilson's first inauguration.

Thanks for the additional information! We'll add the names to the source data and reload the description.

cotinis: yes, that woman led the suffrage parade and appears to be have been married to Albert Burleson's nephew. Click on the tag "Burleson" to see the other photos of her and her giant hat.

Participants in the Woman Suffrage Procession, Washington, D. C., March 3, 1913: www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9803/suffrage.html

Sufferage these hats!!!

All the women have a ribbon that say "AIDE." Except for the woman third from right. I wonder if this is the same event: www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/horsewomen-parade.html or maybe the same person... www.hayscisd.net/schools/NES/laura.html

porkfork6--good research on Burleson. I see many references on the Internet to a famous Burleson family from Texas. Your second link is to Laura Burgeson Negley, 1890-1913,and at first I thought that was her in the photo, but the age does not look right--she would have been 23 at this time. I think Mrs. Burleson is in the broad hat, and she looks older than 23. Good biographical information is here. I'll bet this is her mother--quoting from the above site: Laura's mother, Adele Lubbock Steiner Burleson (1863-1948), was a well-known author and playwright. Laura's father, Albert Sidney Burleson (1863-1937), represented Texas in the U.S. Congress from 1898-1912 and later was appointed Postmaster General by President Woodrow Wilson. See Wikipedia article, for instance, on Albert S. Burleson. However see comments on adjacent photo suggesting Mrs. R.C. Burleson for this woman--she was marshal of the parade. "Althea Taft" might be Althea Barr Taft, mentioned as being prominent in the Oklahoma Education Association circa 1914--Google Books (Altenbaugh, The Teacher's Voice, 1992). A little more research would probably identify all of these people. Photo was taken 3 March 1913 acc. to the caption--the day before Wilson's first inauguration.

The Mrs. Burleson in all these photos is Mrs. Richard Coke Burleson, whose husband was another member of that large Texas family. She was marshall of the parade. Edit: A complication arises: This Bain photo and this one both identify this Mrs. Burleson as "Mrs. R.S. Burleson." This could be an error, meant to read either "Mrs. R.C. Burleson (Mrs. Richard Coke Burleson) or "Mrs. A.S. Burleson (Mrs. Albert Sydney Burleson), or there was a third Mrs. Burleson hanging about in Washington in March of 1913. My money is on this being Mrs. R.C. Burleson, even though the photo of her in the parade shows her wearing a different outfit. Adele Burleson (Mrs. A.S.) would have been fifty years old in 1913, and while the woman in this photo looks a bit mature for twenty four (Mrs. R.C.'s age at the time), she certainly doesn't look fifty. An athletic horsewoman from San Saba, Texas, such as Mrs. R.C. Burleson, might have been expected to be a bit weathered at that age, in the days before sunblock was developed. Additional Edit: I've found an April, 1913, New York Times article about Adele Burleson, with a photo of her, and I'm now sure she was not the Mrs. Burleson in this photo. In addition, the Times article describes her as a small woman, "...who cannot possibly weigh over ninety-seven pounds...." If the woman in this photo weighs a mere ninety-seven pounds, I'll eat her enormous hat. Also, after saying that she supported women's suffrage, Mrs. A.S. went on to tell the Times "Not that I want to vote particularly, nor care to have my daughters overactive in politics, but I believe the granting of suffrage to women will make the world a fairer, squarer place for self-supporting women." These, I think, are not the sentiments of a woman who would march in a suffrage parade the day before the inauguration of the President who had named her husband Postmaster General.

Note, Wilson had in his cabinet a Postmaster General from Texas, Burleson, his nephew was married to the woman with the hat (who later murdered her husband's second wife). see tag for Burleson.