Lucia True Ames Mead

Born in Boscawen, New Hampshire, in 1856, Lucia True Ames Mead became an American pacifist, feminist, writer, and educator whose public life was centered in Boston. She wrote for both adults and younger readers, and her early books included Great Thoughts for Little Thinkers and the novel Memoirs of a Millionaire.

As her career developed, she became especially known for peace advocacy. She wrote and lectured widely on war, international cooperation, and civic responsibility, with works such as Patriotism and the New Internationalism, Swords and Ploughshares, and The Overthrow of the War System. Archival records and reference sources also describe her and her husband, Edwin D. Mead, as leading figures in the American and international peace movement.

What makes her stand out is the way she brought several reform movements together at once. She argued for peace, supported women's rights, and treated education as a practical way to shape a more humane public life. She died in Boston in 1936, leaving behind a body of writing closely tied to the reform energy of her time.