Fanny Bullock Workman

Fanny Bullock Workman was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer. She became the first American woman to lecture at the Sorbonne and the second to speak at the Royal Geographical Society. She demonstrated that a woman could climb in high altitudes just as well as a man.

About Fanny Bullock Workman in brief

Fanny Bullock Workman was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer. She was one of the first female professional mountaineers; she not only explored but also wrote about her adventures. She set several women’s altitude records, published eight travel books with her husband, and championed women’s rights and women’s suffrage. She became the first American woman to lecture at the Sorbonne and the second to speak at the Royal Geographical Society. She demonstrated that a woman could climb in high altitudes just as well as a man and helped break down the gender barrier in mountaineering. In 1886, she published a short story, set during the First Indian War, in New York Magazine about the capture and rescue of a white girl. The story encapsulates much of Fanny’s own life: wanderlust, a love of the mountains, and a commitment to women’s rights. In 1884, she received his medical training and received his doctorate in medicine from the University of New Hampshire. She died in New Hampshire in 1887; she is buried in Mount Washington, New Hampshire, where she summited several times in the Northeastern U.S. Her husband, William Hunter Workman, introduced Fanny to climbing after they spent many summers in the White Mountains in New England. By 1886, women sometimes outnumbered men on hiking expeditions in the United States, but Fanny took this image with enthusiasm and promoted a new vision of the American woman, one who was both domestic and athletic, and one who could equal any man.

The couple had two children; they left their children in schools and with nurses, and Workman saw herself as a New Woman who couldequal any man, and she was not a motherly type. The Workmans began their travels with bicycle tours of Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Algeria and India. They returned to this then-unexplored region eight times over the next 14 years. Despite not having modern climbing equipment, the Workmans explored several glaciers and reached the summit of several mountains, eventually reaching 23,000 feet on Pinnacle Peak. They organized multiyear expeditions but struggled to remain on good terms with the local labor force. They failed to understand the position of the native workers and had difficulty finding and negotiating for reliable porters. After their trips to the Himalaya, the workmans gave lectures about their travels. Fanny was educated by governesses before attending Miss Graham’s Finishing School, after which she spent time in Paris, and then Dresden. Her father was Alexander H. Bullock, businessman and Republican Massachusetts governor. Her mother was Elvira Hazard, and her father wasAlexander H.Bullock, businessman and businessman. She received many medals of honor from European climbing and geographical societies and was recognized as one the foremost climbers of her day. In 1879, Fanny returned to the US and on June 16, 1882 married William Hunter workman, a man 12 years her senior.

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