Blanche Ames Ames (1878–1969) and Oakes Ames (1874–1950)

“The Ameses’ rigorously maintained egalitarian marriage, which spanned the first half of the twentieth century, stands out in Elizabeth Fideler’s authoritative telling as an exemplar for our own era of contested gender roles: two remarkable individuals with contrasting temperaments who became ‘partners in science’ and facilitated each other’s passions, from orchids to woman’s suffrage and bodily freedom. Fideler has done twenty-first-century readers a tremendous service in resurrecting the lives and times of Blanche and Oakes Ames.”


—Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Margaret Fuller





“Blanche and Oakes Ames were descendants of elite families of distinction and notoriety. Elizabeth Fideler documents how they used their family experiences to inform their fifty-year marriage and the goals they set for themselves and shared. Blanche was a social reformer who sought woman’s suffrage and birth control; Oakes became an eminent botanist. Blanche illustrated his work with delicate care. Oakes shared his belief in suffrage. Fideler’s work demonstrates that they together lived lives that were well lived.”


—Anne Biller Clark, author of My Dear Mrs. Ames





“Elizabeth Fideler has produced an excellent and needed joint-biography of Blanche Ames Ames, artist, suffragist, and reproductive rights advocate, and her husband Oakes Ames, Harvard botanist and authority on orchids. It is a welcome and very readable book on their supportive partnership that spanned half a century. The author has skillfully woven together research and recollections to bring Blanche and Oakes to life. I now know them much better than before.”


—Lisa E. Pearson, head of the library and archives, Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library





“Having read all of Oakes Ames’s diaries, I believe that Elizabeth Fideler has accurately described and explained the actions and beliefs of Oakes’s and Blanche Ames’s lives. Oakes stated in one of the diaries that he wanted his children to learn from his diaries. Borderland represented in his words ‘a revolution in feelings, ideas, and thoughts.’ Elizabeth Fideler has effectively captured the details of this ‘revolution.’”


—Hazel Varella, secretary, Easton Historical Society





“This is a classic and well-studied account about the life and times of Blanche Ames Ames, her husband Oakes Ames, and their extended families. Elizabeth Fideler sheds light on the accomplishments and insights of these two special individuals who really did change our thoughts regarding the beauty of our surroundings and the desire to bring the world of orchids and the success of the Suffrage Movement to the forefront. The Friends of Borderland thanks Fideler wholeheartedly for bringing their important story to light for all.”


—Norma Urban, president, Friends of Borderland