Evaline Holliday and the Work of Community Service

Abstract

Evaline MacFarlane Rieman Holliday (1853-1929) was an influential civic, social, and philanthropic leader in Indianapolis. This paper examines her legacy as a volunteer—therefore unpaid—woman at work. While her major work was as president of the Indianapolis Free Kinder-garten and Children’s Aid Society, Holliday took on many volunteer commitments, including her work as trustee of the Flower Mission, Orphan Asylum, Christamore House, Church Women United, and the Mothers’ Aid Society. She was a leader in the city’s First Presbyterian Church, home congregation to President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, and she founded nonprofit organizations, donated and raised funds, planned galas, and managed large cadres of volunteers and employees.