Alice Lakey

Alice Lakey was born on October 14, 1857, to Charles D. Lakey and Ruth (Jacques) Lakey of Shanesville, Ohio. Her father was an American, her mother from England. Originally a Methodist minister, Charles later worked in insurance. Alice's mother died when she was six, and her father remarried, to painter Emily Jane Jackson. The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to Chicago, Illinois, and finally to New York City. In her twenties, Alice Lakey studied voice in Florence, Paris, and London, chaperoned by her stepmother Emily. A mezzo-soprano, Lakey was favorably reviewed for her performances in London. She returned to the United States in 1888, intending to pursue a career in opera, but became ill. She was an invalid for most of her thirties, from 1888 to 1896. ==Cranford Village Improvement Association==

In 1896, Charles, Emily and Alice Lakey moved to Cranford, New Jersey. Alice's health improved and she began teaching voice to pupils in Cranford and in New York. When Emily died in October 1896, Alice took responsibility for management of the household. Her father was picky about food, and Alice became interested in food science and health. Alice joined the Cranford Village Improvement Association's Domestic Science Unit and soon became president of the whole association. On behalf of the association Lakey contacted the Department of Agriculture to request that someone speak to the association about tainted food. In 1903, Harvey Wiley, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, came to Cranford to speak. Wiley was building a coalition to support a national food and drug law. ==Activism on a national level==

The Pure Foods Movement Lakey became an enthusiastic supporter of Harvey Wiley's campaign for a national food and drug law, and began traveling and lecturing to women's groups. Lakey convinced the Cranford association and the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs to petition Congress to enact federal legislation for the Pure Food and Drug Act. As representatives of an "inner circle of strategists", Alice Lakey, Harvey Wiley, and four other men met with President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. Lakey continued to actively advocate through meetings, letters, and public speaking. She lobbied on behalf of Wiley and his policies, encouraging the implementation and strengthening of the Pure Food and Drug Act. an area where legislation was extremely complicated. She spoke out strongly against legislation that would have allowed the marketing of adulterated goods across state borders without labeling. She also lobbied for the protection of milk. In 1906, she was the only woman to be appointed as a charter member of the New York Milk Committee, It became a model for other states, and helped to counter weaknesses at the federal level of legislation. In 1933, Lakey re-established the American Pure Food League, which had become dormant, to lobby for the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Insurance Lakey was an advocate for insurance, publishing various papers and reports. She managed and edited the magazine Insurance, a weekly publication established by her father in 1883. She became its owner following his death on August 24, 1919. In 1921 she served on a special insurance investigation committee for the General Federation of Women's Clubs and was appointed as a "special representative on insurance" to its Department of Applied Education. She advocated for the use of insurance as a way to save for the college education of one's children. ==Awards, honors, and archives==

Lakey was elected to the National Institute of Social Sciences. She contributed to its journal and served as chair of the New Jersey State Liberty Medal Committee of the National Institute of Social Sciences. Lakey was the first woman to be listed in ''Who's Who''. Archival materials about Lakey and her work are part of the Harvey W. Wiley Papers and the National Consumer League Papers in the Library of Congress. Materials are also included in the records of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration in the National Archives and Records Administration and the Washington National Records Center. ==Death==

Alice Lakey died on June 18, 1935, having suffered from a heart ailment. Services were held at her home, led by the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Cranford, of which she was a member. Alice Lakey was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Westfield, New Jersey. == Citations ==