Chats with Champions: Ruth Monsell

Chats with Champions is proud to present Ruth Monsell on Thursday, August 1, at 10am. Ms. Monsell will talk about her biography, Frances Perkins: Champion of American Workers.

Under President Roosevelt, Perkins was the first female cabinet member and Secretary of Labor for 12 years. During that time, she created Social Security and was the primary architect of much of the New Deal and America’s enduring social safety net.

The first new full-length biography of Perkins in 15 years, the book represents over a decade of research, interviews, writing, re-writing, editing, drawing, painting, communications with publishers, first readers and editors, finding manuscript readers and blurb writers, and picture research.  It was written to be accessible to teens as well as adults and includes dozens of photos. Her book is published by Histria Books.

Ruth became inspired in 2012 when she first toured the Perkins homestead in Newcastle, and heard Perkins’ grandson, Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, speak. Realizing how few people knew who Perkins was, she set about on a mission to further bring her subject’s astonishing accomplishments to light.

Ruth, a former high school teacher of English and American history, wrote her biography for high school students and adults alike. Amongst her other accomplishments, Ruth is a painter, silhouette artist, singer, actor and director. Ruth graduated Magna Cum Laude from Illinois Wesleyan University and received her MS in Education from Hofstra University. She lives in Camden with her partner, John.