Frances Wisebart Jacobs Clothing and Papers

Frances Wisebart Jacobs earned the nickname ''Mother of Charities'' because of her many efforts to assist the poor, the homeless, and the disenfranchised. She was born March 29, 1843, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, when she was a child, and there she was educated and became a teacher. She married Abraham Jacobs in 1863, and they moved to Colorado one year later, first residing in Central City and then settling in Denver. Jacobs joined the Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society and became its president, founded the nonsectarian Denver Ladies' Relief Society and served as its first vice president, founded Denver's first kindergarten and was involved in the National Conference of Charities and Correction. She also founded the Denver Charity Organization Society along with Father William O'Ryan, Reverend Myron Reed, and Rabbi William Friedman. Jacobs was one of the first people to conceive of a free hospital for indigent tuberculosis victims in Denver. She started a campaign to increase public awareness on behalf of indigent consumptives, seeking the support of businessmen and political leaders in raising funds for a new hospital. The fruit of her efforts was the construction of Jewish Hospital in 1892. Jacobs died of peritonitis this same year. Her memory was honored in 1900, when she became the only woman of 16 Colorado pioneers whose stained glass portraits were placed in the rotunda of Denver's capitol building.