Elisabeth Gilman

This is the first-ever biography of Elisabeth Gilman, a largely forgotten Marylander born to privilege in the nineteenth century who became an irrepressible force for social justice in the twentieth. As the second daughter of Daniel Coit Gilman, founding president of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Elisabeth was raised in well-to-do, influential circles. Privately educated by tutors, she eventually earned a bachelor's degree at Johns Hopkins. But unlike many who shared Elisabeth's elevated station, she was possessed of a restless and critical spirit. As a strong devotee of the Social Gospel, she campaigned on behalf of the poor, African- Americans, women, and laborers exposed to harsh conditions. After her father's death, Elisabeth joined the Socialist Party and was nominated as a candidate for governor of Maryland, United States senator, mayor of Baltimore, and even sheriff of Baltimore. Never married, Elisabeth fell under the spell of a charismatic, progressive Episcopal priest named Mercer Green Johnston, and followed him and his wife to Paris during World War I, where she helped to support homesick American doughboys under the aegis of the YMCA.

Ross Jones retired as Vice President and Secretary of Johns Hopkins University in 2003, after more than four decades in the administration. He was a close associate of six of the university's presidents and five chairmen of the Board of Trustees. An alumnus of Johns Hopkins, he went on to earn a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University. He worked briefly as a reporter on newspapers in Pennsylvania and New York before returning to his alma mater. He served three years in the U.S. Army.