Emily P. Bissell papers

Emily Perkins Bissell (1861-1948), a social welfare worker and anti-suffragist from Wilmington, Delaware, is best remembered for introducing Christmas seals to the United States in 1907. She opened the first public kindergarten in Wilmington and worked to pass child labor laws in the state. She also began a settlement house, which has since grown into the West End Neighborhood House, to assist poor immigrants in the city of Wilmington. She began the Christmas seal campaign in 1907 after her cousin Dr. John Wales requested her assistance in raising funds for a tuberculosis sanitarium in Delaware. She had heard of a stamp campaign in Denmark and was inspired to try it in Delaware, where it was successful. Encouraged by her success, the American Lung Association adopted the sale of Christmas seals to raise money. Active in anti-tuberculosis work for the rest of her life, she also participated in a wide number of other charitable and service organizations and causes, especially in her native Delaware. She also wrote poetry and prose under the name Priscilla Leonard.

Emily Bissell was born in Wilmington, the daughter of Josephine Wales and Champion Aristarcus Bissell. The 1860 census listed Mr. Bissell as a copper merchant living in New York; no occupation was listed in the 1870 census; and in the 1880 census, he was listed as an editor. Other sources give his occupation as banker, lawyer, and real estate investor. Emily’s maternal grandfather John Wales was a United States senator from Delaware. Emily Bissell is profiled in the Encyclopedia of Delaware.