Mary A. Bookstaver was a feminist, political activist, and editor, widely known by the nickname "May." Daughter of Judge Henry W. Bookstaver and Mary Baily Young, she attended Miss Florence Baldwin's School (now Baldwin School

Baldwin School

The Baldwin School is an all-girls private day school located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The school, founded in 1888 by Florence Baldwin, consists of a Lower, Middle, and Upper School totaling approximately 600 in enrollment...

) and graduated from Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....

 in 1898 in History and Political Science. After graduation she moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she was part of a circle of lesbian Bryn Mawr graduates, including Bookstaver's lover, Mabel Haynes.