Ulrich, Mabel S. (1876–1945)

Creator:
Mabel Ulrich in Minneapolis, 1922.
Mabel Ulrich in Minneapolis, 1922.

Mabel Simis Ulrich was a public health educator, physician, author, and public figure whose pioneering work in sex education propelled her onto multiple public health commissions in Minneapolis. She contributed to the cultural scene in Minneapolis through a bookstore that she owned, and headed the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) in Minnesota under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s.

Ulrich was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 2, 1876, to Adolph Simis, Jr., and Emma Van Duzen Simis. One of four children, Mabel attended Cornell University as a young adult, where she graduated with a degree in science in 1897. She then earned her MD in 1901 at Johns Hopkins University. On August 26, 1901, she married Dr. Harry Ulrich. They moved to Minneapolis and opened a joint medical practice.

Ulrich became invested in expanding sex education for women after working as a physician in Minneapolis for more than a decade. Many women—especially young women and brides—came to her with basic questions about their bodies, reproduction, and sex. She consulted with teachers at the University of Minnesota and presented special lectures on sex education for young women at the college. In 1914, she was appointed by the YWCA as a traveling lecturer for sex education. Ulrich spoke at high schools and colleges across the nation, teaching “the fundamental facts of life,” as the YWCA termed it.

In 1918, Ulrich expanded her work as a sex educator by writing informational pamphlets for the Board of Public Health in Minneapolis. As part of a national campaign to reduce cases of venereal disease during World War I, enlisted men received in-depth education through films, posters, and pamphlets. At the time, however, sex education for women was vague and euphemistic. Ulrich’s pamphlets, “The Girl’s Part” and “Mothers of America,” used anatomically correct terms and employed direct language, making them unique for the time. Ulrich framed sex education for women as a “supremely patriotic service,” emphasizing that the health of America’s youth was paramount to the success of the war and to the survival of humanity.

While Ulrich’s work in women’s education was groundbreaking, her teaching reflected a strong belief in eugenics. She argued that including eugenics in a sex education curriculum in high schools would prompt young men and women to consider marriage and procreation more seriously. Her ultimate goal was to “improve” the genetic pool of the population. Ulrich disagreed with the more extreme practices that some contemporary eugenists suggested, such as the forced sterilization of criminals.

Ulrich’s contributions to public health education prompted the mayor of Minneapolis to recommend her to the city’s vice commission in 1915, and to the Minneapolis Board of Welfare in 1920. Ulrich served on the board for several years, though her involvement was controversial. During her time on the board, Ulrich helped decrease spending and improved reporting methods for communicable diseases in Minneapolis.

In 1921, Ulrich opened a bookshop on Twelfth Street in Minneapolis. The first of several bookshops that she eventually owned (including one in Duluth and another in Rochester), the store contributed to the growth of Minneapolis’s cultural scene. Ulrich hosted not only local authors, but also several internationally known literary icons, such as Edna St. Vincent Millay, Richard Halliburton, William Beebe, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and Hugh Walpole. Her bookstore also carried rare prints, including some early works of Pablo Picasso.

In 1935 Ulrich’s involvement in Minneapolis’s literary scene paved the way for her to accept a position with the WPA as the head of the Minnesota chapter of the FWP. Ulrich was given ten days in which to find and hire 250 writers, and she interviewed newspaper reporters, lawyers, preachers, physicians, and even a vaudeville skit author. She found it difficult to find qualified candidates and ultimately hired only 120 employees. Her team was tasked with writing a state guide book for Minnesota.

Ulrich did not always agree with the editorial notes she received from the federal team, believing they wanted to romanticize Minnesotan culture. She also felt that politics increasingly influenced the work of the WPA on the federal level as it got more involved with the Workers’ Alliance, a union for WPA employees. Between friction with the federal offices and disagreements with unionized workers, Ulrich felt she could no longer effectively do her job with the FWP and resigned in 1937.

Although Ulrich stepped away from the WPA, she was still active in the literary world. She continued to work in her bookshop until 1945, when she died in an accidental fall from a cliff near her summer cottage at Marine on St. Croix.

 
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Minnesota Historical Society. "Ulrich, Mabel S. (1876–1945)." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/ulrich-mabel-s-1876-1945
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First Published: April 28, 2025
Last Modified: June 05, 2025

Bibliography

Day, Dorothy. "Mabel Ulrich Sparked City's Cultural Growth." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, August 26, 1945.

“Dr. Mabel Ulrich Killed in Fall.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, August 13, 1945.

“Ex-Duluthian Dies in Fall.” Duluth Herald, August 13, 1945.

Fernandez, W. G. Tinckom. “Y. W. C. A. Traveling Lecturer on Sex Hygiene.” Survey 32 (April 18, 1914): 76.

“Health Certificate Would Tend to Solve Problem of Marriage.” Independent–Record (Helena, MT), November 26, 1913.

Jensen, Robin E. Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education, 1870–1924. University of Illinois Press, 2010.

“Kappa Kappa Gamma.” Cornellian 29 (1898): 148.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924055867216&seq=6

"Lecture for Girls of College." Normal College News, April 24, 1914.
https://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1349&context=student_news

Leonard, John William, ed. Woman’s Who’s Who of America, 1914–15. American Commonwealth Company: 1915.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89080103955&seq=7

“M.D.’s of Johns Hopkins: Graduates to Get Diplomas Next Thursday Afternoon.” Baltimore Sun, June 8, 1901.

“Mabel Ulrich Gives Up Post.” Minneapolis Star, June 30, 1938.

“The Minneapolis Alderman and the ‘Irreconcilables.’” Journal-Lancet 41 (January 15, 1921): 48–49.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002682320f&seq=54

“News Items.” Journal-Lancet 41 (December 1, 1921): 634–636.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002682320f&seq=667

——— . “Salvaging Culture for the WPA.” Harper’s Monthly (May 1939): 653–664.

Ulrich, Mabel S. “Mothers of America.” American Social Hygiene Association, 1919. Box 170, Folder 9 of the Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
http://purl.umn.edu/111745

Ulrich, Mabel S. “The Girl’s Part.” American Social Hygiene Association, 1919. Box 170, Folder 9 of the Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/11/archival_objects/803256

 

Related Resources

Primary

"Dr. Mabel S. Ulrich to Address Chamber.” Des Moines Tribune, November 7, 1927.

"Dr. Ulrich Returns from Europe with Rare Prints.” Minneapolis Star July 9, 1924.

Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. The WPA Guide to Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society, 1938.

Ulrich, Mabel S. Daylight Saving [unpublished play]. 1933.

Ulrich, Mabel S., ed. The More I See of Men. Harper and Brothers, 1932.

Ulrich, Mabel S. On Marriage. Minnesota State Board of Health, Division of Venereal Diseases. 1920.

Ulrich, Mabel S. “The Swede’s Angel.” Everybody’s Magazine 12 (1905): 313–18.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010948811&seq=363

Ulrich, Mabel S., and Alice Stone Blackwell. “As to ‘Dangerous Legislation.’” Woman Citizen 3, no. 47 (April 19, 1919): 988–89.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651056&seq=1034

Secondary

Beard, Mary Ritter. Women’s Work in Municipalities. D. Appleton and Company, 1915.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=msu.31293006680957&seq=9

Ladd-Taylor, Molly. "Coping With a 'Public Menace': Eugenic Sterilization in Minnesota." Minnesota History 59, no. 6: 237–248.
https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/59/v59i06p237-248.pdf

——— . Fixing the Poor: Eugenic Sterilization and Child Welfare in the Twentieth Century. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.

Mangione, Jerre Gerlando. The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers' Project, 1935–1943. Little, Brown, 1972.

Penkower, Monty Noam. The Federal Writers' Project: A Study in Government Patronage of the Arts. University of Illinois Press, 1977.

Related Images

Mabel Ulrich in Minneapolis, 1922.
Mabel Ulrich in Minneapolis, 1922.
Mabel Ulrich, ca. 1914
Mabel Ulrich, ca. 1914. From W. G. Tinckom Fernandez, "Y. W. C. A. Traveling Lecturer on Sex Hygiene," Survey 32 (April 18, 1914): 76. Photo by Pearl Grace Loehr.
Portrait of Dr. Mabel Ulrich
Portrait of Dr. Mabel Ulrich, 1931. Ulrich headed the Minnesota Writers' Program of the Works Progress Administration.
Writers Project booth, Works Progress Administration exhibit, State Fair

Writers Project booth, Works Progress Administration exhibit, State Fair, c.1938.

Minnesota: A State Guide
Cover image of "Minnesota: A State Guide"
Mabel Ulrich in Minneapolis, 1922.

Mabel Ulrich, 1922

Mabel Ulrich in Minneapolis, 1922.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Mabel Ulrich, ca. 1914

Mabel Ulrich, ca. 1914

Mabel Ulrich, ca. 1914. From W. G. Tinckom Fernandez, "Y. W. C. A. Traveling Lecturer on Sex Hygiene," Survey 32 (April 18, 1914): 76. Photo by Pearl Grace Loehr.
Portrait of Dr. Mabel Ulrich

Portrait of Dr. Mabel Ulrich

Portrait of Dr. Mabel Ulrich, 1931. Ulrich headed the Minnesota Writers' Program of the Works Progress Administration.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Writers Project booth, Works Progress Administration exhibit, State Fair

Writers Project booth, Works Progress Administration exhibit, State Fair

Writers Project booth, Works Progress Administration exhibit, State Fair, c.1938.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota: A State Guide

Minnesota: A State Guide

Cover image of "Minnesota: A State Guide"

Turning Point

In 1914, Ulrich moves from private practice to public health, travelling as a lecturer on sex education for the YWCA She spends the rest of her career in public roles instead of private practice.

Chronology

1876
Mabel Palmer Simis is born on April 2 to Adolph Simis, Jr., and Emma Van Duzen Simis.
1897
Ulrich graduates from Cornell University with a degree in science.
1901
In June, Ulrich graduates from Johns Hopkins University with a medical degree.
1901

On August 26, Ulrich marries Harry L. Ulrich.

1914

Ulrich begins lecturing nationally on the topic of sex education for the YWCA.

1918

Ulrich begins publishing sex education pamphlets for women and girls through the Minneapolis Board of Public Health.

1920

The Hennepin County Medical Society appoints Ulrich to the Minneapolis Board of Public Health.

1921

Ulrich is reappointed to the Board of Public Health.

1921

Ulrich opens her first bookstore, at 71 Twelfth Street in Minneapolis.

1924

Ulrich begins selling rare prints and pottery artifacts in her bookstore.

1935

Ulrich accepts a position with the Works Progress Administration (WPA), leading work on a state guide book for two years.

1938

Ulrich resigns from the Federal Writers Project.

1945

In August, Ulrich dies in a fall at Marine on St. Croix.

Bibliography

Day, Dorothy. "Mabel Ulrich Sparked City's Cultural Growth." Minneapolis Morning Tribune, August 26, 1945.

“Dr. Mabel Ulrich Killed in Fall.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, August 13, 1945.

“Ex-Duluthian Dies in Fall.” Duluth Herald, August 13, 1945.

Fernandez, W. G. Tinckom. “Y. W. C. A. Traveling Lecturer on Sex Hygiene.” Survey 32 (April 18, 1914): 76.

“Health Certificate Would Tend to Solve Problem of Marriage.” Independent–Record (Helena, MT), November 26, 1913.

Jensen, Robin E. Dirty Words: The Rhetoric of Public Sex Education, 1870–1924. University of Illinois Press, 2010.

“Kappa Kappa Gamma.” Cornellian 29 (1898): 148.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924055867216&seq=6

"Lecture for Girls of College." Normal College News, April 24, 1914.
https://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1349&context=student_news

Leonard, John William, ed. Woman’s Who’s Who of America, 1914–15. American Commonwealth Company: 1915.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89080103955&seq=7

“M.D.’s of Johns Hopkins: Graduates to Get Diplomas Next Thursday Afternoon.” Baltimore Sun, June 8, 1901.

“Mabel Ulrich Gives Up Post.” Minneapolis Star, June 30, 1938.

“The Minneapolis Alderman and the ‘Irreconcilables.’” Journal-Lancet 41 (January 15, 1921): 48–49.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002682320f&seq=54

“News Items.” Journal-Lancet 41 (December 1, 1921): 634–636.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002682320f&seq=667

——— . “Salvaging Culture for the WPA.” Harper’s Monthly (May 1939): 653–664.

Ulrich, Mabel S. “Mothers of America.” American Social Hygiene Association, 1919. Box 170, Folder 9 of the Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
http://purl.umn.edu/111745

Ulrich, Mabel S. “The Girl’s Part.” American Social Hygiene Association, 1919. Box 170, Folder 9 of the Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/11/archival_objects/803256

 

Related Resources

Primary

"Dr. Mabel S. Ulrich to Address Chamber.” Des Moines Tribune, November 7, 1927.

"Dr. Ulrich Returns from Europe with Rare Prints.” Minneapolis Star July 9, 1924.

Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. The WPA Guide to Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society, 1938.

Ulrich, Mabel S. Daylight Saving [unpublished play]. 1933.

Ulrich, Mabel S., ed. The More I See of Men. Harper and Brothers, 1932.

Ulrich, Mabel S. On Marriage. Minnesota State Board of Health, Division of Venereal Diseases. 1920.

Ulrich, Mabel S. “The Swede’s Angel.” Everybody’s Magazine 12 (1905): 313–18.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010948811&seq=363

Ulrich, Mabel S., and Alice Stone Blackwell. “As to ‘Dangerous Legislation.’” Woman Citizen 3, no. 47 (April 19, 1919): 988–89.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651056&seq=1034

Secondary

Beard, Mary Ritter. Women’s Work in Municipalities. D. Appleton and Company, 1915.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=msu.31293006680957&seq=9

Ladd-Taylor, Molly. "Coping With a 'Public Menace': Eugenic Sterilization in Minnesota." Minnesota History 59, no. 6: 237–248.
https://storage.googleapis.com/mnhs-org-support/mn_history_articles/59/v59i06p237-248.pdf

——— . Fixing the Poor: Eugenic Sterilization and Child Welfare in the Twentieth Century. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.

Mangione, Jerre Gerlando. The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers' Project, 1935–1943. Little, Brown, 1972.

Penkower, Monty Noam. The Federal Writers' Project: A Study in Government Patronage of the Arts. University of Illinois Press, 1977.