Emily Bissell

Who was Emily Bissell?

Emily Perkins Bissell was an American social worker and activist, best remembered for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she made a name for herself at a young age as the founder of that city's first public kindergarten and for her efforts to introduce child labor laws in that state. In 1883, she founded an organization, now known as the West End Neighborhood House that originally provided social services to Wilmington's immigrant Irish and German families. Bissell wrote under the pseudonym Priscilla Leonard.