#DomesticPartnership1906
Image from the Smithsonian
Portrait of Jane Addams, c. 1906
A "Boston marriage" was a name for long-term domestic partnerships between women. These partnerships could be romantic or platonic, but they all helped women uninterested in marrying a man to have emotional and financial security. Many prominent activists had Boston marriages, including Jane Addams, Frances Willard, and Rose Cleveland.