Dr. John C. Coyle, a member of the Knights of Columbus and an organizer of the New York Daughters of Isabella, founded the Daughters of Isabella Herald in 1904.  The initial aims of the Herald were threefold:

1) educate the membership

2) build relationships among members 

3) publicizing the order to potential members. 

The M.F. Kelly listed in the masthead as National Secretary of the Daughters was Michael Kelly. Kelly managed the paper and wrote several of the articles, a fact worth contemplating, though by 1918, women were writing much of the content of the Herald.   

This is a selection of pages from the Herald dated January 1918.  The U.S. had entered the war nine months earlier.  Hence, this issue was published while the war was in full swing.  Read the Herald and answer the following questions:         

• Look at the names of the National Officers and the Board of Directors of the Herald in the masthead.  What do you think the names tell you about the womens' ethnic backgrounds?  Where "Mrs." is used, the name will be the last name of the woman's husband--what do these tell you?
• In the masthead, "M.F. Kelly" and "P.H. Fitzgerald" were Michael Kelly and Patrick Fitzgerald.  Why do you think they spelled out the names of the female officers and not the male?   
• How did the Daughters of Isabella show their American patriotism during World War I?
• How did the Daughters of Isabella show their support for Catholic soldiers?
• Why does the Herald say that 1918 "promises essentially to be a woman's year?"
• Compared to secular organizations, how did the Daughters of Isabella uniquely serve the war effort?