July 28, 1944 – June 16, 2026

Born in Locksley, Ontario, Canada, Mary emigrated with her family to Wolcottsville, New York.

She attended Valparaiso University and after graduation took a library assistant position in the Rare Books and Special Collections Department at the University of Rochester Library. Finding it an interesting place to work she went on to receive a master’s degree in library science from Simmons College and returned to a librarian position in Rare Books and Special Collections.

Eventually she rose to be Assistant Director of the department and along the way received a master’s degree in history from the University of Rochester.

Mary had a passion for history, especially 19th century women’s history and the fight for woman suffrage. Trying to understand why so many 19th century women opposed the suffrage movement, she wrote her University of Rochester master’s thesis on one of those women, Boston resident Kate Gannett Wells (the sister of Willam Channing Gannett, minister at Rochester’s Unitarian Church.) Remaining a Canadian citizen until adulthood, Mary became a United States citizen because it was so important to her to be able to vote.

For many years Mary served on the board of the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum and also volunteered as a docent, introducing countless visitors to Anthony and the suffrage movement.

She was the co-editor with Christine Ridarsky of a collection of essays, Susan B. Anthony and the Struggle for Equal Rights, published in 2012.

Mary is remembered by her friends as someone with a wry sense of humor, a non-driver who loved her bicycle, and an artist who made her own linocut Christmas cards.

She was predeceased by her father Hilbert Huth, her mother Emilee Huth, and brothers Maurice and Richard. She is survived by her brother Peter Huth, sisters-in-law Norma Huth and Gloria Huth, her partner Barbara Billingsley, a niece, several nephews, and many dear friends.

Interment will be in Wolcottsville. Donations in her honor can be given to the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum and to the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation at the University of Rochester. Please designate “The Mary M. Huth Fund for Special Collections Processing” at giving.rochester.edu.