Virginia H. Knauer papers

Virginia Harrington Wright Knauer was born on March 28, 1915, in Philadelphia, PA. She died on October 16, 2011, in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Knauer became active in Republican politics when she rallied women to support the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower. She ran successfully for office herself in 1959 and was one of the first two women elected to serve on the Philadelphia City Council (1960-68). She was appointed by Governor Ray Shafer to the newly created position of chief consumer advisor for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in January 1968 and served until April 19, 1969. She left that office to succeed Betty Furness as the Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs in Richard Nixon’s presidential administration. She was appointed Director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs (1971–1977 and 1981–1989). Knauer served Presidents Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. In private business she continued her work as an advocate for consumer education and corporate accountability. In particular, she encouraged and mentored women to become active in government.

A 1933 graduate of Philadelphia High School for Girls, she went on to earn dual degrees in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1937. She continued her studies in portraiture at the Academy of Fine Art in Florence, Italy, prior to World War II.

In 1940, she married Wilhelm F. Knauer, a lawyer and deputy state attorney general. They had two children, Bill, Jr. who became a lawyer and judge, and Valerie Knauer Burden who was a partner in Virginia Knauer Associates during the late 1970s. Knauer had three granddaughters, Nancy J. Knauer, Dr. Frances F. Burden, Virginia B. Hart, and a great-grandson, Charles F. Hart.