Four free talks offered this fall by the East Liberty Valley Historical Society will examine local women who fought for their right to vote, a family’s gift of spring water, Willa Cather’s life in the affluent East End and the portraits Theobald Chartran painted of prominent Pittsburghers.

All lectures start at 7:30 p.m. in Room 234 of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, 116 S. Highland Ave. Society treasurer Marilyn Evert of Shadyside organized the series.

On Sept. 9, Jennie Benford, director of programming for Homewood Cemetery, will discuss “Well Done, Sister Suffragette!” Ms. Benford will introduce women and men who worked for suffrage in Pittsburgh, including Daisy Lampkin, a civil rights leader who was a mentor to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. She also will describe women who opposed granting the vote to women.

On Oct. 7, Matthew W. C. Falcone details “Howe Springs Eternal: The Story of Pittsburgh’s Most Esteemed Natural Spring.” The Howe family provided the city’s East End with clean, natural spring water from their Shadyside estate in a structure designed by the architectural firm of Alden & Harlow.

Mr. Falcone is president of Preservation Pittsburgh. Earlier this year, the organization asked City Council to recognize the Howe spring, which no longer flows, and two others as historic landmarks. The city’s historic review commission will consider that request Wednesday at a public hearing at the John P. Civic Robin Building, 100 Ross St., Downtown.

On Nov. 4, Penn State University professor James A. Jaap discusses “Willa Cather and Pittsburgh’s East End: A New Life in a Purely Commercial Town.” He will outline how the author, who later wrote novels about life in the Great Plains, lived for a decade at the turn of the 20th century in one of the country’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Mr. Jaap will participate in the 16th Willa Cather International Seminar to be held in Pittsburgh June 11-17, 2017.

On Dec. 2, Mike Staresinic will discuss “Theobald Chartran: Favorite Portraitist of Eminent East Enders,” including industrialists Henry Phipps and Henry Clay Frick. Mr. Staresinic is an electrical engineer and Pittsburgh native who returned after a 25-year career.

Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1648 and Twitter @mpitzpg .

First Published: September 5, 2016, 4:00 a.m.