Founded in 1881 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Charles Eliot Norton (the Society's first three presidents) and others, the Dante Society of America is — after the Deutsche Dante-Gesellschaft, founded in 1865 — the world's second-oldest officially constituted organization dedicated to the furtherance of the study of the works of Dante Alighieri.
The Society was founded by Heloise Durant Rose in 1917 "for a popular propaganda for the study of Dante" . It organised lectures and events, and was deeply involved in the coordination of activities for the celebration of the 1921 Dante centenary in America. The Society received praises and official institutional support from the Queen of Italy and of Mussolini.
The society organised cycles of lectures
In 1924, Benito Mussolini wrote a letter to Rose to thank her 'for the effective work he feels is being done by Heloise Durant Rose, founder of the Dante League of America, in creating better cordiality between Italy and the United States' (New York Times, 24 Nov. 1924, 19)
Born in Lippiano (Città di Castello) into a humble family, Pieralli showed a talent for poetry from a young age. She was self-taught and caught the attention of many wealthy perugino families who hired her as a tutor for their children. She was a member of the Accademia di letteratura e musica di Perugia alongside artists such as Francsco Bartoli, Ariodante Fabretti, Giovanni Pennacchi and Cesare Massari. She also had links with the Accademia dell’Arcadia, Accademia Spolentina, Accademia di San Sepolcro as well as the Infecondi di Prato, Euteleti di San Miniato and Liberi di Città di Castello. A proponent of the Italian Risorgimento, she became renowned for her patriotic poetry. By government order, she became a history and geography teacher at the Istituto Normale Superiore Femminile di Perugia in 1861, also becoming the headmistress of this school until her death in Perugia in 1865. In 1891, the Liceo Statale Assunta Pieralli was named after her.
