Harriet Shaw Weaver was a political activist and magazine editor best remembered for her literary and financial support of the modernist writer James Joyce (1882–1941). Born into a wealthy family with roots in the cotton industry, Harriet Shaw Weaver turned first to social work. An interest in women’s suffrage led to her involvement with the New Freewoman, and from 1911 she devoted her inherited wealth to sponsoring the arts, gradually becoming a major patron and publisher of Modernism. In 1913, she became the business manager of the New Freewoman, taking over from Dora Marsden (1882–1960) as editor when it became The Egoist. Her financial support was crucial to the success of this literary periodical, which published almost every significant name in Modernism, including T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), Ezra Pound (1885–1972), James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957) and Marianne Moore (1887–1972), but only sold two hundred copies between 1916 and 1919.