Amanda Jones: podcast appearances and interviews

Amanda Theodosia Jones, born on October 19, 1835, and deceased on March 31, 1914, was an American inventor, author, scientist, and spiritualist. She is most recognized for inventing the Jones Process, a vacuum method of canning developed in 1872 with Professor Leroy C. Cooley. This process involved vacuum-sealing fruits and vegetables in glass jars to preserve them without cooking, providing a more practical alternative to the soldered tin cans used at the time. In 1890, she established the Women's Canning and Preserving Company in Chicago, a business that employed only women and reflected her support for women's rights and suffrage. Aside from her innovations, Jones was also a poet and writer, contributing poems to periodicals and publishing several volumes including Ulah and Other Poems and Poems. She was a convert to spiritualism and believed that spirit guidance influenced her inventions and business decisions, a view she elaborated on in her 1910 memoir A Psychic Autobiography. Throughout her career, Jones held six patents for various devices, including an oil burner. Her contributions to science, literature, and women's rights were recognized in her inclusion among A Woman of the Century in 1893.