 In 1891 she became one of the first six women to join the New York Mathematical Society, which later became the American Mathematical Society.The very first was Charlotte Angas Scott, and the other four were Mary E. Byrd of Smith College, Mary Watson Whitney of Vassar, Ellen Hayes of Wellesley, and Amy Rayson, who taught mathematics and physics at a private school in New York City.Cunningham was also a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific as early as 1891.