Woman Suffrage history collection, 1867-1891
Microfilm Roll MF 1049 (Ms. Collection No. 656)
- Biography
- Scope and Content
- Contents List
- Related Records and Collections
- Additional Information for Researchers
Biography
To characterize the nature of the campaign for women’s suffrage in Kansas, it seems as if the suffragette movement achieved success in roughly twenty-five year increments.
In Kansas, the woman suffrage movement began in 1859, as the territory was in the process of preparing for statehood. At first, there was an association of twenty-five men and women whose objective was to convince the delegates of the state constitutional convention to open the franchise to women and to African Americans. They were successful only in securing the right for women to vote in local school district elections.
The Kansas State Legislature in 1887 granted women the right to vote in municipal elections[see Series J in this collection]. From that time onward, the Women’s Equal Suffrage Association staged a number of campaigns in an effort to sway the state Legislature to grant women full suffrage in state elections.
The next big campaign to effect change in the electorate took place in 1910. Under the leadership of Catherine Hoffman, then president of the Equal Suffrage Association, that organization used the slogan “Votes for Women” in its campaign. When Governor Walter R. Stubbs was reelected in 1910, he advised the Legislature to commence debating the issue of women’s suffrage. The governor’s proposal ignited another campaign to expand the franchise for women. The members of the E.S.A. heavily lobbied each and every member of the Kansas House and Senate. They also entertained their wives so that they in turn might influence their husbands. The measure passed, and Governor Stubbs signed the bill on February 12, 1911. This amendment became a part of the state constitution in 1912.
The final campaign in the woman suffrage movement came in 1919 when, upon the request of Governor Henry J. Allen, the Legislature ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to allow universal women’s suffrage.
Scope and Content
The manuscripts in this collection originally came from a variety of different sources, and were brought together into one collection because of their subject matter.
For any researcher or scholar of the woman suffrage movement, this collection offers a great deal of primary sources. Though these papers are relatively few in number, they do involve many people prominent in the suffrage movement; such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and others. Also, there are organizational records of some of the better known suffrage organizations: the American Equal Rights Association, the Kansas Equal Rights Association, and the Woman Suffrage Association.
This collection is divided into fourteen different series, and is arranged mostly in a chronological order. A brief examination of the collection outline will familiarize the researcher with the contents and arrangement of the collection for faster and easier use.
Contents List
Box 1 | ||
Series A | Campaign of 1867 : letters received by Samuel Newitt Wood | |
f.1 | 1867 Jan. 15 | C. H. Bent |
Feb. 17 | Jane B. Archibald | |
Mar. 12 | Lucretia Mott [American Equal Rights Association] | |
Apr. 2 | H. B. Blackwell | |
Apr. 4 | William Larimer | |
Apr. 6 | C. Robinson | |
Apr. 6 | L. F. Green | |
Apr. 7 | C. H. Lanston | |
Apr. 7 | S. M. Strickler | |
Apr. 8 | H. B. Norton | |
Apr. 8 | Joel Moody | |
Apr. 8 | Hiatt, H. | |
Apr. 9 | J. Chess | |
Apr. 9 | George J. Martin | |
Apr. 10 | J. W. Scott | |
Apr. 10 | N. J. Waterman | |
Apr. 10 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Apr. 12 | Wm. Laurence | |
Apr. 12 | S. J. Harvey | |
Apr. 15 | C. Robinson | |
Apr. 16 | J. H. Prescott | |
Apr. 21 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Apr. 23 | J. H. Prescott | |
Apr. 27 | P. P. Elder | |
Apr. 28 | James M. Harvey | |
Apr. 28 | B. W. Williams | |
May 2 | C. E. Dewey | |
May 6 | George W. Cooper | |
May 6 | M. D. Curtis | |
May 7 | J. W. Jenitt | |
May 9 | S. W. Ward | |
May 10 | C. H. Bent | |
May 12 | J. W. Horner | |
May 13 | S. S. Prouty | |
May 14 | S. O. Thacker | |
May 14 | S. J. Reader | |
May 15 | S. S. Prouty | |
May 16 | George S. Scammon | |
May 16 | A. Danford | |
May 16 | R. W. Massey | |
May 17 | W. H. Dodge | |
May 20 | J. Holler | |
May 20 | J. C. Hebbard | |
May 21 | Richard Yates | |
May 23 | W. B. Slosson | |
May 25 | Theodore Hilton | |
May 27 | Mrs. Updegraff | |
May 27 | H. Wilson | |
May 28 | W. H. McClure | |
May 28 | Mrs. Updegraff | |
f.2 | Jun. 2 | George J. Martin |
Jun. 3 | J. T. Haughey | |
Jun. 3 | Mrs. F. H. Drenning | |
Jun. 6 | C. Robinson | |
Jun. 6 | W. Mitchell | |
Jun. 7 | Geo. J. Martin | |
Jun. 7 | P. L. Hubbard | |
Jun. 10 | S. D. Houston | |
Jun. 13 | William T. Hazard | |
Jun. 15 | H. C. Whitney | |
Jun. 15 | J. D. McClure | |
Jun. 16 | J. B. Rake | |
Jun. 19 | C. I. H. Nichols | |
Jun. 19 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Jun. 20 | C. H. Langston | |
Jun. 21 | W. G. Coffin | |
Jun. 21 | W. H. McClure | |
Jun. 21 | C.I.H. Nichols | |
Jun. 25 | C. E. Dewey | |
Jun. 26 | John S. Brown | |
Jun. 30 | A.A. Wheelock | |
Jun. 31 | S.A. Crawford | |
Jun. 27 | W. G. Coffin | |
Jul. 4 | J.A.B. Abbott | |
Jul. 9 | J. W. Hutchinson | |
Jul. 11 | J. H. Prescott | |
Jul. 11 | D.K. Babbit | |
Jul. 13 | [author unknown] | |
Jul. 15 | John Haller | |
Jul. 18 | Mrs. Nichols | |
Jul. 18 | S. S. Prouty | |
Jul. 20 | A. Venard | |
Jul. 22 | G. Roberts | |
Jul. 23 | J. W. Hutchinson | |
Jul. 25 | H. B. Blackwell | |
Jul. 25 | O. Brown | |
Jul. 25 | A. V. Peters | |
Jul. 26 | George Roberts | |
Jul. 29 | H. B. Norton | |
f.3 | Aug. 1 | W.S. Blakely |
Aug. 2 | Joel Moody | |
Aug. 5 | Thomas Moonlight | |
Aug. 9 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Aug. 9 | F. P. Baker | |
Aug. 10 | J. W. Hutchinson | |
Aug. 14 | H. B. Norton | |
Aug. 16 | H. B. Norton | |
Aug. 17 | H. Henry | |
Aug. 19 | J. T. Haughey | |
Aug. 19 | O. Brown | |
Aug. 21 | M. E. Gage | |
Aug. 22 | T. Moonlight | |
Aug. 23 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Aug. 23 | J. W. Hutchinson | |
Aug. 23 | G. S. Scammon | |
Aug. 25 | Bessie Bisbee | |
Aug. 27 | William G. Coffin | |
Aug. 28 | Bessie Bisbee | |
Aug. 29 | J. P. Mather | |
Sep. 1 | W. Mitchell | |
Sep. 1 | Olympia Brown | |
Sep. 7 | P. L. Hubbard | |
Sep. 10 | J.W. Hutchinson | |
Sep. 10 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Sep. 12 | D. Walker | |
Sep. 20 | B.W. Williams | |
Sep. 22 | W. Mitchell | |
Sep. 22 | Bessie Bisbee | |
Sep. 24 | George Storch | |
Sep. 26 | S.S. Prouty | |
Sep. 27 | H.B. Blackwell | |
Oct. 2 | Susan B. Anthony | |
Oct. 10 | Susan B. Anthony | |
f.4 | Undated letters | |
Susan B. Anthony | ||
O. Brown | ||
J.T. Haughey | ||
L.M. Hill | ||
F.C. Jones | ||
J.B. Rupe | ||
Jake Slotter | ||
W. Stiner |
Series B | Manuscript of the first speech delivered by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Kansas, November 1867 | ||
Box 2 | |||
Series C | Constitution, by-laws and minutes of the Woman Suffrage Association of Topeka, 1880-1881 | ||
Series D | General Correspondence | ||
f.1 | 1891 | Mar. 2 | N.W. Lyon, to Friend of E.S.A. |
Jul. 27 | Franklin G. Adams, to Susan B. Anthony | ||
1892 | Apr. 10 | Catharine P. Wallace, to an unspecified addressee. | |
Apr. 13 | Catharine P. Wallace, to Franklin G. Adams | ||
1901 | Jan. 24 | Etta W. Gilmore, to John Chaney. | |
1901 | Feb. 22 | George W. Martin, to Theodore C. Carey | |
f.2 | [undated correspondence], 13 items. | ||
Series E | Correspondence about portrait of Mrs. C. I .H. Nichols, 1880-1881 | ||
Series F | Kansas Equal Suffrage Association. Topeka Auxiliary. Minutes of meetings, 1891 | ||
Series G | Kansas Equal Suffrage Association Fair (1892), 1891-1892 | ||
Series H | Kansas Equal Suffrage Association. Minutes, 1907-1911 | ||
Series I | Municipal suffrage : petitions (1887) | ||
Series J | Municipal suffrage : correspondence relating to the campaign for (1887), 1887-1901 | ||
[This series consists almost entirely of pre-addressed post cards, sent by city clerks to Franklin G. Adams, reporting on the numbers of women who voted in the municipal election of April 1888.] | |||
Series K | Municipal suffrage : manuscript copies [of articles published in Kansas newspapers], 1887 | ||
Series L | Suffrage enrollment, 1893 | ||
Series M | History of woman suffrage / by Lucy Browne Johnston, n.d. | ||
Series N | Printed items, 1890-1891 |
Notes On the Microfilm Copy
Microfilm roll MF 1049 contains the Woman Suffrage history collection in its entirety. Each series in this collection is marked with a microfilm target to indicate the beginning of the series. Used in conjunction with this finding aid, locating a particular series on this microfilm roll becomes more convenient.
This manuscript collection was microfilmed in order to preserve the original papers (already becoming fragile and brittle), to protect them from being handled by patrons, and to provide for greater security. Also, being microfilmed, this collection becomes accessible to a wider range of people, as manuscript collections on microfilm are available through interlibrary loan.
Related Records and Collections
Outline
Series A. | Campaign of 1867: Letters received by Samuel Newitt Wood |
Series B. | Manuscript of the first speech delivered by Elizabeth Cady Stanton in |
Kansas, Nov. 1867 | |
Series C. | Constitution, by-laws and minutes of the Woman Suffrage Association |
of Topeka, 1880-1881 | |
Series D. | General Correspondence, 1891-1913 |
Series E. | Correspondence about portrait of Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, 1880-1881 |
Series F. | Kansas Equal Suffrage Association. Topeka Auxiliary. Minutes of |
meetings, 1891 | |
Series G. | Kansas Equal Suffrage Association Fair (1892), 1891-1892 |
Series H. | Kansas Equal Suffrage Association. Minutes, 1907-1911 |
Series I. | Municipal suffrage : petitions (1887) |
Series J. | Municipal suffrage : correspondence relating to the campaign for (1887), |
1887-1901 | |
Series K. | Municipal suffrage : manuscript copies [of articles published in Kansas |
newspapers], 1887 | |
Series L. | Suffrage enrollment, 1893 |
Series M. | History of woman suffrage / by Lucy Browne Johnston, n.d. |
Series N. | Printed items, 1890-1891 |
Additional Information for Researchers
Provenance
various sources
Citation
Footnotes or citations referring to this collection should include the Kansas Historical Society, State Archives & Library, Woman Suffrage history collection, no. 656, and the appropriate series and / or item identification.
Copyright Notice
This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
The user is cautioned that the publication of the contents of this microfilm may be construed as constituting a violation of literary property rights. These rights are derived from the principle of common law, affirmed in the 1976 copyright act, that the writer of an unpublished letter or other manuscript has the sole right to publish the contents thereof for the duration of the copyright. Unless he or she affirmatively parts with that right, the right descends to his or her legal heirs regardless of the ownership of the physical manuscript itself. It is the responsibility of the author or his or her publisher to secure permission of the owner of literary property rights in unpublished writing.
Processed by
Robert A. McInnes
Prepared for microfilming
November 1996