Women in Politics: woman suffrage
This poster was posted in all election and
polling places in Grand Rapids, Mich., Nov.
3, 1908. Bentley Historical Library Broadside
Collection.
Starting in 1866, Michigan women had on several occasions reason to believe that they would be allowed to vote, as bills to grant women the right to vote were considered by the state government. These attempts were all unsuccessful, however. The Michigan State Woman Suffrage Association (1870-1874), and then the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association tirelessly militated in favor of women suffrage. In 1918, Michigan male voters approve a state constitutional amendment granting suffrage to Michigan women. Finally in 1920 the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, which prohibited state and federal agencies from gender-based restrictions on voting.
Most collections listed here represent the lives and views of women's rights activists, but some also document opposing views, thus illustrating the longstanding debate on woman suffrage in the state.
Aldinger, Ella H.
- Ella H. Aldinger papers, 1916-1933.
- .1 linear ft.
President of the Michigan League of Women Voters and member of the Legislative Council of Michigan Women.
Correspondence, minutes of meetings, newspaper clippings and printed material relating to her activities on behalf of woman suffrage and social reform.
Ball, A. R. (Alexander Rawson)
- A.R. Ball papers, 1897-1902 and ca. 1976-1979.
- .2 linear ft. (50 items and 1 v.)
Corunna, Michigan physician and temperance spokesman.
Letter, Apr. 21, 1900, from Susan B. Anthony, concerning woman suffrage; suffrage-temperance address; and collected materials, ca. 1976-1979 on Susan B. Anthony and on the Ball family; ...
Banks, Sarah Gertrude
- Sarah Gertrude Banks papers, 1842-1932.
- 1 linear foot and 2 oversize folders.
Detroit, Michigan, physician; early woman graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, class of 1873; woman's rights advocate, especially of the right to vote.
Letters to and from family members; letter from Anna Howard Shaw, 1906, regarding woman suffrage; medical case notebooks, 1863-1905; collected letters from other members of her extended family, including Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Wixom, founders of the village of Wixom in Southeast Michigan, and the Sibley family; biographical and genealogical materials; and visual materials.
Barbour, Levi L.
- Levi L. Barbour papers, 1857-1926.
- .5 linear ft. (2 boxes), 2 outsize folders, and 1 outsize v.
Lawyer and regent of the University of Michigan, 1892-1898 and 1902-1908.
Correspondence, poems, articles, addresses, account book, and Delta Kappa Epsilon autograph book; letter book, 1883-1884, dealing mainly with prisons and jails in Michigan which Barbour inspected; scrapbook of miscellaneous clippings and scattered correspondence; and photographs. Includes notes and 1909 clippings about woman suffrage and women's rights.
Behnke, Zoe Ann Bliss
- Behnke, Zoe Ann Bliss, collector
- 0.5 linear feet.
Woman suffrage movement in Washtenaw County, 1910-1913.
Collected photocopies from area newspapers (with index) concerning the woman's suffrage movement in Washtenaw County, Michigan; include articles concerning the establishment and activities of the Ann Arbor Equal Suffrage Association, the Ypsilanti Equal Suffrage Association, and (following merger in 1912) the Washtenaw Equal Suffrage Association.
William and Alde L.T. Blake amidst a group of men and women, possibly the
Michigan Equal Suffrage Association. Blake Family papers, Folder "Photos".
Blake family
- Blake family papers, ca. 1872-1920.
- .3 linear ft. and 1 oversize folder.
William and Alde L. T. Blake of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
...scrapbook, ca. 1876-1920, and other papers of Alde L. T. Blake, campaign secretary for the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, including correspondence with Jane Addams, July 13, 1912, Woodbridge N. Ferris, and Anna Howard Shaw; and photographs. Include photos of Anna Howard Shaw, Jeanette Rankin, and others following a lecture by Dr. Shaw; also group photos, possibly of woman suffrage groups.
Alde Blake papers are photocopies. Originals are at Radcliffe College Archives. Need permission of Radcliffe College to publish quotations.
Bryce, James Bryce, viscount
- James Bryce letters, 1886-1888 and 1907-1912.
- 1 folder. Photocopies and typescripts of photocopies (originals in Bodleian Library, Oxford University).
Letters from James B. Angell and Thomas M. Cooley concerning woman suffrage, local politics, prohibition, and the possibilty of Bryce giving the commencement address at the University of Michigan in 1908.
Ellsworth, Mary
- Mary Ellsworth papers, ca. 1880-1983.
- .5 linear ft. and 1 oversize folder.
Naturalist and historian at the Nankin Mills Nature Center near Westland, Michigan.
... collected historical material including child’s diary, 1902-1903, and North family papers containing essay about women's suffrage, 1881;...
Fox, Emma A.
Emma A. Fox (right) with other Michigan ladies on the board walk in Atlantic City, N.J., 20 May 1941. Emma Augusta Fox Papers, Folder "Photographs".
- Emma Augusta Stowell Fox papers 1894-1945.
- 0.7 linear ft.
Detroit, Michigan, author and teacher of parliamentary practice for women's organizations.
Letters exchanged between Mrs. Fox and various women and women's organizations (particularly state federations of women's clubs) concerning club activities; also letter, 1903, from Jane Addams; and photographs.
Gardner, Nannette B. E.
- Nannette B. E. Gardner papers, 1871-1893.
- .1 linear ft. and 1 outsize folder.
Detroit, Michigan, woman suffrage leader.
Scrapbooks containing biographical sketch of Mrs. Gardner and members of her family; two pages of a diary on voting in Detroit, Michigan, 1871; miscellaneous papers which largely relate to woman suffrage; and visual materials.
Lucia Grimes in 1924. Lucia I.V. Grimes
Papers, Box 4, Folder "Photographs".
Grimes, Lucia Isabelle Voorhees
- Lucia I. V. Grimes papers, 1912-1949.
- 4 linear ft. and 3 oversize items.
Suffragist, leader of the Michigan Branch of the National Woman's Party, and candidate for the Michigan legislature in 1924.
Correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, periodicals and other materials concerning her activities in the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, the Legislative Council of Michigan Women, the National Woman's Party, and the Republican Party; also photographs and transcript of oral interview conducted by Patricia Pilling. Correspondents include: League of Women Voters, Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs, National Civil Service Reform League, National Woman's Party, Alice Paul, and Arthur H. Vandenberg.
Emily Grimes (Lucia Grimes'daughter) at the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage headquarters, circa 1915.
Lucia I.V. Grimes Papers, Box 4, Folder "Photographs". Click for larger.
Hall, Olivia Bigelow
- Olivia B. Hall papers, 1869-1905.
- 1 microfilm reel : negative. Originals in: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D. C.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, suffragist.
Correspondence and other materials relating to the woman suffrage movement; include correspondence with Susan B. Anthony.
Harper, Ida Husted
- Ida Husted Harper manuscript biography, undated.
- 2 v. (363 p.)
Biography of Anna Howard Shaw, Michigan temperance and suffrage reformer.
Hutchins, Harry Burns
- Harry Burns Hutchins papers, 1879-1930.
- 22 linear ft.
Professor of law and president of the University of Michigan
Correspondence, reports, and speeches relating to all aspects of his University activities; and visual materials. Includes numerous letters about woman suffrage, and one letter justifying his refusal to allow Jane Addams to speak in university building.
Lacy, Arthur J.
Executive Board of the Detroit Federation of Women's Clubs in the 1920's.
Arthur Lacy Papers, Box 9, Folder "Photographs: Personal". Click for larger.
- Arthur J. Lacy papers, 1891-1975.
- 10 linear ft., 2 oversize folders, and 1 oversize vol.
Detroit, Michigan, attorney and judge, Democratic candidate for governor in 1934.
Includes photo of Executive Board, Detroit Federation of Women's Clubs, 1920s.
Marston, Mary Olive
- Mary O. Marston papers, 1870-1924.
- 125 items.
Student at University of Michigan, later professor of Greek at Wellesley College.
Largely correspondence written to her mother while attending the University in the 1870's, including mention of class activities, and her impressions of fellow students, faculty and University president James B. Angell, and her account of woman suffrage.
McClure, Grace
- Grace McClure reminiscences, 1958-1959.
- 75 p.
Resident of Saginaw, Michigan.
Description of her early life in Saginaw, including mention of prominent families, Republican politics, Theodore Roosevelt, and the woman suffrage movement.
Murray, Mary Dunham
- Mary Dunham Murray speech, ca. 1913
- 1 item.
Speech regarding women's suffrage.
Last two pages of Mary D. Murray's speech in favor or woman's suffrage, circa 1913. Mary Dunham Murray speech. Click for larger.
Newkirk, Henry Wirt
- Henry W. Newkirk papers, 1862-1931.
- 0.5 linear ft.
Attorney, from Luther and Dexter, Michigan, Republican state representative from Osceola and Lake counties, Michigan, 1893-1894, Dexter businessman, Washtenaw County, Michigan probate judge, state representative from Washtenaw County, 1907-1910 and 1917-1918, and mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1931-1933.
Correspondence; two volumes of speeches and other writings concerning prohibition, woman suffrage, and other political and patriotic subjects; scrapbook, family materials, and miscellanea.
Norris family
- Norris family papers, 1815-1960.
- 3 linear ft. and 1 oversize folder.
Norris family of Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
... papers of ... Roccena Vaill Norris, local teacher and woman's rights advocate, relating in part to the Civil War, her interest in the cause of coeducation and suffrage for women and her involvement in the First Presbyterian Church of Ypsilanti;...
Political Equality Club (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
- Political Equality Club minutes, 1894-1900.
- 2 v.
Woman suffrage organization headed by Olivia Hall.
Eliza Read Sunderland. Eliza Jane Read
Sunderland Papers, Box 4, Folder
"Obituaries of Eliza Sunderland, 1910".
Sunderland, Eliza R.
- Eliza Jane Read Sunderland papers, 1865-1910.
- 4 linear ft.
Lecturer, educator, author and advocate of women's rights from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Correspondence, articles, lectures, sermons, and University of Michigan student notebooks with notes on the lectures of John Dewey, Henry C. Adams, Fred N. Scott, and James H. Tufts. Correspondents include: Henry C. Adams, James B. Angell, Association for the Advancement of Women, Augusta J. Chapin, Robert Collyer, Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, Caroline B. Crane, John Dewey, Samuel A. Eliot, William C. Gannett, Edward E. Hale, Julia Ward Howe, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Myra B. Jordan, the Michigan Equal Suffrage Association, the Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Alliance of Unitarian and other Liberal Christian Women, Lucinda Stone, and the Women's Western Unitarian Conference.
Cover of a brochure of the Working
Women's Protective Union, 1886.
Eliza Jane Read Sunderland Papers,
Box 4, Folder "Working Women".
Taylor family
- Taylor family papers, 1827-1908.
- 4 linear ft.
Albion, Michigan, family.
Papers of Barton Stout Taylor, Methodist clergyman, including correspondence relating primarily to family affairs and religious matters; sermons, articles, and addresses concerning slavery, temperance, the Prohibition Party, woman suffrage, and the Methodist Church; ...
Thomas, Nathan M.
- Nathan M. Thomas papers, 1818-1889.
- 2 linear ft. (3 boxes) and 1 outsize folder
Quaker abolitionist and physician in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and Schoolcraft, Michigan.
Correspondence of Thomas, his wife Pamela S. Brown Thomas, his children Ella, Malcolm, and Stanton, and relatives, friends, public leaders, abolitionists, and publishers, dealing largely with family affairs, land transactions, medical discoveries, woman suffrage, the Liberty Party, and anti-slavery activities;...
Todd, Laurence
- Laurence Todd papers, 1902-1957.
- 1 linear ft.
Michigan-born newspaperman, reporter for newspapers in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Sacramento and San Francisco, California; Washington correspondent for the International News Service, Non-Partisan Leader, Federated Press, and TASS (the telegraph agency of the Soviet Union), and Secretary to Socialist Congressman Meyer London, 1915-1916.
Letters to members of his family describing his journalistic activities and political events of the day;... Some letters (1911-1920) detail his views on suffrage for women.
Wheeler, Reuben
- Reuben Wheeler records, 1835-1891.
- 4 v. (1 box) and 1 oversize folder.
Grand Rapids, Michigan builder.
Account books for his building concerns in Amherstburg, Ontario, and Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, also newspaper clippings concerning the women's rights movement and temperance campaign; and front elevation of a building.
Lucinda Sexton Wilcox.
Lucinda S. Wilcox Papers, Folder
"Photographs".
Wilcox, Lucinda S.
- Lucinda S. Wilcox papers, 1853-1886.
- ca. 50 items.
Homeopathic physician in Louisiana and Detroit, Michigan.
Letters concerning personal matters, women's rights and her medical practice with women and children; also promotional material concerning her practice, and application of the Electro Thermal Bath.
Woman Suffrage Movement in Washtenaw County
- Woman suffrage movement in Washtenaw County, 1910-1913.
- 0.5 linear feet.
Collected photocopies from area newspapers (with index) concerning the woman's suffrage movement in Washtenaw County, Michigan; include articles concerning the establishment and activities of the Ann Arbor Equal Suffrage Association, the Ypsilanti Equal Suffrage Association, and (following merger in 1912) the Washtenaw Equal Suffrage Association.
Developed by Dominique Daniel, a graduate student at the School of Information, June 2008.