Manuscripts Collection
The Minnesota Woman, Suffrage Association (MWSA) was founded in Hastings, Minnesota, in 1881. The establishment of this group marked the beginning of a united effort to gain equal suffrage for women in Minnesota. Prior to this time, suffrage was an issue that had met with only sporadic success in Minnesota. Several special laws and an amendment to the state constitution had been passed that permitted women to vote for designated local candidates and issues. This early legislation was enacted in spite of the absence of a systematic organizational effort to promote the suffrage movement on both the state and national levels.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the MWSA adopted a "moderate" approach to achieving equal suffrage. It promoted suffrage by distributing educational literature from suffrage booths at the Minnesota State Fair and at other expositions and by petitioning Minnesota state legislators to introduce suffrage legislation. The MWSA also began to establish local auxiliaries in communities around the state. Although these auxiliaries and other Minnesota suffrage groups shared a common goal, they were not yet linked by a statewide organizational network. Important individuals in the MWSA during this early period included Sarah Burger Stearns, first president, 1881-1883; Julia B. Nelson, fifth president, 1890-1896; Maud Stockwell, eighth president, 1900-1910; Alice Hall, tenth president, 1911-1913; and Harriet E. Bishop.
National woman suffrage groups were restructuring their organizations during this period, and the suffrage movement was gaining momentum. In 1890 the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) merged to become the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). These organizations were founded separately in 1869 when a dispute over strategies split the suffrage movement. The NWSA, a more militant group led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, favored amending the United States Constitution. The AWSA, a more moderate group led by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward, advocated amending state constitutions. Following their merger, the NAWSA adopted a policy of promoting amendments to both the United States Constitution and individual state constitutions. The new national organization adopted the moderate, educational approach to achieving equal suffrage but did not yet have a plan that would unite all suffragists. By 1914 the suffrage cause had not gained many victories. Only six states passed equal suffrage legislation between 1896 and 1914. Suffragists discovered that the lack of a strong organization, difficulty in amending state constitutions, outspoken opposing organizations such as the National Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, liquor interests, and a continuing division among suffragists themselves hindered the success of the movement both nationally and in the states.
In response to this situation, the NWSA and its state auxiliaries decided to focus their efforts on amending only the United States Constitution and adopted new administrative procedures that unified their organization. The new administrative structure linked the NWSA and its state affiliates in a systematic network that offered efficient communication, consistent funding, and common tactics. Professional organizers traveled around the United States, spending from a few months to several years in a state to organize its suffrage campaign.
In response to this situation, the NWSA and its state auxiliaries decided to focus their efforts on amending only the United States Constitution and adopted new administrative procedures that unified their organization. The new administrative structure linked the NWSA and its state affiliates in a systematic network that offered efficient communication, consistent funding, and common tactics. Professional organizers traveled around the United States, spending from a few months to several years in a state to organize its suffrage campaign.
Suffragists revived the movement by employing new tactics, such as suffrage parades and rallies that brought the suffrage issue into prominent national view and utilized new and existing forms of technology to serve their cause. The automobile enabled suffragists to disseminate information rapidly and to make personal visits to even the most remote areas. Signs on autos advertised "Votes for Women" daily. Suffragists captured the attention of the news as groups of women embarked on cross-country promotional auto tours. Women stunt pilots performed aerial shows; suffrage trains toured the country. The Mississippi Valley Suffrage Association sponsored a suffrage barge that plied its way down the Mississippi River from Minnesota to St. Louis, Missouri, promoting suffrage in towns along the way. Photography illustrated many of these events in various suffrage and other publications.
Under the leadership of Clara (Mrs. Andreas) Ueland, who served as president from 1914 to 1919, the MWSA followed the lead of the NAWSA. In 1915 Minnesota suffragists were encouraged to promote only the national Anthony Amendment to the United States Constitution; all efforts to amend the Minnesota State Constitution were discouraged. Despite these directives, a bill authorizing presidential suffrage was introduced and passed in the Minnesota state legislature in 1919. The MWSA also initiated an administrative reorganization in 1915. The new plan created a statewide network of community and district suffrage groups, organized by legislative district, that would hold regular meetings, recruit new members, distribute literature, lobby legislators, and sponsor fund-raising events. Fund-raising events served two purposes: new members were recruited for suffrage groups, and proceeds from these events were distributed among the local, state, and national organizations to fund their operations. By 1916 several professional organizers, notably Rene E. H. Stevens and Bertha Moller, had been hired to implement the new plan.
Despite the renewed efforts to secure suffrage, some suffragists felt that the movement was hampered by the activities of another suffrage group, the National Woman's Party. This organization, originally called the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, was founded in 1912 by Alice Paul. Its name was changed in 1916 when it was reorganized as a political party. Its members believed that tactics much more militant than those of the NAWSA were necessary to secure suffrage. Demonstrations in front of the White House in 1917 led to the arrest and jailing of women picketers, who refused to pay fines to avoid imprisonment. Their subsequent hunger strike and forced feeding received national news coverage. The NWSA and the MWSA, concerned about their image, officially disassociated themselves from any actual or implied link with the National Woman's Party.
Suffragists also viewed two other events as adverse influences on the success of the movement. Some felt that the entry of the United States into World War I diverted the efforts of some women from suffrage work to wartime social causes. Many suffragists, however, believed that this situation was mitigated by the increased employment of women in jobs formerly held only by men, which helped to improve public attitudes toward women's capabilities. In addition the widespread influenza epidemic of 1918 appeared to be a setback, since suffrage meetings were disrupted for months in Minnesota and elsewhere when all public meetings and gatherings were officially banned.
The so-called Anthony Amendment, which was first introduced in the United States Senate in 1878, finally was passed by Congress in June, 1919. After its passage, suffragists in Minnesota and around the country petitioned governors to call special legislative sessions to ratify the amendment. The Minnesota State Legislature ratified it at a special session held on September 8, 1919. The Anthony Amendment became the nineteenth amendment to the United State Constitution after the Tennessee State Legislature ratified it in August, 1920.
As each state ratified the Anthony Amendment, the NAWSA and its affiliates turned their attention to analyzing the future of the suffrage organizations. The NAWSA concluded that suffrage groups could be of service in educating newly enfranchised women and immigrants in the areas of citizenship and voting. The NAWSA, therefore, was reorganized as the American League of Women Voters (ALWV) at a national convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in March 1919. State organizations followed this lead. On October 28-29, 1919, the MWSA was reorganized into the Minnesota League of Women Voters (MLWV) with Clara Ueland as president.
The records of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA) (undated and 1894-1923) consist of correspondence and related records, subject files, printed materials, photographs, newspaper clippings, minutes and other record books, and scrapbooks. Although the MWSA was organized in 1881, there are few records that predate 1900. Two separate fires destroyed the early records, and it is also questionable whether certain types of records ever existed.
They provide information on the MWSA's organizational work at the state, district, and local levels; on public attitudes toward suffrage issues; on life in small-town Minnesota; on interstate cooperation among suffrage groups; on the role of various non-suffrage organizations in the movement; and on suffrage and related bills introduced into the Minnesota legislature. There is a history of woman suffrage in Minnesota, by Julia B. Nelson (circa 1900); data on a convention of the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Association (1916); an extensive file of pro- and anti-suffrage literature; and information on peace, temperance, child welfare, women's rights, voter education, and other issues of interest to the suffragists.
Primary correspondents include officers and members of the MWSA and of similar groups in Minnesota and other states, and state and national politicians and other public figures. They include Clara Ueland, Alice Hall, Maud Stockwell, Bertha Moller, Rene E. H. Stevens, Carrie Chapman Catt, Anna H. Shaw, Jane Addams, Harriet Taylor Upton, William D. Washburn, Charles Pillsbury, and Marion D. Shutter.
Although most of the records were created by the MWSA, the collection also contains some records of the Minnesota League of Women Voters (MLWV), the Hennepin County Suffrage Association (HCSA), and the Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association (SWSA). The HCSA originally was organized in 1913 as the Equal Suffrage Association of Minneapolis. It was reorganized and the name changed to the HCWSA in November, 1915
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Original materials that have been microfilmed are closed to general use.
St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society, [1985].
Available on interlibrary loan, and for sale to Minnesota residents and institutions, from the Minnesota Historical Society. Inquiries regarding purchase by non-Minnesota residents and institutions should be directed to LexisNexis.
Accession numbers: 1879; 1970; 1996; 3484; 3768; 4338; 4611; 5131A; 6597; 12,714; 13,563; 13,665; 16,431.
Clippings scrapbooks (volumes 15-26) were destroyed after filming.
Processed by: Rosemary Palmer, December 1985.
Catalog ID number: 001732580
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics
should
The Correspondence and Related Records (undated and 1898-1921) are arranged chronologically. The series opens with a small group of articles of incorporation, constitutions, and bylaws (undated and 1902-1915). The remainder of the series consists primarily of letters sent and received, responses to surveys of state legislators, and compiled lists of MWSA members and supporters and survey results.
Most of the correspondence focuses on the organizational work of the MWSA on the state, district, and local levels. It reveals the diverse techniques used to organize suffrage groups throughout Minnesota and discloses the attitudes of politicians, suffrage workers, and local townspeople toward suffrage issues. Descriptions of Minnesota towns, automobile and train travel, and the 1918 influenza epidemic contribute to an understanding of the life and times of suffrage workers.
Primary correspondents include the presidents of the MWSA, MWSA committee members, organizers and members of Minnesota auxiliary suffrage groups, nationally prominent suffragists and those active in other states, and state and national politicians. Numerous Minnesota and non-Minnesota suffrage organizations also are represented, as are non-suffrage organizations.
Prominent Minnesota suffragist correspondents include Clara Ueland, Alice Hall, and Maud Stockwell, presidents of the MWSA; and Bertha Moller and Rene E. H. Stevens, paid organizers. Letters written by Stevens between 1916 and 1919 describe in great detail the physical appearance of many Minnesota towns and the personalities and political attitudes of the townspeople.
Non-Minnesota suffragist correspondents include Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw, presidents of NAWSA; Jane Addams, founder of Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago; and Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. Personal letters and printed newsletters from these people discuss the progress of the suffrage movement, upcoming events, and interstate cooperation among suffrage groups.
Other correspondents include state and national politicians whom the MWSA lobbied to secure passage of the equal suffrage amendment. Some of this correspondence consists of returned form letters that were sent to all Minnesota state legislators to survey their attitudes toward suffrage. They contain replies that range from one-word answers to more extensive statements about their political stances on the issue. There are also personal letters from Knute Nelson, Frank B. Kellogg, Ole Sageng, several Minnesota governors, and other prominent state and national politicians. Other notable Minnesotans represented in the records include William D. Washburn, Charles Pillsbury, and Marion D. Shutter.
Letters from non-suffrage organizations such as the Socialist Party of Minnesota, the Woman's Welfare League, and the Minnesota Public Safety Commission document the roles that those organizations played in relation to the suffrage movement.
The Subject Files (undated and 1894-1921) are arranged alphabetically by broad subject categories. Some files are subdivided into smaller units. The -- materials in most files or units are in chronological or alphabetical order. Of special note are a typed manuscript of the history of woman suffrage in Minnesota by Julia B. Nelson, circa 1900 (in the Articles and Speeches file); data on the Mississippi Valley Conference of 1916 that was held in Minneapolis (in the Conventions file); lists of Minneapolis labor unions (in the Membership file); citations to suffrage editions of newspapers (in the Newspapers file); and data on the June 9, 1919, victory parade and the September 8, 1919, victory luncheon at the Minnesota State Capitol. An annotated list of subject files following this description gives additional information about the content and arrangement of individual files.
Pro-suffrage speeches; script for a slide show; entries for a suffrage writing contest. Of particular note is a history of suffrage in Minnesota by Julia B. Nelson, ca.1900, a manuscript for a chapter that appeared in a book about the history of suffrage in the United States.
Biographies used for publicity and press releases. Of interest are biographies of Nellie McClung, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw (by Clara Ueland), and an autobiography by Eugenia Farmer. Arranged alphabetically by surname.
Primarily MWSA annual convention materials.
Primarily correspondence relating to the conference held in Minneapolis in 1916 and to the conference planned for South Dakota in 1918.
Correspondence, minutes, and related records.
Pledges of members of suffrage organizations; accounts of state organizers; lists of towns with names of local suffrage organizers.
Copies of proposed legislation; correspondence; attorneys' opinions about the validity of presidential suffrage legislation.
Data collected by the MWSA regarding attitudes of political officers toward suffrage.
Resolutions passed by a wide variety of Minnesota organizations in favor of suffrage.
Miscellaneous information about ratification of the suffrage amendment in Minnesota and nationally; minutes of the 1920 NAWSA convention and the first congress of the League of Women Voters.
Lists of members of a variety of suffrage organizations, including the MWSA and other Minneapolis and St. Paul suffrage clubs.
Miscellaneous information about suffrage clubs, including lists of members. Primarily outstate Minnesota.
Lists of outstate Minnesota newspapers, including names of editors and counties; correspondence; citations to suffrage editions of papers.
Lists of legislators; procedures for organizing a district; records of organizational work. Arranged by district.
Primarily press releases distributed by the MWSA and the NAWSA regarding suffrage events and the progress of the movement. Also includes some reports of the MWSA about the progress of press work.
Lists of participants and organizational information about the victory parade held June 9, 1919, and the victory luncheon held September 8, 1919.
Bulletins published by the WFLI about suffrage in Indiana that were sent to the MWSA.
The Printed Materials (undated and 1867-1926) include booklets, pamphlets, leaflets, handbills, and political cartoons. They are subdivided into pro-suffrage and anti-suffrage materials. The pro-suffrage files are further divided into two units: literature relating to suffrage, and programs and notices of events. The items within each unit are arranged chronologically. The literature file contains several items whose dates either precede or follow the inclusive dates used for the collection, notably texts of speeches given in earlier years that were printed for distribution at a later time and items that were printed after the primary records in the collection were created.
The pro-suffrage literature reflects the attempt by various individuals and organizations to educate the public regarding suffrage issues. There are publications written by Alice Stone Blackwell, Carrie Chapman Catt, Ida Hustad Harper, and Anna Howard Shaw. Organizations represented in the files that distributed suffrage literature include the NAWSA, the MWSA, the NLWV, the National Woman's Party, the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, the Women's Freedom League, the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and other Minnesota and non-Minnesota organizations. There are also publications of non-suffrage organizations that published materials on women's issues, including those of the League of Nations, the National Child Labor Committee, the World Peace Foundation, the Minnesota Prohibition State Committee, and the National Socialist Party.
There are several items of special interest: the lyrics to suffrage songs, primarily undated; the "Traveling Kampaign Kit," September, 1915, that illustrates the methods used to recruit new members for suffrage organizations; and the course lessons of the Suffrage Correspondence School, 1916.
The anti-suffrage file includes publications that were distributed by the National Association Opposed to Further Extension of Suffrage to Women and by the Minneapolis and St. Paul branches of that organization.
The photographs that have been microfilmed (undated and 1915-1922) are arranged alphabetically. A note found with the photos identifies them as members of the League of Women Voters; however, most individual photos were unidentified. It was possible to identify and date most of the photographs by comparing them with pictures in newspaper articles in the collection. Each photograph is accompanied on the microfilm by an identifying target.
Digital version
The Minutes and Other Record Books (1899-1920) are organized in three groups: those of the MWSA (volumes 1-8); those of the Hennepin County Woman Suffrage Association (HCWSA) (volumes 9-11); and that of the Scandinavian Woman Suffrage Association (SWSA) (volume 12). The volumes in each group are arranged chronologically.
Volumes 1-8 consist of minutes of meetings of the executive committee/ board, a treasurer's record book, and proceedings of annual conventions. The minute books also contain financial and committee reports.
Volume 9 contains minutes of meetings of the board of directors and the general membership of the Equal Suffrage Association of Minneapolis, the predecessor of the HCWSA. Of special note in this volume are the organizational records of a May 2, 1914, suffrage parade that was held on the same day as other suffrage parades held throughout the United States. Volumes 10-11 contain minutes of meetings of the general membership and the executive board of the HCWSA; like the minute books of the MWSA, these volumes also contain financial and committee reports.
The contents of volume 12 are not clearly identified, but it may be a record of participants in and donations to a fund-raising event and/or a record of a suffrage booth at the Minnesota State Fair.
The Scrapbooks (undated and 1903-1923), also are divided into three units-those of the MWSA, the HCWSA, and the SWSA--with the volumes in each unit arranged chronologically. Most of the scrapbooks contain only newspaper clippings, although several also contain letters and printed materials of various kinds. A general overview of the clippings in the scrapbooks is given below. More specific information about the contents of individual volumes is contained in an annotated list of volumes that follows the annotated list of subject files.
The clippings cover the history of the suffrage movement from 1903 to 1922. The common themes that most of them share-in addition to the suffrage movement-include World War I; the peace movement; including the international peace mission organized by Henry Ford in 1915; prohibition and the temperance movement; child welfare, including health issues and legislation for child labor laws; women's legal rights, especially the issues of divorce and the ownership of personal property and real estate, child custody, and jury. duty; and the role of women in labor. Volumes that contain clippings from 1919 to 1922 provide extensive information about the reorganization of the Woman Suffrage Association into the League of Women Voters. Issues from this period focus on the education of women and immigrants to prepare them for voting and citizenship. The themes of international peace and disarmament also continue throughout these later clippings.
Brochures, handbills, cards, announcements, letters of congratulation, membership rosters, convention programs, and numerous other items representing events of the I1Votes for Women" movement.
Literature Published by the National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company, Inc., the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association.
Primarily news of Minnesota, 1915-1916. Also contain proof sheets of the "Women's Suffrage Page," published by the MWSA. Loose clippings were placed here to facilitate research.
Minnesota events and conferences, including the suffrage parade, May, 1914, and the Mississippi Valley Conference, May, 1916.
Primarily national and international news reported in the Minneapolis Tribune. Of special interest are such topics as the Henry Ford peace mission, the influence of the suffrage movement on women's fashions, monetary value of nonworking wives, and blacklisting of suffragists, as well as volumes by Margaret Monroe Marshall and Dorothy Dix.
Compiled by Mrs. A. B. Jackson, Minneapolis suffragist. Contains clippings about the anti-suffrage movement in addition to pro-suffrage news.
Except for a few clippings, contains only the "Woman Suffrage Forum" column from the Minneapolis Journal. The "Forum" consists of dual editorial columns expressing the pros and cons of suffrage issues: one column was written by the Equal Suffrage Association of Minneapolis, the other by the Minneapolis Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women.
Minnesota and national issues and events. Of interest from Minnesota are the "Women's Suffrage Forum" column, whose title was changed from "Woman Suffrage Forum"; Minnesota women's roles in World War I; fund-raising events; and the opening of the woman suffrage building at the state fair grounds. Of interest nationally are the election of Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress; the organization of the Woman's Party; and the progress of the federal suffrage amendment.
National and international suffrage issues and events, including World War I-especially the women's overseas hospital; President Wilson's attitudes toward suffrage; and militant suffragist demonstrations in Washington, D.C.
The Minnesota and national push for ratification of the federal suffrage amendment. Topics include Minnesota's ratification, the celebration held at the state Capitol; reorganization of the Minnesota and national chapters of the WSA into the League of Women Voters, and the development of citizenship and other educational programs.
Emphasis is on President Wilson's role in the suffrage movement. Also covered are the~ issues of militant suffragists; World War I and suffrage; state legislatures convening special sessions to ratify the federal amendment; and child labor laws.
A convention scrapbook that includes printing samples and newspaper clippings for the convention that organized the League of Women Voters in St. Louis, Missouri, March 24-29, 1919; the convention that organized the Minnesota league in Minneapolis, October 28-29, 1919; and the first national convention of the league in Chicago, February 12-18, 1920.
The Minnesota convention held October 28-29, 1919, to reorganize the MWSA into the MLWV; and Minnesota's role in the first national league convention held in Chicago, February 12-18, 1920.
Activities of the new MLWV. Included are such topics as nonpartisan political education of women; citizenship, women's and children's rights; the peace movement; national and international armaments limitation and disarmament; women's labor issues; and the Pan-American Conference for Women [1922?].
Clippings and manuscripts of the SWSA relating to its involvement in the activities of the MWSA, including the 1914 suffrage parade and the Woman Citizen Building on the state fair grounds, which was donated by the SWSA.
Fom The Woman's Journal and Suffrage News. Traveling Kampaign Kit.
Indicating counties and congressional districts and showing towns where suffrage organizers had been appointed and where work had been completed.