The papers consist primarily of correspondence and writings detailing Colby's personal life; suffrage activities; and interest in New Thought, history, literature, and philosophy. Through her correspondence and writings the collection documents a lesser-known suffrage organization and strategy. The papers also reveal the intellectual basis of Colby's feminism and her important, although relatively unknown role in publicizing the views of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Many other prominent suffragists also appear in Colby's correspondence; an index to selected correspondence within the Correspondence series is an appendix to this register.
Unfortunately, Colby's presidency of the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association and her committee work for the National-American Suffrage Association are not documented here, and there are no business records of the Woman's Tribune. Some additional correspondence and business and personal papers relating to Colby's life and work are included in a small collection (273 items, including 117 letters from Susan B. Anthony) held by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. The Olympia Brown Papers (1849-1956) at the Schlesinger Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts (approximately 2.0 cubic feet) contains additional materials about the Federal Suffrage Association.
The Colby Papers are organized as BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, DIARIES, CORRESPONDENCE, FEDERAL SUFFRAGE/EQUALITY ASSOCIATION, WOMAN'S TRIBUNE, and WRITINGS. Photographs received with the collection are available in the Name File in the Visual Materials Archives.
BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL includes clippings concerning Clara Colby's public lectures, suffrage activities, and divorce; drafts of a blue book entry; a memorial sketch written by Olympia Brown; and anecdotes compiled by Mrs. Colby's niece. Olympia Brown Willis' book about Colby, Democratic Ideals: a Memorial Sketch of Clara B. Colby (1917), can be found in the SHSW Library. Memorabilia and printed material filed here includes convention and meeting programs, invitations, membership cards, broadsides published by various women's organizations, Colby's naturalization certificate (1888) and war correspondent's pass (1898), and announcements and programs advertising her lectures.
There are five DIARIES in the collection. The first is a 15-page section apparently cut from a larger volume which contains short entries about her thoughts and activities as a student in 1868. Another describes her 1909 tour of the West Coast during which she lectured and attended New Thought gatherings. Three diaries, 1913-1915, pertain to her personal life and to her suffrage and New Thought activities.
The CORRESPONDENCE is the richest and most significant portion of the collection. This section is organized alphabetically, with separate files on individual suffrage leaders with whom the correspondence is extensive (Anthony, Brown, Lockwood, and Stanton) and general suffrage and personal files. An index of selected correspondents is appended to this register. The files on the suffrage leaders primarily contain incoming correspondence reflecting both Colby's personal and professional relationships with these leaders of the women's rights movement. The Susan B. Anthony correspondence file also includes copies of letters from Stanton and from suffrage supporters in the U.S. Congress. Most of these concern efforts on behalf of suffrage and may have been intended for publication in the Tribune. Letters from Olympia Brown begin with her acceptance of a seat on the NAWSA committee which sought to bring a federal suffrage bill before Congress. The remainder pertain to her partnership with Colby in the Federal Suffrage Association. Correspondence from Belva A. Lockwood concerns efforts to secure hearings for suffrage bills before Congress and Lockwood's legal career. Letters from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Colby, many of which are fragmentary, pertain to the publication of Stanton's reminiscences and the “Woman's Bible” in the Woman's Tribune. Many letters also contain Stanton's candid opinions about contemporary events and other suffrage leaders. Also included here are two manuscripts by Stanton, one on the Bloomer dress reform and the other a critique of institutional food.
The personal correspondence section contains both incoming and outgoing letters to family members dating from Colby's years as a college student until her death in 1916. These letters discuss farm, family, and college life, and reflect her relationships with her parents, grandparents, and daughter Zintka. Also included are typewritten excerpts and transcripts of letters exchanged between Clara and her parents and grandparents made by one of Clara's nieces. These were copied from original letters also found in this part of the collection. Correspondence between Clara and Leonard Colby and their lawyers concern the couple's separation, divorce, financial arrangements, and daughter.
The general correspondence pertaining to Colby's suffrage work and other activities contains letters from many noted suffrage leaders and friends such as Carrie Chapman Catt; Anna Howard Shaw; Marilla Ricker; Susan Look Avery; Matilda Joselyn Gage; Laura DeForce Gordon; May Wright Sewall; Harriet Taylor Upton; and officers and members of suffrage organizations such as the NWSA, NAWSA, International Woman Suffrage Alliance, the International Council of Women, the Women's Freedom League, and various state associations. This correspondence documents suffrage strategies, state and national level campaigns, organizational conflicts, and, at times, personal frictions. There is some overlap in this section with the Federal Suffrage Association material discussed below. While the majority of the suffrage letters filed here are incoming, the proportion of outgoing correspondence increases through the years. Much of the later correspondence concerns Colby's efforts on behalf of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exhibition held in San Francisco for which she organized the Congress of the Federal Suffrage Association and a New Thought exposition.
Papers of the FEDERAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION document its last few years most thoroughly and consist primarily of correspondence. Most of the letters are copies of outgoing correspondence Colby wrote in her capacity as corresponding secretary. Also included are an account book of contributions, membership lists, expenses, and copies of Colby's statements and testimony before Congress promoting federal suffrage legislation.
WOMAN'S TRIBUNE material is almost entirely comprised of incoming letters from supporters and subscribers. There is very little to document the newspaper's day-to-day operations, although numerous letters filed with suffrage correspondence and Stanton's letters do include references to the paper's financial difficulties, Colby's work as an editor and publisher, and her efforts to gain subscribers. A complete file of the Woman's Tribune, 1883-1909, is available in the SHSW Library. Also available in the library is an incomplete file of the National Bulletin, a monthly publication Colby edited while living in Washington, D.C. between 1890 and 1896.
Colby's WRITINGS consist primarily of handwritten and typed manuscripts, notes and notebooks, several speeches, and a few published articles and essays. The manuscripts, which are arranged alphabetically by title or subject, address a broad range of topics and include an unpublished book “London Past and Present”. The numbered notebooks and loose notes vary in their contents. Some summarize lectures Colby attended and books she read. Others contain research notes about prominent women and their achievements, the status of women in other societies, marriage, the roles of women in Greek and English literature, and religious teachings regarding women. Other notebooks and loose notes concern metaphysics, spirituality, eastern religions and systems of belief, and ancient and biblical mythology. Some of the notebooks are dated and several are indexed. Clippings are scattered throughout the loose notes and in a few of the notebooks. Some of the literary and biblical passages quoted in the loose notes were probably published in the Tribune.
Colby's speeches concern the progress of women's rights, and the origins of suffrage, and include testimonials to Stanton, Anthony, Lockwood, and other prominent suffragists possibly given before suffrage conventions. Two addresses about the Centennial Exposition are also filed here.
