Title: Olympia Brown Collection
Inclusive Dates: 1854-1985 (bulk 1854-1919)

Creator:

• Coté, Charlotte, compiler.

Call Number: UWP Manuscript Collection 31

Quantity: 0.4 cubic feet (1 archives box)
Repository:

University of Wisconsin-Parkside Libraries, Archives Department

Archival Locations:

UW-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)

See the catalog entry for information about possible additional materials and access to the collection.

Abstract:

This collection is comprised of copies of essays and addresses, newspaper clippings, and letters to and from Olympia Brown from 1854 to 1911. Brown was the first fully ordained and denominationally recognized female minister and held positions in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. She was also very active in women's rights, helping to form or hold office in the New England Women's Suffrage Association, National Woman Suffrage Association, Wisconsin Woman's Suffrage Association, and Federal Suffrage Association. These records were compiled by Dr. Charlotte Coté, Professor of American Indian studies at the University of Washington. They were used for her research in writing the biography Olympia Brown: The Battle for Equality.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-pks-uwpksmc031

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Olympia Brown (1835-1926) was the first fully ordained and denominationally recognized female minister. She went on to pastor in churches at Marshfield and Montpelier, Vermont; Weymouth, Massachusetts; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Racine, Wisconsin. In the summer of 1867, Brown delivered more than 300 speeches in Kansas advocating for the passage of an amendment to grant suffrage to women. She dedicated her life to the movement, and worked with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone. Brown formed the New England Women's Suffrage Association. Additionally, she led the Wisconsin Suffrage Association and went on to become the president of the Federal Suffrage Association from 1903 to 1920.

Dr. Charlotte Coté, a member of the Tseshaht First Nation, is an Associate Professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Coté's areas of academic interest are Native sovereignty, law, governance, policy, and treaty rights. She has published in the areas of Native sovereignty in Canada and the United States, traditional Indian law and justice systems, the Makah and Nuu-Chah-Nulth Whaling Tradition, and the Northwest Coast Guardian Spirit Complex.

The collection consists of essays, articles, and letters written by or about Olympia Brown from 1854 to 1911, organized by Dr. Charlotte Coté for use in writing a biography on Olympia Brown. Notably, the collection includes a letter from Susan B. Anthony.

The files are organized alphabetically by personal name or by subject, then chronologically.

See the UWP Libraries' Archives Department Citation Guide for Primary Sources

Olympia Brown Papers (Parkside SC 65) and Unitarian Universalist Church of Racine and Kenosha Records, 1842-1995 (Parkside Mss 14)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law.

Use Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

Permission to publish must come from original repository: Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Custodial History

Acquisition Information

Donated to UW-Parkside Archives and Area Research Center by Charlotte Coté in 2013.

Processing Information

Processed by Doria DeBartolo in 2013; additionally processed by Liz Antaramian in 2016.

Box   1 Folder   1	Addresses, 1893-1906
Box   1 Folder   2	Biographical information, 1882-1985
Box   1 Folder   3	Brown’s letters to news editors, 1906-1917
Box   1 Folder   4	Brown on women’s suffrage, 1912-1919
Box   1 Folder   5	Correspondence from Brown, 1869-1919
Box   1 Folder   6	Correspondence to Brown, 1867-1883
	Essays
Box   1 Folder   7	1854-1856
Box   1 Folder   8	1860
Box   1 Folder   9	1867
	News clippings
Box   1 Folder   10	1877-1890
Box   1 Folder   11	1901-1917
Box   1 Folder   12	Sermons, 1868-1893
Box   1 Folder   13	Susan B. Anthony, 1876-1899