Title: Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association Records
Inclusive Dates: 1883-1925

Creator:

• Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association

Call Number: Wis Mss HV; Micro 870

Quantity: 7.2 c.f. (27 archives boxes) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Correspondence, minutes of meetings, microfilmed scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, and other materials created and collected by the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association and its contemporary, the Political Equality League. The collection includes correspondence and minutes collected by Theodora Youmans, and articles pertaining to state and national suffrage activities, prominent suffrage personalities, and opposition to suffrage for women.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000hv

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The Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (originally named the Wisconsin Woman's Suffrage Association) was formed in 1882 following nearly two decades of local and statewide suffrage organizing activities. The new group initiated legislative and court actions, at first aimed at school and municipal elections, designed to win voting rights for women. Rev. Olympia Brown was chosen as WWSA president, but the organization which she oversaw never developed the wide base of support necessary for success. By 1910, WWSA membership had fallen to less than 70, and Rev. Brown's leadership was challenged by younger members seeking a change in the direction of the organization. On April 4, 1911 several of these members left the WWSA, and formed the Political Equality League, with Ada James as the first president.

Both organizations continued to press for suffrage reform, although the PEL soon surpassed the WWSA in size and energy. Each group established headquarters in Milwaukee and employed professional organizers for the first time. Under James's leadership, the PEL assumed an active role in the suffrage movement, as contrasted to the passivism of the WWSA, despite occasional cooperative endeavors on specific activities. Belle Case La Follette worked with the PEL, and following her advice, the League (and ultimately the WWSA as well) began to organize at the grassroots level, conducting suffrage auto tours, membership drives, fund raising, and other publicity events.

The major effort of both the PEL and WWSA was directed toward enlisting voter support for the November 1912 suffrage referendum in Wisconsin. The suffragists campaigned throughout Wisconsin, speaking at state and county fairs, sending letters, conducting auto tours, holding rallies and sponsoring advertisements in newspapers. Although the referendum was defeated by a large margin, the suffrage groups provided much publicity for their cause, and promoted a new awareness of women's issues.

In 1913, the Political Equality League and the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association merged under the name of the Association. Work for woman suffrage continued, but ultimate success did not come until June 1919, when Wisconsin became the first state to ratify the newly-passed Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, extending the rights of suffrage to women.

Both the Political Equality League and the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association are represented in the collection. The majority of the paper portion of the collection is one chronological run of official correspondence of the Association kept by Mrs. Youmans consisting of letters received and carbon copies of replies, financial and legislative reports, press releases, other records filed together. One volume contains minutes of meetings, 1904-1918. One box contains materials, 1910-1920, received from Mrs. Jessie Jack Hooper, legislative chairman of the association, containing some correspondence of the Political Equality League. The scrapbooks of clippings are available only on microfilm.

The chronological correspondence traces the history of the fusions and dissensions in the Association and its reorganization as the League of Women Voters. They show, too, the connections of the suffragists with political parties and other women's organizations; their interest in progressive legislation; and their patriotic services during the World War.

Among the state and national officers of the Association whose letters appear here are Mrs. Meta Berger, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Antoinette Funk, Zona Gale, Ada L. James, Mrs. Rachel S. Jastrow, Mrs. Belle Case La Follette, and Mrs. Jennie McMullin Turner. There are historical and biographical sketches of the organization and its leaders.

Further papers concern Mrs. Youman's work as chairman of the Woman's Division of the Republican State Central Committee and as member of the National Committee of Policies and Platform of the party in 1920.

The ten microfilmed scrapbooks consist entirely of newspaper clippings, primarily from Wisconsin newspapers, with a few miscellaneous items included. The clippings were gathered by a Milwaukee clipping service, on such topics as state and national suffrage activities and events, prominent women's rights personalities, and opposition to suffrage for women.

The clippings regarding the Political Equality League comprised five scrapbooks, dating from June 1911 to 1912. The remaining clippings pertain to the work of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association; the majority date from October 1916 to October 1919, with additional miscellaneous clippings and other material from 1883 to 1919. Following the dated clippings is a group of clippings which could not be dated or otherwise identified.

For further information about the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association and the Political Equality League, see Marilyn Grant, “The 1912 Suffrage Referendum: An Exercise in Political Action,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 64 (Winter 1980-1981), pp. 107-118. Related collections in the Historical Society's Archives Division include the Ada L. James papers (Wis Mss OP).

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Mrs. H. M. Youmans Estate, 1933, and by Mrs. Jessie Jack Hooper, 1925; scrapbooks transferred from the Historical Society Library, 1980.

Processing Information

Scrapbooks prepared for microfilming by Susan Bertocchi and Carolyn Mattern, May 1981.

Wis Mss HV	Series: Correspondence, 1892-1925
Box   1	1892-1912
Box   2	1913
Box   3	1914 January-April
Box   4	1914 May-August
Box   5	1914 September-November
Box   6	1914 December-1915 February
Box   7	1915 March-August
Box   8	1915 September-1916 January
Box   9	1916 February-May
Box   10	1916 June-August
Box   11	1916 September-December
Box   12	1917 January-March
Box   13	1917 April-June 14
Box   14	1917 June 15-September
Box   15	1917 October-November
Box   16	1917 December-1918 January
Box   17	1918 February-May
Box   18	1918 June-August
Box   19	1918 September-November
Box   20	1918 December-1919 January
Box   21	1919 February-May
Box   22	1919 June-September
Box   23	1919 October-December
Box   24	1920 January-July
Box   25	1910 August-1925; undated
Box   26	Material from Jessie Jack Hooper, 1910-1920
Box   27 Volume   1	Minutes of meetings, 1904-1918
Micro 870	Microfilmed scrapbooks