Size:  .25 linear feet

Provenance:  Purchased from Alan Abrams in 1992.

Access: open

Collection Summary: The collection consists of minutes, 1909-1915; by-laws; speech notes; newspaper clippings; correspondence; pamphlets; and fliers pertaining to the suffrage movement and its activities.

Subject: Women

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

 

Completed by:  April S. Dougal, December 1992

 

Organization History

 

The Toledo Woman's Suffrage Association was founded in 1869. It was among the earliest chapters organized in the country. Sarah S. Bissell, who was a member throughout its existence, was one of the founders. She was an associate of national leaders Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The group was active until 1915 when it merged with the Political Equality League. The last meeting was held at the home of Mrs. Pauline Steinem, grandmother of Gloria Steinem.

 

Scope and Content Note

 

The collection mainly consists of minutes, 1909-1915. There is also correspondence of group members, including a letter from John H Doyle, a lawyer on the bench of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Also included are a number of pamphlets and fliers pertaining to the movement and its activities.

 

Folder-Box Inventory

 

Box	Folder	Item
1	1	Minutes, October 1909 -February 1915
	2	By-Laws of the Political Equality League of Lucas County, Ohio, n.d.
	3	Correspondence, Elizabeth Schauss, February and March 1914
	4	Correspondence, John Doyle to Harriet Bissell, , 1915
	5	Speech Notes [Harriet Bissell?] n.d.
	6	News clippings, 1924, 1927
	7	Pamphlets, n.d.
	8	Flyers, 1915, n.d.