My Scrapbook

Women's Suffrage in Ohio
Printable Version

The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920. This scrapbook documents the efforts of Ohio women to secure the vote between 1850 and 1920.

Ohio Women's Convention Proceedings

Betsy Mix Cowles presided over the convention, held in 1850 in Salem, Ohio.
Kent State University

Amelia Jenks Bloomer Newspaper The Lily

The Lily contains articles on women's rights and temperance. It documents a work stoppage by male press operators in protest of Bloomer's insistence on hiring women for that job.
Knox County Historical Society

Victoria Claflin Woodhull Political Cartoon

In 1871, Woodhull testified before Congress in an attempt to gain women's rights through the citizenship guarantees of the 14th and 15th amendments. When Congress denied her claims, Woodhull decided to run for president.
Licking County Historical Society

Frances Jennings Casement Speech Regarding Woman Suffrage

Casement delivered this speech,"Why Farmers' Wives and All Other Women Should Have the Ballot," at a Farmer's Institute in Lake County, Ohio in the 1880s.
Ohio Historical Society

Frances Jennings Casement Suffrage Diary

Casement kept this diary of the proceedings of the Painesville Equal Rights Association, an organization she co-founded in 1883.
Ohio Historical Society

Susan B. Anthony Letters to Frances Casement Regarding Suffrage Petitions

In these letters from the 1880s, Anthony advises her friend on the workings of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association.
Ohio Historical Society

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association Broadside

This broadside announces the fifth annual Ohio Woman Suffrage Association convention, which was held in Akron in 1889.
Ohio Historical Society

Ohio Woman Suffrage Convention Broadside

This broadside announces the Ohio Woman Suffrage convention held in Warren, Ohio in 1891.
Ohio Historical Society

Susan B. Anthony Letter to Frances Casement Regarding Suffrage Leadership

Anthony thanks Casement for placing a copy of her History of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the local library and remarks on suffrage activities in Ohio.
Ohio Historical Society

Suffrage Handbills

Two handbills belonged to temperance activist Martha McClellan Brown. The first, printed circa 1910, points out that women were allowed to vote in several other countries and asks, "Why not in Ohio?"
Wright State University

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association Correspondence Regarding 1912 Election

Harriet Taylor Upton discusses the campaign of 1912 and the defeat of women's suffrage at the polls.
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Woman's Journal Letter to Vadae G. Meekison

Vadae G. Meekison, an attorney and suffragist of Napoleon, Ohio received this letter in 1912. The letter outlines plans to focus on Ohio suffragists in the upcoming issue of the journal.
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association Fundraising Letters

OWSA president Harriet Taylor Upton suggests that Henry County suffragists appoint voluteers to "secure a number of people to give a dollar a month until suffrage was won."
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Elizabeth J. Hauser Letters to Vadae G. Meekison Regarding Suffrage Campaign in Henry County

Among other suggestions, Hauser recommends that Meekison contact Pauline Steinem, vice-president of OWSA and the grandmother of feminist Gloria Steinem, to speak in Henry County.
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association Letter Regarding Governor Cox and the 1913 Flood

"The suffragists responded nobly to the Governor's call for help and he ought to be feeling rather kindly toward us" declared OWSA president Harriet Taylor Upton in 1914.
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association Letters Regarding Support of Farmers in Henry County

OWSU president Upton asks Vadae Meekison in Napoleon to undertake a campaign to gain the support of farmers for the suffrage cause.
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Guernsey County Women's Suffrage Petition

This 1914 petition for women's suffrage was signed by citizens of Lore City in Guernsey County, Ohio. The form indicates that the person asking for signatures was paid one dollar by the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association.
Ohio Historical Society

Suffragists at Ohio Statehouse Photograph

Shown here are demonstraters on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse in 1914. Not until 1919 did Ohio ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and extend to women the right to vote.
Ohio Historical Society

Ohio Woman Suffrage Association Correspondence Regarding Donation of a Diamond Ring

OWSA President Harriet Taylor Upton gives a report of the touching letter by the woman who donated her diamond ring, her only valuable possession, to the suffrage effort.
Center for Archival Collections, BGSU

Toledo Woman's Suffrage Association Minutes

These minutes from 1915 document the last two meetings of the group before it merged with the Political Equality League. The final meeting was held at the home of Pauline Steinem, grandmother of feminist Gloria Steinem.
Ward M. Canaday Center, University of Toledo

Harriet Taylor Upton Giving Speech Photograph

Upton served as treasurer of the National Woman's Suffrage Association and coordinated the business of the association from her home in Warren from 1903 to 1910.
Ohio Historical Society

Warren G. and Florence Harding Voting Photographs

These photographs show the Hardings voting; Florence Harding was the first First Lady to vote, following passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
Ohio Historical Society

Simeon D. Fess Support for Suffrage Handbill

The handbill recognized the efforts of Simeon D. Fess in support of the women's suffrage movement. It includes notes from Harriet Taylor Upton, vice president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association, and Alice Paul, chair of the National Woman's Party.
Antioch College

Warren G. Harding Women's Campaign Pin

"Under the 19th Amendement, I Cast My First Vote, Nov. 2 1920" reads the text on this pin, which was distributed to women in Cuyahoga County during the 1920 presidential campaign to support the candidacy of Warren G. Harding.
Marion County Historical Society

Adelaide Sterling Ott Photograph

Ott was one of the first women elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. She represented Youngstown from 1922-1928.
Ohio Historical Society