IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
IOWA SUFFRAGE MEMORIAL
COMMISSION
RECORDS, ca. 1906-1941
2.5 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no. 18) were donated to
Special Collections Department, University of Iowa Libraries, by the State
Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, in 1971. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open
for research. |
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PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In box 1. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Michelle Galvin, 1992, and Special Collections staff. |
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History
The
Iowa Suffrage Memorial Commission was organized “to commemorate the efforts of
the Pioneer Suffragists and the long procession of workers who helped to secure
the final enfranchisement of women.”
The commission succeeded in having a bas relief in bronze erected in the
state capital building in Des Moines; it was unveiled on May 10, 1936. The work was sculpted by Nellie V. Walker, a
native of Moulton, Iowa. The commission
also worked with Edgar R. Harlan, a state historian, to preserve documentation
of the Iowa women’s suffrage movement.
After
its incorporation in 1922, the commission’s first president was Lola B. Miller,
who served until she moved to California; thereafter she was president
emeritus. Mary Ankeny Hunter of Des
Moines was president from 1930 to 1936.
Carrie Chapman Catt of New York City, Rev. Eleanor E. Gordon of Hamilton,
Illinois, and Mrs. H. K. Evans of Corydon, Iowa were named honorary presidents. The commission’s headquarters was located in
the Historical Memorial and Art Building in Des Moines. The final business meeting of the commission
of seven was named to make a cabinet available in the historical building for
the preservation of documents relating to the suffrage movement in Iowa. Iowa was the first state to create a
memorial of this type.
Scope and
Content Note
The papers of the Iowa Suffrage Memorial
Commission measure 2.5 linear inches and date from 1906 to 1941. The bulk of the collection consists of
pamphlets and correspondence, although speeches, news bulletins, newspaper
clippings, reports to members, contracts and articles of incorporation are also
included. The collection contains one
photograph and two ribbons from conventions.
Most of the correspondence comes in the form of
letters between Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Women’s
Suffrage Association and honorary president of the commission, Mary A. Hunter,
president of the commission. Even after
the commission erected its memorial, the two women remained in contact,
discussing in particular the preservation of materials relating to the women’s
suffrage movement, especially Iowa.
The pamphlets included in the collection are primarily
propaganda material intended to persuade an audience to give women the right to
vote and bulletins from suffrage conventions such as Iowa Equal Suffrage
Association (IESA) meetings in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Corydon and Boone. Also included among the pamphlets are
programs
from memorial services for Susan B. Anthony and Anna Shaw; the latter includes
Carrie Chapman Catt’s thoughts on Shaw.
A photograph of the bas relief memorial, taken in Nellie
Walker’s studio in Chicago, is included in this collection. Two ribbons are also included, one from the
Iowa Equal Suffrage Association’s 36th convention in 1907 and one
from the IESA’s 41st convention in 1912.
This collection consists of
duplicates from a larger collection of Iowa Suffrage Memorial Commission
records held by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines.
Box no. Description
Box 1
Correspondence,
1930, 1934-1941 (1 folder)
Speeches
and bulletins, 1918, 1920, undated (1 folder)
Pamphlets,
1907-1936 and undated (2 folders)
Newspaper
clippings, 1930, 1934, 1936 and undated (1 folder)
Memorabilia,
1907, 1912 and undated (1 folder)
Reports
to members
Articles
of incorporation
Contracts of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association
1922, 1932, 1936 and undated (1 folder)
[See
attached inventory for contents of each folder.]