Research Guides: HIST 490 Suffrage Seminar: Primary Sources

Databases and Digital Collections

19th Century US Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S.
Accessible Archives (History Commons) This link opens in a new window
As a module within the History Commons Platform, Accessible Archives includes: African American Newspapers, African American Newspapers in the South, American County Histories, American Inventor, Anatomy of Protest in America, Colonial Newspapers, Frank Leslie’s Weekly, Godey’s Lady’s Book, and more.

Chronicling America
A project of the Library of Congress, Chronicling America contains many newspapers printed from 1789-1925 in digital format for online viewing.

Harper's Weekly This link opens in a new window
America's leading 19th century illustrated newspaper from 1857 to 1912, full text.

Harper's (digitized issues)
Some digitized issues from 1858-present are available through the Internet Archive and HathiTrust.

Los Angeles Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers, 1881 - 2011) This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times (1881 - 2011)"... provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time."
Newspapers.com - Southeast Collection This link opens in a new window
The Newspapers.com -Southeast Collection archive offers historical coverage to full page newspaper images with searchable full-text for millions of pages of historical newspapers (1766 -2023) in the southeastern region of the United States.
New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers, 1851 - 2013) This link opens in a new window
The ProQuest Historical New York Times (1851 - 2013) w/ Index (1851-1993) historical newspaper collection provides search capability using subject terms and topics for focused and targeted results in combination with searchable full text, full page, and article-level images from the Historical New York Times.
Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers, 1877 - 2004) This link opens in a new window
The ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post (1877 - 2004) provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.

Gale Primary Sources Search
Searches all collections of primary sources from Gale

Women's Issues and Identities / Women's Studies Archive This link opens in a new window
Global in scope, the archive presents materials covering the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives and offers a look at the roles, experiences, and achievements of women in society. A wide range of primary sources provide a close look at some of the pioneers of women's history, a deep dive into the issues that have affected women, and the many contributions they have made to society.
Reader's Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
1890-1982 provides indexing of over three million articles from more than 550 leading magazines, including full coverage of the original print volumes of Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature.

American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States This link opens in a new window
This site "contains a slightly expanded and fully searchable version of the print publication 'American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States' ... with added illustrations and links to existing digitized material located throughout the Library of Congress Web site." Includes books, maps, manuscripts, music, images, and other research materials. Browsable and searchable. From the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress. [Librarians' Internet Index

The Anti-Suffrage Movement: National Archives DocsTeach
This collection features primary sources and activities about the Anti-Suffrage Movement from the U.S. National Archives.
Archives of Women's Political Communication
Speeches and political ads for more than 300 women candidates that are easily accessible through this collection from Iowa State University. All include a transcript of the text and many also feature video.
Carrie Chapman Catt Papers
Carrie Chapman Catt was a feminist lecturer and author who also served as the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. This digitized collection from the Library of Congress includes correspondence, diaries (1911-1923), drafts of speeches and articles, dating from 1890-1920, relating primarily to the women's suffrage movement, feminism, and the cause of international peace.
Digital Public Library of America: Women's Suffrage
Includes images, texts, and sound/video clips.
Discovering American Women's History
Collection of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States.
Ohio Wesleyan's "The Battle for Suffrage: U.S. Women and the Right To Vote": Resources
Resources related to the Ohio Wesleyan University's Special Collections display installed Spring 2020, featuring materials related to woman suffrage in the United States, and in recognition of the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment's adoption in 1920.
Suffrage Prisoners
Part of Library of Congress, American Memory Project, a selection of digitized photographs of National Women’s Party activists who were arrested and imprisoned for their activities.
Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment (National Archives)
This page includes a section on suffrage with links to several digital collections.

The Lily
The Lily, the first newspaper for women, was issued from 1849 until 1853 under the editorship of Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894).
National Citizen and Ballot Box
The National Citizen and Ballot Box was a monthly journal deeply involved in the roots of the American feminist movement.
The National Standard
The National Standard: A Women’s Suffrage and Temperance Journal exploded onto the popular stage in 1870, supporting two of the major social movements in the late 19th Century – the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Temperance Movement.
The New Citizen/Western Woman Voter
With the tag line “The magazine that won equal suffrage in Washington”, the New Citizen focused on the role of newly-enfranchised women in Washington. Established to serve all women voters throughout the western U.S., Western Woman Voter began publication following the passage of suffrage in Washington State.
The Remonstrance
The Remonstrance was the official publication of the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. First published annually and later quarterly in Boston from February, 1890 until April 1919, it provided a forum for women who opposed the expansion of voting rights to women.
The Revolution
The Revolution, a weekly women’s rights newspaper, was the official publication of the National Woman Suffrage Association formed by feminists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to secure women’s enfranchisement through a federal constitutional amendment. Published between January 8, 1868 and February, 1872, it was edited by Stanton and Parker Pillsbury and initially funded by George Francis Train, a wealthy and eccentric Democrat, and David Melliss, financial editor of the New York World newspaper. Coincidentally, The Revolution was run out of a small office in the same building that housed the New York World.
The Woman's Tribune
The Woman’s Tribune, with its motto in the masthead: “Equality Before The Law”, was launched by Clara Bewick Colby, from her home in Beatrice, Nebraska, in August 1883. For the next year, it was the official publication of the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association.

The Crisis- Suffrage edition
The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Miller, William Stanley Braithwaite, and Mary Dunlop Maclean.
The Suffragist
The Suffragist was the weekly newspaper of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage – a more militant arm of the movement for the right to vote. This group was responsible for organizing protests and picket lines in the front of the White House. This paper covers national and international news of the movement. The issues featured here were given to the Staten Island Museum by Arthur Hollick a suffragist and one of the museum’s founders.
The Woman's Era
The Woman's Era was the first national newspaper published by and for African-American women. Originally established as a monthly Boston newspaper, it became distributed nationally in 1894 and ran until January 1897, with Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin as editor and publisher.[1] The Woman's Era played an important role in the national African-American women's club movement.
The Woman's Journal and Woman's Journal and Suffrage News. Boston, 1870-1917.
American women's rights periodical published from 1870 to 1931. It was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. In 1917 it was purchased by Carrie Chapman Catt's Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission and merged with The Woman Voter and National Suffrage News to become known as The Woman Citizen.
Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly
From Wikipedia: "Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly was an American weekly newspaper first published on May 14, 1870 by sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin. It was among the first publications to be published by women. It lasted until June 10, 1876"

Instruction & Research Services Librarian

Sarah Beth White

Email Me

Subjects: History, Honors, INQ 100s, Library Instruction, Political Science, Primary Sources, Public Affairs