Washington Women's History Consortium

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Women's Suffrage

Women's voices and influence have always been a part of Washington’s history, even without the vote. The fight for permanent woman's suffrage in Washington, however, spans over 50 years in territorial and state history. Washington was the first state in the 20th century and the fifth state in the Union to enact women’s suffrage. Washington women’s success in 1910 helped inspire the campaign that culminated in passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, when women won the right to vote nationally.

The campaign for women's rights in Washington, however, did not end in 1910, but continues to the present. By commemorating the Suffrage Centennial, Washingtonians celebrate the long and arduous road to the achievement of women's suffrage, the continuing struggle for women's rights and the significant role of women in public and private life. The victory in 1910 was an important culmination of the fight for the rights of women as citizens but only the beginning of a century of women’s activism to shape Washington. After the 1910, women had new tools to continue the reforms they had begun earlier.

Read more about the suffrage movement in Shanna Stevenson's article The Fight for Women's Suffrage: A Brief History


Emma Smith DeVoe Papers


Emma Smith DeVoe Papers The digitized Emma Smith DeVoe Papers from the Washington State Library offer a window into the long-time career of the one-time president of the Washington Equal Suffrage Association and the people, events, and issues connected to the movement she led to secure the vote for women in Washington state in 1910. The collection includes extensive correspondence to and from DeVoe and other major players in the suffrage movement as well as thirteen scrapbooks of newspaper articles and ephemera dating back to 1892 when DeVoe worked in North Dakota as a NAWSA organizer.


May Arkwright Hutton Collection


May Arkwright Hutton Papers The May Arkwright Hutton Collection consists of a varied and consistently detailed group of personal letters relating to suffrage activities, social and political events, and family matters, and manuscripts for speeches on equal rights – all written in May Arkwright Hutton's own energetic, forceful style. The digital collection will also eventually include photographs and scrapbooks.