President Lydia Hunt King, M.D., Secretary Abigail Scott Duniway, and members of the Oregon State Woman Suffrage Association announced their reinvigorated campaign for votes for women in an open letter to "Friends of Equal Suffrage in the Northwest" in the July 5, 1894 edition of the Oregonian.

In their long letter they cited "activity of the workers in other parts of the union" particularly at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the achievement of woman suffrage in Colorado that same year, and active ballot efforts in Kansas, California and New York as reasons for them to take up the Oregon campaign again in earnest. 

Oregon suffragists were in the middle of a long campaign to achieve the right to vote. Before the initiative and referendum were passed in 1902, a change to the Oregon constitution (such as removing the word "male" from voting requirements) required that such a bill pass both houses of the state legislature in two successive sessions and then it would be put before the voters. In 1872 and 1874 legislators debated a woman suffrage bill but the measure did not pass. In 1880, a bill passed the House and Senate, and one also passed in 1882, but voters defeated the measure in 1884 when it came before them on the ballot.

Now, in 1894, Oregon suffragists were ready to try again. At the close of their letter Hunt King and Duniway asserted: "As we believe the time has come for the revival of our work in the Pacific Northwest, we hereby invite the friends of the movement, both men and women, to meet our committee at the parlors of Mrs. A.S. Duniway, 294 Clay Street, on Saturday of each week at 2 p.m., beginning with July 7, where equal suffrage meetings will be held regularly until further notice."

OSWSA activists were successful in this campaign and the legislature passed a suffrage bill in 1895, but the Oregon House did not organize in 1897 due to factional disputes. The 1899 legislature did pass the measure for the necessary second time but voters defeated woman suffrage on the ballot in 1900. These challenges would be a major reason for suffrage supporters to support the new initiative and referendum system by which voters could obtain signatures for ballot measures.

Lydia Hunt King was an 1881 graduate of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania and after coming to Portland in 1883 married Samuel Willard King, a founder of the Olds, Wortman and King department store. She was one of five members of the original Portland Women's Medical Society, which she joined in the fall of 1891. Hunt King resigned the presidency of the state suffrage society later in 1894 due to ill health and she died in 1900. 

Additional Reading:

"The World's Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath," American Studies Program, University of Virginia, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma96/wce/title.html

"Equal Suffragists," Oregonian, August 20, 1894, 5.

"Dr. Lydia Hunt King," Oregonian, March 11, 1900, 24.

Women in western states led the way in successful campaigns for the vote well before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in August 1920. Since 1912, Oregon women have been able to fully engage in the political process, holding office as well as their long-standing role as activists.

Oregon's suffrage history is a vibrant and vital part of the story of votes for women in our region, the nation, and around the globe.

The upcoming centennial is an opportunity for all Oregonians to reflect on important topics: the ongoing role women have played in our state's history, the lessons of the suffrage movement, the achievements of citizen-based political movements, and the importance of civic engagement -- among many other important historic and contemporary issues.

Using the anniversary as a broad, unifying theme, organizations across the state -- small and large, and with a wide range of goals and expertise -- can enhance the recognition and study of women in Oregon. Potential outcomes include (but are not limited to):

• exhibits and public programs
• enhanced archival collections and oral histories
• television, radio, and internet programming
• lesson plans and syllabi
• publications and research

Selling Suffrage and Sandwiches at the Portland Rose Festival

"Votes-for-Women Ballyho Wagon, Pike Davis Spieling, Will Furnish Sandwiches," Portland Evening Telegram, June 8, 1912, 2.

The Portland Rose Festival was in its fifth year in 1912 and members of the Portland Woman's Club Suffrage Campaign Committee capitalized on the event as an occasion to promote the votes for women campaign in full swing that summer. The suffrage lunch wagon was a popular hit and brought a great deal of publicity to the cause.

Campaign committee members, led by Esther Pohl, used the kitchen of the Women of Woodcraft Hall to prepare sandwiches, ice cream, doughnuts and soda to sell from noon until 2:00 each day of Rose Festival week. They decorated a Speedwell truck with votes for women banners and bunting in suffrage white and yellow and rode through the streets selling sandwiches and suffrage to the crowd.

W.M. "Pike Davis, head of the Multnomah County Men's Equal Suffrage League, was on board the suffrage lunch wagon to call out to the crowds. When it rained, as sometimes happens in Portland in June, workers unfurled a large votes-for-women umbrella.

The use of popular media and participation in parades was part of the new votes for women movement of the early twentieth century. The Oregon campaign benefitted from the successful popular promotion of the suffrage cause.

Additional Reading:

"Buns to Boost Suffrage," Oregonian, June 10, 1912, 10.

"Hot Cakes Not In It," Oregonian, June 12, 1912, 9.

"Suffrage Interest Keen: Speakers Engaged to Conduct Educational Campaign at Grants Pass," The Oregonian, May 20, 1912, 7.

Grants Pass suffragists invited Rosetta (Mrs. Jackson) Silbaugh* to speak on how woman suffrage could help to solve the problems of cities. Many supporters would have been interested in the specific ways that women's votes could make their community a better place, something with which many were involved in this progressive era. The topic no doubt appealed to many in the "large gathering."

The article also indicates that Josephine County suffragists were working to organize their group for effective action at the local level, another important ingredient for success.

And finally, the article showcases another vital feature of successful suffrage organizing - networking and support across states. Seattle's Rosetta Silbaugh had been involved in Washington state suffrage activities in 1910 and provided a voice of experience in this meeting. Cross-state cooperation was not confined to suffrage alone. Two years later Silbaugh would work with Oregon activist Caroline J. Gleason and other Industrial Welfare Commission members in Washington and Oregon to report on conditions for women wage-earners. Suffrage activism led the way to other modes of activism after the campaign was completed.

*(not Silsbaugh as The Oregonian had it)

Additional Reading:

Caroline J. Gleason (Sister Miriam Theresa), Report of the Industrial Welfare Commission of the State of Washington on the Wages, Conditions of Work, and Costs and Standards of Living of Women Wage Earners in Washington (Olympia: Washington State Industrial Welfare Commission, 1914)

Dear Friend of Oregon Women's History:

Thank you so much for taking our survey, answering our phone call or email, meeting with us to give advice, or just being enthusiastic about our work to plan for the Oregon woman suffrage centennial in 2012. We have been busy over the past several months, and we want to share with you some of our accomplishments.

We have:

• Developed a blog that raises awareness and provides information about Oregon woman suffrage history and the upcoming centennial including the feature, This Month in Oregon Woman Suffrage History. Read the March entry on 1912 campaign literature at www.oregonsuffrage.org
• Received the support of Secretary of State Kate Brown, who hosted a November 2009 reception at the state archives in Salem and who is highlighting the women's suffrage centennial in the 2011-2012 Oregon Blue Book
• Recruited the Honorable Barbara Roberts and the Honorable Norma Paulus as our Advisory Board Co-chairs
• Received an Oregon Heritage Commission grant to develop an official 2012 Centennial website as a project of the Northwest History Network. www.northwesthistory.org
• Received a Declaration of Statewide Celebration from the Oregon Heritage Commission to mark the 2012 Oregon Woman Suffrage Centennial.
• And spent many hours networking with scholars, archivists, heritage professionals, educators, women's organizations, and members of the cultural community to learn their plans for the upcoming centennial and to develop ways we can collaborate on this historic Oregon achievement.

This project has the potential to significantly advance the documentation and analysis of women's lives in Oregon, work that sorely needs doing. As the central group leading the preparations for this important celebration, our goal is to provide the resources necessary for educators, institutions, and organizations across the state to meaningfully celebrate women's citizenship in 2012. We have made great progress, and we look forward to working with you as planning continues.

Please consider making a donation today!
You can help provide the matching funds for our Oregon Heritage Commission grant.  To date we have raised $3,350 toward our goal of $7,490. Please donate online at www.oregonsuffrage.org or mail a check to the Northwest History Network, 410 SE 12th Avenue, Portland Oregon 97214.

Please keep in touch with ideas for potential events or programs, and keep us updated about your plans for this important anniversary. Forward this email or phone your associates and friends who would be interested in the 2012 women's suffrage centennial. Ask them to visit www.oregonsuffrage.org to share their ideas and contact information.

Failure is Impossible!

Oregon Woman Suffrage Centennial Committee

The Oregon woman suffrage campaign of 1912 exemplifies the "new" movement for woman suffrage in many ways, including the strategic use of mass advertising for the cause. The Woman Suffrage Campaign Committee of the Portland Woman's Club, led by Sara Evans, Grace Watt Ross and Esther Pohl Lovejoy, secured the talents of journalist Nan Strandborg to assist with publicity.

This article from the Portland Evening Telegram indicates that by March 1912 the campaign committee was contacting publishers of newspapers across the state for their stance on suffrage. Strandborg created "leaflets and 'boiled-down' arguments of readable character" for editors to publish - press releases for the mass media.

Oregon suffragists utilized campaign literature from the National American Woman Suffrage Association and "all of the successful literature used in the campaigns in Washington and California." Adapting materials that had helped Washington suffragists gain victory in 1910 and those California in 1911 to local needs around Oregon, Strandborg and the committee used "the yellowest of suffrage yellow paper" to draw the attention of readers.

Suffrage campaign literature was not only eye-catching; it offered specific suggestions for action for both male and female supporters. "'Organize, advertise, give something - time, service, money, yourself. Everything counts.'"

Additional reading

Margaret Finnegan, Selling Suffrage: Consumer Culture and Votes for Women (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999)

Gayle Gullett, Becoming Citizens: The Emergence and Development of the California Women's Movement, 1880-1911 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000)

Kimberly Jensen, "'Neither Head nor Tail to the Campaign': Esther Pohl Lovejoy and the Oregon Woman Suffrage Victory of 1912," Oregon Historical Quarterly 108:3 (Fall 2007): 350-383.

Rebecca Mead, How the Vote Was Won: Woman Suffrage in the Western United States, 1868-1914 (New York: New York University Press, 2004)

On the first day of the convention that would create the Oregon Woman Suffrage Association the weather was "inclement" and the "Mass Meeting of the Friends and Advocates of the Woman Movement" at Portland's Oro Fino Theater started a half an hour late. Perhaps organizers hoped that more supporters would venture out in the rain. Though small in numbers, this organizing meeting for the first state suffrage organization in Oregon had a "remarkable degree of earnestness and enthusiasm." The men and women gathered decided to organize a state equal suffrage society "to secure more united action and influence in the work."

The OWSA appealed "to the citizens of Oregon who believe in the principle of 'equality before the law' to aid this Association in every possible way by placing these self-evident truths before the people that all men and women are created equal, and of right ought to be equally free and independent in law, custom, and ethos, and we urge them to proceed at once to perfect the different county organizations throughout the State."

On the afternoon of the first day, February 14, 1873 those present elected Abbie Gibson of Portland as president of the Oregon Woman Suffrage Association, with various vice presidents representing Oregon counties and an executive committee. From the beginning women and men from around the state were officers in the association.

On the second day an African American suffragist from Portland, Mrs. Mary Beatty, addressed the group. Portland historian Tim Hills has located Mary Beatty in the Portland City Directory as a dressmaker married to J.W. Beatty. Three months earlier Beatty had joined three other Portland suffragists, Abigail Scott Duniway, Maria Hendee, and Mrs. M.A. Lambert, in attempting to vote in the presidential election of November 1872.

Other participants included Abigail Scott Duniway, Mary Anna Thompson, M.D., Bethenia Owens (later Owens-Adair) M.D. and Colonel C. A. Reed of Salem.

Many Oregon men supported votes for women in the final and successful 1912 campaign. On January 3, 1912, dozens of men gathered at the Commercial Club in Portland to form what would become the Men's Equal Suffrage League of Multnomah County, chaired by attorney William M. "Pike" Davis. Abigail Scott Duniway served as acting chair for the evening. Politicians, judges, attorneys and labor leaders spoke in favor of suffrage.

Some had "long favored" votes for women, including former state legislator C.W. Fulton who introduced an amendment to the Oregon constitution providing for woman suffrage in 1883. Among the more "recent converts" was attorney and state senator Dan J. Malarky who said that "the light had been breaking in on him for a long time but he was converted last year." Labor leaders in support of suffrage included Floyd Ramp of the Socialist Party of Oregon and Eugene Smith, vice president of the Electrical Workers' Union.

Oregon men joined men in other states who had organized to support votes for women. Their support was a significant element of the victory in Oregon in 1912.

Additional reading

Kimberly Jensen, "'Neither Head nor Tail to the Campaign': Esther Pohl Lovejoy and the Oregon Woman Suffrage Victory of 1912," Oregon Historical Quarterly 108:3 (Fall 2007): 350-383.

Image: "Men Lend Aid in Great Battle for Woman Suffrage," Oregon Journal, January 4, 1912, 10.

Many cities in Oregon held elections in December 1912, just weeks after women in the stated gained the right to vote in November that year. Across the state women cast their ballots and fulfilled the other duties of voting citizens including service as election judges. In Umatilla Mrs. H. T. Duncan was the first woman to vote in her city election and she served as an election judge that day, no doubt an important fulfillment of her goals as a suffrage supporter. Duncan, in business in Umatilla for twenty years, operated the Duncan Hotel.

Additional reading:

Kristi Andersen, After Suffrage: Women in Partisan and Electoral Politics before the New Deal (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996)

Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, Women in the Twentieth Century: A Study of Their Political, Social, and Economic Activities (New York: McGraw Hill, 1933), 245-56.

Image: "First Woman to Vote in Umatilla City, OR.," Oregon Journal, December 5, 1912, 10.

Three years may seem early to start planning the 100th anniversary of Oregon women obtaining full voting rights, which voters approved in 1912. But given that women's suffrage was on the ballot six times over 28 years -- four of them by initiative -- maybe an early start is a good thing. More than 50 people came to a meeting at the State Archives Building to start offering ideas for the centennial and ways to pay for them."

Last week was a big one for 2012: Oregon Woman Suffrage Centennial and the Northwest History Network .

The Oregon Heritage Commission granted our request for funds to develop a comprehensive educational and informational centennial website for 2012: Oregon Woman Suffrage Centennial. A project of the Northwest History Network, the website will provide interpretive essays written by scholars, primary documents, and archival links to women's historical collections. 

On November 2, Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown and State Archivist Mary Beth Herkert hosted a  reception in Salem to launch the 2012 Oregon Woman Suffrage Centennial. Attended by over fifty elected officials, representatives of government agencies and women's organizations, along with members of the academic and archival community and other stakeholders, the event began a collaboration between the many voices and perspectives needed to tell Oregon's suffrage history and women's history. Secretary Brown noted, "This was a vote that changed the face of Oregon and it came with the support of some brave and colorful figures from our past. This is a golden page in Oregon history." Held at the State Archives, Herkert and the archive staff displayed the original proclamation, initiative petitions, and Abigail Scott Duniway voter registration cards Learn more at Secretary Brown's blog.