Skip to Main Content

Women's Suffrage

Background information

Search tips

When searching for books, articles, or primary sources about women's suffrage, these terms may be helpful.

Referandum: A referendum on women's suffrage was held in Colorado on November 7, 1893 to ratify a proposed constitutional amendment, HB 118 to prohibit discrimination against women voting... The amendment passed with support from the Colorado Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association, a grassroots coalition of women's organizations, churches, political parties, charity groups, unions and farmer's alliances. This was the first time in U.S. history that a state referendum had passed women's suffrage into law. (From Wikipedia)

School Suffrage: Before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, some states granted women limited voting rights, namely "the right to vote for school committees, and only for school committee candidates." See School Suffrage and the Campaign for Women Suffrage in Massachusetts, 1879-1920 for more information.

Municipal Suffrage: The right to vote in municipal and sometimes county elections. See The Road to the Vote: Women, Suffrage, and the Public Sphere for more details.

Presidential Suffrage: The right to vote for the U.S. president. Before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, some states independently established this right for women voters. See Walter Clark's article in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, The Electoral College and Presidential Suffrage, for more information.

Searching by Name: Remember that newspapers often refer to women by their husband's name, as in Mrs. George Whomever. Searching by last name may return more results.