Library Guides: Women's History Month Online Exhibit 2021: Additional Resources

Women's History Month 2021: Digital Resources

Digital Collection and Exhibits
Iowa State University Resources

2020 Women's Vote Centennial Initiative

A list of physical and digital exhibits about suffrage and gender inequality.

Black Women's Suffrage

"The Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection is a collaborative project to provide digital access to materials documenting the roles and experiences of Black Women in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and, more broadly, women’s rights, voting rights, and civic activism between the 1850s and 1960.

The materials in this collection include photographs, correspondence, speeches, event programs, publications, oral histories, and other artifacts." (Description from the collection homepage)

Long 19th Amendment Project

"The Long 19th Amendment Project is rethinking the way we write, teach, and talk about the history of women’s suffrage in the United States. This portal is a digital gateway to archival collections, datasets, teaching materials, and scholarship that help us tell a more complex and inclusive story about gender and voting rights in America." (Summary from the Long 19th Amendment Project About page)

Women's Suffrage in Iowa: A Digital Collection

"A collection of images and documents in the Iowa Digital Library drawn from the Iowa Women’s Archives, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and Iowa State University’s Special Collections Department" (Summary from the digital collection homepage)

The Work Must Be Done: Women of Color and the Right to Vote

"Inspired by the words of notable African American reformer and political activist, Mary Townsend Seymour, “The work must be done,” the Connecticut Historical Society presents exciting new research about the women of color who worked for women’s suffrage... Due to the internalized racism of many of the national and state-wide suffrage organizations, women of color, and particularly African American women, were denied agency within these activist organizations. This does not mean that women of color were not involved in the fight for and against suffrage. They absolutely were. Women of color were active leaders who developed their own associations, both nationwide and state-based, to achieve social and political reforms, including working for woman suffrage." (Description from project homepage)

Additional Digital Collections and Exhibits about suffrage and political activism:

Campus Resources

Archives of Women's Political Communication
"The Archives of Women's Political Communication is an online archives launched in 2007 by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University devoted entirely to women's political speech. The archives houses the speeches and campaign advertising of U.S. women senators and representatives, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, governors and lieutenant governors, and first and second ladies; international women leaders; and recipients of the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics at Iowa State University. It also features the speeches of historically significant women, social activists and women who have used their position of celebrity to advocate for political causes." (Description from archive's website)
George A. Jackson Black Cultural Center
"The George A. Jackson Black Cultural Center (BCC) serves as a foundation for African American cultural identity, education and understanding between diverse communities at Iowa State University. In addition to the variety of programs and resources that the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs offers, we also manage the Black Cultural Center. This cultural center, located at 517 Welch Avenue, a great place to explore and debate ideas, hold study groups, plan and host meetings and events, have a dinner, read a book, write a paper, or just relax." (Description from Black Cultural Center webpage)
Hard Won Not Done: A Commemoration of the 100-Year-Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment from an Iowa Perspective
"Prior to the ratification of the 19th Amendment being certified on the 26th of August 1920, many small steps led to suffrage being adopted as the law of the land. Over the years arrests, beatings, imprisonment and derision followed the suffragists. Opposition was intense, yet it’s not as if they demanded equal rights as well. Had they done so, they might still be waiting to vote. After all, as of today, 37 states have ratified the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment — and it’s still not law." (Description from Hard Won Not Done website)
Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equality
"As the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity, we define feminism as a movement which aims to ensure that people of all genders have access to what they need to be successful as well their need for community. It is also a response to masculine-centered society, often referred to as the patriarchy. To us feminism is social justice work and it is about making the world better for everyone, this is a goal we will continue to work towards. We use this definition to inform our people-forward programs at Sloss, however, we do not dictate what programs we will use. Instead, we ask the community what they need and then work to fulfill that. As a center, we work with other campus partners and organizations to support and share our lens of feminism. Sometimes we have room to create programs other campus partners might not be able to. Overall, the goals of the Sloss Center and our campus partners are the same; we are all working to create positive experiences for students. Dear Margaret Response October 15, 2019" (Description from the Sloss Center webpage)
Office of Multicultural Student Affairs
"The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) supports and empowers Iowa State University's students who self-identify as African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi American, Latinx, Native American/Alaskan Native and/or Multiracial, and advocates for their holistic development across the University." (Description from MSA website)
Resources for Educators about Women's Suffrage (Catt Center)
A list of guides, curricula, and movies or documentaries about the Suffrage Movement and the 19th amendment compiled by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.
Women's Suffrage Digital Collections (Catt Center)
The Catt Center created this list of digital collections about suffrage.

Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA)

MS 0471 Woman Suffrage Collection
"This collection (1916-1919, undated) contains materials related to the woman suffrage movement in Iowa and the United States. It includes printed material supporting the equal suffrage amendment on the ballot in the June 1916 Iowa primary election, blank enrollment cards for the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association and the Boone County (Iowa) Suffrage Association, a 1919 newspaper article from the New York Sun, and postcards of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The materials were received from the Iowa State University Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics." (Description from the collection finding aid)
RS 13/21/06 Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics records
"This collection contain administrative records related to the establishment of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center, its installation into the rededicated Catt Hall, and its programs. Documents related to the campaign for the re-dedication of Botany Hall in this collection include internal campaign planning, publicity materials, and some newspaper coverage of the campaign. Student protests against the renaming of Botany Hall, the University’s disciplinary actions taken against protesters, and reactions to discipline following those protests appear in this collection largely in newspaper clippings.

The photograph series records staff, students, and events put on by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center. Events include the Strong Minded Women series and Mary Louise Smith Chair honorees and receptions, summer workshops for high school and middle school students, and trips with Center staff and ISU students. Also included in the photograph series are promotional and publicity materials, elements for brochures, and renderings for the renovated Botany (Catt) Hall.

Much of the material relates to fundraising, including major donors, sponsors, and organizers working on the campaign to create the Carrie Chapman Catt Center and the re-dedication of Botany Hall as Catt hall, as well as ongoing support campaigns. The organizational records in this collection include annual reports and other output of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center. Also appearing in these records are materials relating to the celebration of the 75th anniversary of women's suffrage in the United States." (Desciption from collection finding aid)
RS 21/7/3 Carrie Chapman Catt Papers
"This collection (1878-2007) contains biographical data, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, bibliographies, publications, reviews, addresses, awards, scrapbook of tributes, material relating to the Woman's Centennial Congress, artifacts (Including jewelry from India), and her will. Correspondents include E. W. Stanton, A. B. Storms and Maria Roberts. Box 4 consists of original documents that have been restricted, photocopies of the items can be found in the other boxes. The collection also contains family correspondence, some of it with Catt, but mostly between relatives and friends of the family." (Description from collection finding aid)
RS 22/3/3 September 29th Movement Records
"The September 29th Movement was a student led effort at Iowa State University in the mid-1990s. The movement’s central campaign was to change the name of Carrie Chapman Catt Hall. In their own words, the movement was “dedicated to the elimination of racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and classism at Iowa State University, recognizing that changing the name of Catt Hall, a symbol of exclusion, must be the first step in that struggle.” The group was composed of students, faculty, and staff members. This collection contains photocopies of articles, speeches, news clippings, and publications. The records document the September 29th Movement's research on Carrie Chapman Catt, the women's suffrage movement, and the relationship between women's suffrage and civil rights." (Description from collection finding aid)