Research Guides: Women in History in FSU Special Collections & Archives: Suffrage and other Reform Movements

Suffrage and other Reform Movements

Women participated widely in the reform movements of the day. Especially in the 19th century, women were interested in the antislavery movement, suffrage movement, labor movement, and temperance movement. As a result, sources relating to reform movements were often authored by women with female readers in mind. Sources relating to reform or activism can be found in FSU's collections below.

Primary Sources

Women are people! by Alice Duer Miller
Call Number: Shaw ; JF855 .M65
Publication Date: 1917
Alice Duer Miller was an American writer whose poetry focused on feminism and influenced political opinions during the American suffrage movement. This book, "Women are People!," was the sequel to an earlier "Are Women People?" which was a compilation of satirical poems that became catchphrases of the suffrage movement.
The national temperance offering : and sons and daughters of temperance gift by S. F. Cary
Call Number: HV5295 .C37 1850
Publication Date: 1850
This is a gift book or an elaborate book consisting of short stories, poems and illustrations that would have been published at the end of the year near the holiday season. This book dealt with the theme of temperance or abstaining from alcohol. Women played an important role in the temperance movement as they were seen to be responsible for raising children to be productive citizens. Many women's organizations were also dedicated to the temperance movement.
Essays, philanthropic and moral, principally relating to the abolition of slavery in America by Elizabeth Margaret Chandler
Call Number: PS1289.C5 A17 1845
Publication Date: 1845
Elizabeth Margaret Chandler was an American poet and writer. She was noteworthy as an early advocate for the abolition of slavery through her writing and many of her writings were circulated in popular newspapers at the time. Women's affiliation with abolitionist causes affirmed their ability to enact social change within the political sphere.
An appeal in favor of that class of Americans called Africans by Lydia Maria Child
Call Number: E449 .C53
Publication Date: 1836
This book advocated for the immediate emancipation of enslaved people without compensation to enslavers. This was one of the earliest anti-slavery books printed in America. The author, Lydia Maria Child, was a prominent women's rights activist and abolitionist.
The Woman citizen's library : a systematic course of reading in preparation for the larger citizenship by Civics Society
Call Number: Rare ; HQ1121 .W53 1914
Publication Date: 1913-1914
These volumes form a collection of essays by Jane Addams and Florence Kelly which advocate for women's civic responsibility to play a vital role in public affairs.

Online Sources at FSU

National Organization for Women, Tallahassee Chapter Records include official NOW correspondence, meeting minutes and agendas, reports, budgets, newsletters, and other records which chronicle the development and activities of Tallahassee NOW from its founding in 1971 until 1997.

The League of Women Voters, Tallahassee Chapter Records consist of administrative files, and publications from the 55 year history of the group's presence in Tallahassee. This contains the digital files of some parts of the physical collection shown above.

Finding Aids for Manuscript Collections at FSU

Finding aids are tools that help a user find information in a specific record group, collection, or series of archival materials. Examples of finding aids include published and unpublished inventories, container and folder lists, card catalogs, calendars, indexes, registers, and institutional guides. The finding aids below connect to archival documents in FSU's collection.

Feminist Women's Health Center Records (MSS 2022-004): Part of the Marion Banzhaf papers, the Feminist Women's Health Center Records contains the organizational records, ephemera, and interviews with prominent members of the organization.

National Organization for Women, Tallahassee Chapter Records (MSS 2008-033): The National Organization for Women is an American feminist organization founded in 1966 to lobby for gender equality and other issues important to women. This collection contains correspondence, publications, agendas and photographs collection by the Tallahassee chapter of NOW between 1971 and 1997.

Sources from the General Collection

The women's suffrage movement : a reference guide, 1866-1928. by Elizabeth Crawford
Call Number: JN979 .C73 1999
Publication Date: 1999
American Women in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920 by Carl J. Schneider; Dorothy Schneider
Call Number: HQ1419 .S34 1993
ISBN: 0816025134
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
This social history drawn from primary sources chronicles the story of American women from 1900 to 1920. Known as the Progressive Era, this period culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment giving American women the right to vote.