Browse Items (50 total)

Matilda mentions the school-wide suffrage vote in three of her letters home in the fall of 1895. In the letter dated October 21, she announces that she will lead the pro-suffrage faction and gauges her family’s opinion by asking, “what does papa…

The class of 1897’s yearbook includes a record of events from March 1896 to February 1897. The pages for October and November chronicle the various events that occurred during the mock election for the “suffrage question,” which was introduced…

This yearbook page gives a brief history of the Mount Holyoke chapter of the National College Equal Suffrage League and details its activities. Through its open meetings, the League brought many important suffragists to speak on campus. Mentioned on…

From 1860 to the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1920, Mount Holyoke students held elaborate mock campaigns and elections on campus. This included mock state conventions where they dressed as male candidates, gave speeches, sang political songs, and…

Participants of the Mount Holyoke Debate Society agreed that the subject of equal suffrage was relevant for their annual inter-society debate. An unknown observer left penciled comments on the program summarizing each argument. The affirmative…

During the spring of 1911, Mount Holyoke students established a chapter of the National College Equal Suffrage League on campus. Slava Balanbanoff x’13, the first secretary-treasurer, hand-copied and signed the group’s constitution, which set up…

This statement from the Mount Holyoke President in 1965 shows that the Civil Rights Conference caused some tension and controversy due to its radical speakers. President Gettell defended the Conference on the basis of “freedom of inquiry and…

In these excerpts from Tiffany McClain’s ‘01 oral history project, Barbara Smith ‘69 discusses what it was like being a Black student at Mount Holyoke in the 1960s. Smith describes racist assumptions from professors about her academic ability…

These flyers are an example of propaganda distributed by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In addition to pro-suffrage arguments, they addressed topics such as arguments of anti-suffrage organizations, benefits experienced in…

This photo shows Mount Holyoke students marching in support of the Prohibition Party which was nationally headed by Silas Swallow in the 1904 election. The main belief held by the Prohibition Party was temperance—opposition to the sale or…

Mock ballots were used by Mount Holyoke students to vote in campus-wide elections every four years. Just as in the real national election, Roosevelt won the mock election at Mount Holyoke. Unlike Taft and Wilson, Roosevelt was a long-time advocate of…

Representing the Prohibition candidate, Carolyn Sewall ‘10 is campaigning for a mock presidential election by making a speech on the back of a wagon to a crowd of enthralled listeners. Drawn by two horses, the wagon carries an oversized liquor…

In a letter to her mother postmarked October 25, Susie ‘11 mentions attending a mock Republican Convention. She notes that “[a]ll the girls were dressed like men, and had wigs + beards” to impersonate various candidates. Students dressed as…

Before Mount Holyoke’s mock national election, where the student representatives from each state would meet to vote, the students held a mock state convention. In a letter at the time, a student explains that at this mock convention, students were…

During the 1912 mock election at Mount Holyoke, presidential candidates Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs received the highest number of votes while almost no students voted for Wilson. The student who owned this particular ballot voted for Taft. An opponent…