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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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

This flyer produced by the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association was handed out on Mount Holyoke’s campus during Suffrage Day on April 24. The progressive message of the flyer demonstrates the changing opinion regarding suffrage among students.…

The Political Equality Series (alternatively Political Equality Leaflets) were single-page tracts published by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) for public education on the topic of women’s suffrage. The tracts were often…

On July 27, 1919, prominent Massachusetts women, including Mount Holyoke President Mary Woolley, were published in the Boston Globe feature “Sister is Primping for the Ballot Box Party” to explain what they thought would happen when women secured…

Marietta Holley (1836-1926) was an American author well-known for her humorous depiction of political and social movements, including women’s rights. She often wrote under pen names including “Josiah Allen’s Wife,” but for this particular…

Florence Tuttle ‘16 (left), Dorothy Phelps ‘18 (center), and Helen McConkey ‘18 (right) formed a band of trumpets and drums on Suffrage Day May 9th, 1916. The three students wear ‘Votes for Women’ sashes, one of which is featured in this…

President of the National College Equal Suffrage League as a senior, Louise Dunbar ‘16 often appeared with a sign bearing the text: “SHOW YOUR FAITH IN THE WOMEN OF MASSACHUSETTS: VOTE YES ON THE AMENDMENT ENABLING WOMEN TO VOTE.” Although the…

In April 1960, Louise DeCosta ‘62, Marion Fitch ‘62, Susan Heineman ‘60, Susan Higinbotham ‘62, and Anne Martin ‘62 wrote this letter to the administration of Mount Holyoke to declare the formation of the Mount Holyoke Committee on Civil…

In a letter to her mother written mid-November, Jennie ‘11 gleefully describes leading a parade of her friends through campus dressed as suffragists. The group was clad in identical black gowns and gloves, white stockings, hats, glasses, and…

Jeannette wrote “Reasons for the Opposition of the Further Extension of the Suffrage,” for her English I class. Because she has not been fully convinced by any of the pro-suffrage arguments she has heard, she explores the logic behind the…

Although she was unwilling to align herself with the suffragist cause, Hortense wrote home about Suffrage Day, which took place on April 24. She describes the event: “after chapel a girl dressed in white beat a drum and there were all sorts of…