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Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. papers

 Collection
Identifier: D.52

Biographical / Historical note

In 1945 the Susan B. Anthony house at 17 Madison Street in Rochester was purchased and established as a memorial. Martha Taylor Howard led the project to preserve the house and to make it into a depository for material related to Susan B. Anthony and the suffrage movement. Carrie Chapman Catt, successor to Susan B. Anthony as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, was very much interested in the project, and encouraged suffragists to donate manuscripts and memorabilia to the House.

Scope and Contents

The collection is in four sections. The first (box 1) contains miscellaneous letters written by Susan B. Anthony (ten original letters and approximately seventy typescripts made by Alma Lutz while doing research for her book Susan B. Anthony: Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian, Boston, 1959). The letters date from 1870 to 1905. Here also are typescripts of letters from Miss Anthony to her housekeeper, friend and occasional secretary Anne E. Dann Mason (31 letters) and a copy of Mrs. Mason's reminiscences of Susan B. Anthony.

Section two (box 2) contains letters from Genevieve Lel Hawley written to her Aunt Eliza H. Hawley between 1897 and 1902, in which she describes the daily routines at 17 Madison Street and her work assisting Ida Husted Harper in the preparation of the first two volumes of The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Indianapolis, 1898) and volume 4 of The History of Woman Suffrage (Rochester, 1902). With these are seventeen original letters from Miss Anthony and fifty-one original letters from Mrs. Harper addressed to Miss Hawley.

Section three (boxes 3-4) consists mainly of correspondence to Ella Hawley Crossett of Warsaw, New York, who in 1902 was elected President of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association and during 1909-1910 was in charge of the State headquarters in New York City. The letters from prominent local, state and national suffragists date from 1891 to 1925. Correspondents include Susan B. Anthony (4 letters), Jean Brooks Greenleaf, Mrs. Crossett's predecessor as President of the N.Y.S.W.S.A. (28 letters), Anna Howard Shaw (93 letters), Carrie Chapman Catt (39 letters), and Harriet Stanton Blatch (6 letters). Here also are retained carbon copies of Mrs. Crossett's letters to various suffrage leaders and legislators.

The last series (boxes 5-6) contains manuscript material of Carrie Chapman Catt, Catherine (Fish) Stebbins, Fanny (Garrison) Villard and others. Also included is a written report to the Warsaw, New York Suffrage Club of the 1898 convention of the American National Woman Suffrage Association and minutes of the Rochester Political Equality Club meetings for 1894-1896. Series four also contains photographs and printed material including early issues of the feminist newspapers The Lily (published by Amelia Bloomer in Seneca Falls, New York beginning in 1849) and Una (published in Providence, Rhode Island by Pauline Wright Davis beginning in 1853).

Most of the correspondence has been indexed. In cases where ten or more letters were written by an individual to the same correspondent, an information card has been put in the index to correspondence and a complete list of the letters has been filed in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1834-1960

Language of Materials

English

Extent

6 box(es)

Access

The Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

In August, 1975, the Board of Trustees of the Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. put much of this material on deposit in the University of Rochester Library to facilitate its use and better assure its physical preservation.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. Papers, D.52, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Related Archival Materials

Manuscript material from and about Susan B. Anthony is found in a number of other RBSCP collections.



Susan Brownell Anthony papers

Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. Papers Addition

Anthony-Avery papers

Ida Husted Harper collection of letters and autographs

Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Emma Biddlecom Sweet Papers

Unitarian Church, Rochester New York Papers

Material from this and other Anthony collections are included in the online exhibition, Susan B. Anthony Celebrating "A Heroic Life".

Title
Susan B. Anthony Memorial, Inc. papers
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Date
undated
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA