REC/MSS/101. Woman Suffrage Association, Connecticut

The Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association was organized at a meeting in Roberts’ Opera House, Hartford, October 28-29, 1869. The meeting, called by a group of community leaders including Isabella B. Hooker, John Hooker, Frances E. Burr, Catharine E. Beecher and Harriet B. Stowe, was addressed by such eminent people as Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe, and William Lloyd Garrison. The Association carried on a spirited and energetic campaign to obtain the vote for women, first in school and local elections and then on a state and national level, working in collaboration with many other equal rights, equal franchise, and constitutional union groups. Its primary aim having been achieved with the ratification by Connecticut of the 19th Amendment on September 14, 1920, the Association voted to dissolve itself on June 3, 1921, offering its records to the State Archives. The collection includes records of meetings, membership and attendance registers, correspondence, reports, publications, and political and legislative campaign materials.