Chemung County Women’s Suffrage Collection

The American women’s suffrage movement formally began at the Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York in July 1848. Between then and the passage of the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote, New York and its residents played an important role in the movement. There were two ballot initiatives to pass women’s suffrage in New York, one in 1915, which failed, and one in 1917, which passed. Activists in Chemung County, New York, were involved in both of these campaigns, as well as in the wider movements at the state and national level. Local suffragists worked with the New York Woman Suffrage Association to organize a mass meeting at the First Baptist Church in Elmira on March 30 and 31, 1894 and local suffragists regularly represented Elmira at other New York State Women’s Suffrage Association conventions throughout the state. In 1913, Elmira participated in the state-wide women’s march movement with their own parade on June 21, 1913 which drew over a thousand people. Over the years, there were a number of pro-suffrage groups in Chemung County including the Elmira Political Equality Club (formed 1897), the Elmira Equal Suffrage League (formed 1913), and the Woman Suffrage Party of Chemung County (formed 1916). Some prominent local activists include Rev. Annis Ford Eastman, Rev. Samuel Eastman, Rev. William Harmon Van Allen, Frances Farrar, Alice T. Knapp, Clutha Ralyea, Helen L. Bullock and Reba Pickering. Several Elmirans also became prominent within the national movement including Crystal and Max Eastman and Frances Squire Potter.