LibGuides Home: Woman Suffrage: Legislative, Legal, etc.

Reports, Hearings and Other Connecticut Documents

These are some of the state documents held in the Connecticut State Library's (CSL) collection.

The main focus here is on CSL items available online. Many of the government publications are available freely online and through our subscription databases. There are many more resources available when you visit us.

Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) Committee on Woman Suffrage.

Hearing transcripts that were digitized from the hearings at the Connecticut State Library's Law collection. The published hearing transcripts go through 1917. You will need to check with Archives to see if anything from 1918 through 1920 is available. We will add information as it comes to light.

Copy of Signed Resolution on the 19th Amendment
Certified carbon copy of the Concurrent Resolution Ratifying the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States on Woman Suffrage, signed by the President of the Senate (Lt. Gov.), Clifford B. Wilson, and the Speaker of the House James Walsh. This copy was reportedly handed to Miss Katherine Ludington, who lent the pen used in the signing.
Joint Standing Committee Hearings on Woman Suffrage. 1905-1917. Connecticut General Assembly
Digitized copies of the hearing transcripts that are available at the Connecticut State Library.
An Act Extending the Suffrage to Women
Special Session 1920. Chapter 1

Election Laws Of The State Of Connecticut Passed At The Special Session Of The General Assembly, September 14, And September 21, 1920
Call Number: Online and Cage Conn Doc EL25L 1920 Item does not circulate
Publication Date: 1920
Online through the Library of Congress

Public Act 1921 Chpt 305 sec. 37

Journal of the Constitutional Convention of Connecticut, 1902 by Connecticut. Constitutional Convention (1902)
Call Number: Law Vault KFC4001 1902 .A224 1902 and online
Publication Date: 1902
Available online through our catalog
Memorial of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association to the Constitutional Convention : assembled in Hartford, Connecticut, January 1, 1902, and an argument thereon
Call Number: Online and Cage JK1883 .C85 1902
Publication Date: [1902?]
Online access through our catalog.
Suggestions of A.F. Mitchell, to the Committee, on the Merits of a Bill Granting Suffrage to Women on All Educational and School Matters, Referred to Them by the General Assembly for Their Careful Consideration and Report. by Mitchell, A. F. and Connecticut. General Assembly. Committee Granting Suffrage to Women on All Educational and School Matters.
Call Number: Conn Doc G252ws mi and online through our library catalog
Publication Date: January, 1883
Report of the Committee on Woman Suffrage. Minority Report. by Connecticut. General Assembly. Joint Special Committee on Woman's Suffrage, author.
Call Number: Conn Doc G259mi Item does not circulate. Online available through our catalog
Publication Date: [1870]
Minority report. "May Session, A.D. 1870"
Online CTDA
Report of the Joint Special Committee on Woman's Suffrage by Connecticut. General Assembly. Joint Special Committee on Woman's Suffrage
Call Number: Conn Doc G259ma Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: [1870]
Available online through our catalog
Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Amendments Majority Report, 1867
Call Number: Online and Archives RG002_Rejected_Box50_f1_item18
Publication Date: 1867
The report to the full House of Representatives by the Joint Select Commission on Constitutional Amendments, approving a change in the wording about suffrage from "men" to "white men" but opposing the concept of woman suffrage because they have not heard of any support. This is the majority report.
Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Amendments Minority Report, 1867
Call Number: Online and Archives RG002_Rejected_Box50_f1_item20
Publication Date: 1867
The Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Amendments issued a minority report on the subject of woman suffrage. The title page indicates it was being prepared for printing and the first page of the document consists of a handwritten copy of the petition for woman suffrage, signed by Susie Hutchinson and "267 others". The report is in favor of giving women the right to vote, the minority of the committee considering it a right and an antidote to the votes of uneducated or drunken men.

Additional Resources

Newspapers are one source to additional information about the Connecticut General Assembly. So are organizations' papers and the notebooks of Gladys Bragdon.

League of Women Voters of Connecticut, Interview Notebooks (Gladys Bragdon) (RG106:006)
The Connecticut League of Women Voters (CLWV) was founded at New Haven, Connecticut on January 18, 1921 as the successor to the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA) after the ratification of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution giving women the right to vote. The non-partisan league was organized to educate newly enfranchised women voters and use the voting power of its members to press for legislative reforms. The league spent its first sixteen years advocating for the rights of women to serve on a jury in Connecticut. The records consist of minutes, administrative records, correspondence, press files, scrapbooks, and notebooks. The records are arranged into five groups which document the organization and activities of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut including minutes, administrative records, correspondence, press files, scrapbooks, and notebooks."
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This notebook compiled by (Mrs. R.) Gladys Bragdon contains handwritten entries of interviews conducted with approximately 129 prominent men both in and outside local and state government about their position and views on giving women the right to vote. The majority of the men are from the New Haven area. The entries include name, job title or position in government, party affiliation, petitions signed, interests, changed views, and support for the 19th Amendment. She noted if the man was worth speaking to again or if his mind was made up. The notebook is arranged alphabetically by last name. The notebooks are also available online in Flicker
Gladys Bragdon Suffrage Interviews Notebook Available in Flickr (RG106)
The Gladys Bragdon Suffrage Interviews Notebook, 1918, (RG 106) is now available online at our Flickr site. The notebook contains handwritten entries of interviews conducted with approximately 129 prominent men both in and outside local and state government about their position and views on giving women the right to vote.
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"Bragdon recorded in the small black notebook the men’s names, job title or position in government, party affiliation, if they signed a petition,Gladys Bragdon Notebook, Section B, Page 01 interests, changed views, and if they supported the federal amendment. The interviews helped the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA) and the New Haven Equal Franchise League (NHEFL) gather information about who and who did not support voting rights for women."
On March 23, 2011, the League of Women Voters of Connecticut donated a notebook containing a record of suffrage interviews to the Connecticut State Library at a ceremony held in Memorial Hall of the Museum of Connecticut History.
Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association Records (RG101)
Selected items from the organizational records of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association (CWSA), which was organized at a meeting in Roberts’ Opera House, Hartford, October 28-29, 1869. 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. After achieving its primary aim with the ratification by Connecticut of the 19th Amendment on September 14, 1920, the Association voted to dissolve on June 3, 1921. The collection includes records of meetings, membership and attendance registers, correspondence, reports, publications, photographs, newspaper clippings and political and legislative campaign materials.
State Law Resources from American Women: Resources from the Law Library (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) site. Addresses certain state laws and the ramifications for women through U.S. history.
Laws affecting women and children in the suffrage and non-suffrage states (LOC)
Published 1917. Library of Congress (LOC) site: "This book examines women's legal status in the areas of protective labor legislation for women and children, minimum wage laws, mothers' pensions, the property rights of married women, child custody, age of consent, control of the liquor traffic, and prostitution. Like Jessie Cassidy's "The legal status of women," this volume deals with each of these areas on a state-by-state basis. It includes a black-and-white pinwheel chart showing good and bad legislation affecting women, but few other tables or graphs."

Federal Laws

19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents in American History (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) Digital Collection site : "The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials associated with the 19th Amendment and the women's suffrage movement, including manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, sheet music, and broadsides. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights."
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (1920)
From The Our Documents initiative - includes a summary as well as links to image of the document, text version and more.
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The Our Documents initiative is a cooperative effort among National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, and USA Freedom Corps.
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (NARA)
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
CONAN: Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis & Interpretation
Comprehensive and authoritative history, analysis, and interpretation of the Constitution
Women’s Suffrage Rights. Nineteenth Amendment
CONAN Rev. 2014 from GovInfo.gov

Woman suffrage : hearing before the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage, United States Senate, on the joint resolution (S. R. 53) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, extending the right of suffrage to women. [February 18, 1902] by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: 1902
online at Library of Congress (LOC) https://lccn.loc.gov/02024783
Woman suffrage : Hearing before the Committee on Woman Suffrage, United States Senate, Sixty-fifth Congress, first session, on S.J. res. 2, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States conferring upon women the right of suffrage. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Federal Documents Y 4.W 84:W 84/12 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1917
Woman suffrage : report (to accompany H.R. 14604) -- Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Federal Documents Serial Set - see catalog record for volumes
Publication Date: [1919]
Catalog record indicates several volumes.
Serial Set is available through our subscription databases and several free resources.
Woman suffrage : report (to accompany H.J. Res. 200) -- Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. by Raker, John Edward ; Saunders, Edward Watts ; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Federal Documents Y 1.1/2:Serial 7307 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: [1918]
House Report 65th Congress, no. 234, pt. 1 & 2.
Online through our subscription databases and several free repositories
Woman suffrage : report (to accompany S.J. Res. 2) -- Ordered to be printed. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Federal Documents Y 1.1/2:Serial 7249
Publication Date: [1917]
Senate Report 65th Congress, no. 130.
Also available online through our subscription databases and several free repositories.
Woman Suffrage S.Rpt. 64-35 by Committee on Woman Suffrage. Senate
Call Number: Serial Set No. 6897, Session Vol. No.1
Publication Date: January 08, 1916
64th Congress, 1st Session. Senate Report for bill 64 S.J.Res. 1
Online at Hathi Trust and elsewhere
S.Rpt. 63-468. Woman suffrage : report (to accompany S.J. Res. 128) -- Ordered to be printed. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Federal Documents Y 1.1/2:Serial 6552 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: [1914]
Online in Hathi Trust and other places.
United States Congressional Serial Set. 6552 (1913/14).
Woman suffrage : report (to accompany S.J. Res. 1) -- Ordered to be printed by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Federal Documents Y 1.1/2:Serial 6510
Publication Date: [1913]
Senate. Report 63d Congress, no. 64.
Online in the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/womansuffragerep00unit
S.Rpt. 63-64. Woman suffrage ... Report. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: [Washington, Govt. print. off., 1913]

S. Doc. 112-9 - Nineteenth Amendment - Women's Suffrage Rights
Download links on the left.
From GovInfo.gov - from the Constitution Annotated Centennial Edition Interim Edition: Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to August 26, 2017, S. Doc. 112-9.
Joint resolution expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the women suffragists who fought for and won the right of women to vote in the United States
Public Law 109-49 (119 Stat. 457)

Hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage, held in the Marble Room of the United States Senate on the 13th day of February, 1900, at 10 o'clock a. m. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: [Washington : Government Printing Office, 1900]
online at Library of Congress

Woman Suffrage Hearing before the Committee on Judiciary on the House of Representatives (LOC) 1900 Library of Congress (LOC): "- National American Woman Suffrage Association delegates Lillie Devereux Blake, Anna Howard Shaw, Harriet May Mills, Elizabeth Sheldon Tillinghast and Catharine Waugh McCulloch present arguments favoring a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage; Anti-suffragists represented by Mrs. A.J. George, Thomas Russell and Emily P. Bissell, arguing that after fifty years woman suffrage is still a minority movement; table of defeats of woman suffrage measures"

H.Rpt. 65-536 Woman suffrage in Hawaii : report. (to accompany S. 2380) -- Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Woman Suffrage. ; Raker, John Edward, 1863-1926.
Call Number: Federal Documents Y 1.1/2:Serial 7308 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: [1918]
Online in Hathi Trust and elsewhere
Report of hearing before the Committee on Woman Suffrage. February 15, 1898 ... by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: Washington : Government Printing Office, 1898.
online at the Library of Congress (LOC)
Report of hearing before the Committee on Woman Suffrage, January 28, 1896. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Call Number: Serial Set
Publication Date: Washington : Government Printing Office, 1896.
Hearing before the Committee on Woman Suffrage, February 21, 1894. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: [Washington : Government Printing Office], 1894.
Library of Congress: "This pamphlet contains brief remarks by Ida Hulton, Alice Stone Blackwell, and Anna Shaw."
Mr. Warren, from the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage, submitted the following report to accompany S.R. 129. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: [Washington : Government Printing Office], 1893.
Library of Congress (LOC): "Caption title. "Calendar no. 1174." LC copy is [no. 11] in a vol. with binder's title: Senator Sumner's 1869 and reports and hearings to 1902. Binding: inscribed by Susan B. Anthony. From the library of Anna H. Shaw. NAWSA bookplate. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Gift; National American Woman Suffrage Association; Nov. 1, 1938. "
Mr. Blair, from the Committee on Woman Suffrage, submitted the following report to accompany S. Res. 1. by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Woman Suffrage.
Publication Date: [Washington : Government Printing Office], 1890.
Library of Congress (LOC): Caption title. At head of title: "In the Senate of the United States, August 12, 1890..." Signed at end: Henry W. Blair, for the majority of the committee. LC copy is [no. 9] in a vol. with binder's title: Senator Sumner's 1869 and reports and hearings to 1902. Binding: inscribed by Susan B. Anthony. From the library of Anna H. Shaw. NAWSA bookplate. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Gift; National American Woman Suffrage Association; Nov. 1, 1938.

Debate on woman suffrage in the Senate of the United States, 2d session, 49th Congress, December 8, 1886, and January 25, 1887
Statute Compilation of Voting Rights Act of 1965
Susan B. Anthony Day, 2018
White House Briefing Issued on: February 15, 2018
Archived in WayBack Machine
Honoring Susan B. Anthony - 151 Cong. Rec. 2880
Congressional Record. Remarks by Congress member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on February 17, 2005
Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin Act
Public Law 95-447 (92 Stat. 1072)

Trials - Connecticut

Smith Sisters of Glastonbury - Julia and Abby argued they shouldn't have their taxes raised if they couldn't vote. https://connecticuthistory.org/the-smith-sisters-and-their-cows-strike-a-blow-for-equal-rights-today-in-history-january-8-2/ ; https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/reformers/smiths-glastonbury/#.XWPkZGR7ncs
Sarah Sherwood of Fairfield - After years of being single, in 1858 she married Jessup Sherwood , who insisted on control of her property. She was jailed for refusing to turn over her property. July 7, 1865 the Connecticut General Assembly declared she had cotrol of her property, as if unmarried. https://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/news/article/Fairfield-375-Fairfield-case-an-early-landmark-5671947.php

Trials - Federal

U.S. v. Susan B. Anthony: The Fight for Women's Suffrage
From the Federal Judicial Center (FJC): "Learn about the case — historical background and documents", also links to teaching resources

Part of Judge's opinion cited Slaughter-House Cases and Bradwell v. Illinois, Supreme Court rulings made only weeks earlier that had narrowly defined the rights of U.S. citizenship.

Henry Rogers Selden 1805-1885 Court of Appeals: 1862-1865
From Historical Society of the New York Courts
by Frances Murray
An account of the proceedings on the trial of Susan B. Anthony on the charge of illegal voting at the Presidential election in Nov., 1872, and on the trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh and William B. Hall, the inspectors of elections by whom her vo
Library of Congress (LOC): "LC copy has annotations, a newspaper clipping, and a letter and two congressional documents tipped after the text. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site."
Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162 (1875)
Library of Congress (LOC) digitalized U.S. Reports - the U.S. Supreme Court report on this case.
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The Court ruled that the 14th Amendment did not give women the right to vote. The Privileges or Immunities Clause did not apply to women.
Leser v. Garnett, 258 U.S. 130 (1922)
Library of Congress (LOC) digitized U.S. Reports.
Ruled that the 19th Amendment was not unconstitutionally adopted.
Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U.S. 126 (1922)
Library of Congress (LOC) digitized U.S. Reports. U.S. Reports Volume 258; October Term, 1921; Fairchild v. Hughes, as Secretary of State of the United States, et al.
MacKenzie v. Hare
Expatriation Act of 1907
Corfield v. Coryell
1823 federal circuit court

Resources from Congress and Connecticut General Assembly (CGA)

These are some additional resources.

Women's Suffrage: Their Rights and Nothing Less (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) Classroom Materials. Links to resources and lessons. Includes list of dates, and federal legislation, and more.

Woman Suffrage

More Info

Centennial

Contact Us

Reports, Hearings and Other Connecticut Documents

Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) Committee on Woman Suffrage.

Additional Resources

Federal Laws

Trials - Connecticut

Trials - Federal

Trials - Federal

Resources from Congress and Connecticut General Assembly (CGA)