The Suffrage Movement and Its Opponents
At Mount Holyoke College

Henry Stimson

Stimson was a trustee of Mount Holyoke from 1894 to 1936. He helped establish the library's collection of anti-suffrage literature and even wrote a piece entitled, "Is Woman's Suffrage and Enlightened and Justifiable Policy for the State?" Interestingly, Stimson was a strong believer in women's education and donated a good sum of money to Jeannette Marks' theater projects, despite differing political views. Marks, the partner of College President Woolley, was an ardent suffragist.

Mary E. Woolley

Mary Emma Woolley was the first woman to receive a bachelor's degree from Brown University. She later earned her master's degree from Brown and was a professor of biblical literature at Wellesley College before assuming the presidency at Mount Holyoke in Janurary of 1901. With the new century came a fresh outlook for the college. Woolley envisioned, "new paths... which college women have seldom trodden."

          

      
The 
Suffrage 
Movement 
at MHC
 
 The
      suffrage society at Mount Holyoke was first mentioned in the
      Llamarada, the college's yearbook, in 1914. Membership in the
      group jumped from 160 in its first year to 360 in its sophomore
      season. In 1915, suffrage demonstrations were held in both April
      and October before the issue was finally put to a vote in November.
      The suffrage referendum failed.

      
bibliography
 
 
 
 
 

      
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