Archives - Documents, Papers - Celebrating the Right of Women to Vote in New Mexico - Research Guides at University of New Mexico

Documents and Papers

Use the New Mexico Archives Online (NMAO) engine to search the inventories of archival collections at the CSWR. (The NMAO can also search the inventories of collections at 20 other repositories in New Mexico).

Here are some references in the archival collections at CSWR related to the right of women to vote and their role in New Mexico history.

Dan Chavez Papers on the History of New Mexico Government, 1872-2016 (MSS 1033 BC)
Includes research on Soledad Chavez, who was elected New Mexico Secretary of State, 1922 and 1924, the first Hispana elected to a State executive office. She was also elected in 1934 to the New Mexico House of Representatives - first woman from Bernalillo County. Collection also has lists of other women politicians and leaders in New Mexico government. Includes a poem honoring Nina Otero Warren written by Felipe M. Chacon. Otero Warren was the first Latina woman to run for the U.S. House of Representatives (1922).
Emma Moya Collection, 1854-2013 (MSS 907 BC)
Includes information on Lola Chavez de Armijo, who was appointed New Mexico State Librarian in 1912 - the first woman to be the government librarian. She won a gender discrimination law suit against Governor William C. McDonald who wanted to replace her with a male crony. Court decision allowed women to hold public office in New Mexico.
League of Women Voters of New Mexico Records, 1920-2004 (MSS 471 BC)
Includes administrative documents such as minutes, correspondence, budgets, league histories and convention information. The collection also contains scrapbooks (1947-1987), programs and studies, as well as information on the local league chapters in the state.
George W. Prichard Family Papers,1850-1935 (MSS 187 BC)
Collection includes an example of 1911 New Mexico's women’s meetings, women's voting campaign, women's work in World War I, 1918 Albuquerque Mother-Daughter Congress, etc.
Margaret Kent Medler Scrapbook, 1894-1918 (MSS 225 BC)
She was a leading woman in Albuquerque, participated in social and women's events, includes a 1905 Albuquerque Women's Club announcement of an event honoring the 85th anniversary of Susan B. Anthony. Anthony (1820-1906), from Massachusetts, fought for temperance, abolition of slavery, labor rights, equal pay and the women's vote. Program includes entertainment line up and names of local women leaders of the day.
New Mexico Poster Collection, 1970-2010 (MSS 341 OV)
Includes a poster for 20 Women Who Made a Difference in New Mexico, 1991, with biography and photograph of Nina Otero Warren and other women leaders. Also a poster for Recovering Women’s History 2006, with a photograph of Nina Otero Warren.
Women's Club of Albuquerque Records, 1903-2001, MSS 671 BC
Included are financial records, minutes of meetings, membership, writers department, scrapbooks, community involvement, etc.
Women in New Mexico Collection, 1976 and ongoing (MSS 303 BC)
Compiled by the American Association of University Women. Has background information on women leaders, among them Julia Brown Asplund, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, Soledad Chavez de Chacon, Dorothy I. Cline, Louise Coe, Georgia Lee Lusk, Concha Ortiz y Pino de Kleven, Nina Otero Warren, etc.
Women in Social Services Oral History Collection, 1986-1987 (MSS 590 BC)
Includes a Cd with interview of Anita Gonzales Thomas, her memories of women's suffrage and her family's participation in New Mexico politics, the Great Depression, WPA projects, etc.

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Women's Fight for the Vote - examples from two collections:

On the left, Secundino Romero Papers, 1824-1911 (MSS 287 BC), Box 1, Folder 9 - a 1900 letter from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Committee, from Susan B. Anthony and other women leaders - asking Secundino Romero, Chairman of the San Miguel County Republican Central Committee, Las Vegas, New Mexico, who was a delegate to the upcoming National Republican Convention - to recommend the right of women to vote to the Republicans and the U.S. Congress.

On the right, Dorothy I. Cline Papers, 1915-1990 (MSS 717 BC), Box 2, Folder - a 1915 printed card from Pennsylvania for the General Election of November 1915 - showing anti-women feeling and how clever male political propaganda was used against women. Card proclaims the majority of women in Pennsylvania do not wish to vote, calls upon male voters to stand by their women and vote no on Suffrage Amendment No.1. Further, it notes that the popular vote had previously defeated the women’s right to vote proposals in 1912 and 1914 in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. There is a recipe for Black Fruit Cake written on the backside and left edge of the card.

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Poster, Women Who Made a Difference in New Mexico

Poster, Women Who Made a Difference in New Mexico, 1991, by New Mexico Board of Education. Side one with images and short biographies of selected New Mexico women and side two with a timeline and background about women's history; women workers; sex discrimination; and a crossword puzzle of Women Firsts and Founders. From New Mexico Poster Collection, 1970-2010 (MSS 341 OV), Oversize Folder 3. Contact me for scans of the back side sections if needed.