1 National Women’s Party Congressional Voting Card File Finding Aid Collection Summary Title: National Woman’s Party Congressional Voting Card files Span dates: 1915-1932, 1953-54 Creator: NWP members Extent: 3348 total items; 2612 cards, 459 letters, 276 ERA agreement slips File I: 957 cards File II: 1318 items; 1068 cards, 250 letters File III: 1073 items; 588 cards, 209 letters, 276 small ERA agreement slips Language: Collection material in English Repository: Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, Washington DC Abstract: The National Woman’s Party Congressional Voting Card file is a set of 5”x 8” paper cards kept as a reference database about Congressmen from 1915-1932. The Congressional Voting Card files include biographical statistics as well as interview cards detailing attitudes and opinions of elected officials, gathered by National Woman’s Party lobbyists. Information documented here was used in the lobbying efforts of the NWP to pass the 19th Amendment and promote the Equal Rights Amendment. Administration Information Historical Note: The Congressional Voting Card file was started by Lucia I. Voorhees Grimes(18771978), a NWP member, in 1915 based on a similar filing system she had used previously. The file served as a database of information about elected officials for the NWP. 5”x8” cards documented biographical statistics while preprinted interview cards were filled out about the attitudes and opinions of Congressmen based on in-person interviews. The NWP utilized this information in lobbying for the passage of the 19th Amendment and lobby for the Equal Rights Amendment. During the Suffrage period, the card index focused on biographical information about the Congressmen. Gathered from research in the Congressional Directory and from NWP members in the home districts, NWP workers typed up to 28 cards for each elected official. The cards were sorted alphabetically by state in one of several formats over time. With the passage of the 19th Amendment through Congress, the Congressional Voting Card file was expanded to include state legislatures and Governors in order to lobby 2 states for the amendment’s ratification. After ratification, the files were opened to the public after years of being locked up for security under the watchful eye of Maud Younger (Chairman of the Lobby Committee for the National Woman’s Party).1 In 1923 the Congressional Voting Card files were recreated in order to assist in the lobbying efforts for the Equal Rights Amendment. The second file focused primarily on interview cards (which the NWP called lobby slips), to document the opinions and attitudes of Congressmen during their meetings with NWP lobbyists. The NWP utilized women visiting from all parts of the country to lobby Representatives and Senators from their home states, and affect opinions about the need for equal rights. The Congressional Voting Card files were also enlarged to include correspondence with elected officials. Letters between state party workers and their elected officials were often forwarded to the NWP headquarters to be incorporated into the Congressional Voting Card files. This second set of cards ranges in date from 1920 to 1932. A few of the cards have “out” or “deceased” written on them, seeming to indicate when a Congressman was no longer in office, and possibly with the intention to remove the card from the files. The exact process and how many cards may have been removed or lost over time is unknown. Evidence of continued reincarnations of the Congressional Voting Card file appears in a third set of cards dating from the 1950’s. These interview cards and letters follow the same structure and pattern as the earlier sets, and were used during the reintroduction of the ERA to fight against the Hayden Rider, an addition to the amendment, added to undermine its meaning. Collection Scope / Description The Congressional Voting Card files are separated into three files. File I : includes the biographical cards of the Suffrage period (1915-1919) File II : includes both interview cards and correspondence related the Equal Rights Amendment and other women’s rights issues in Congress from 19201932. File III: includes interview cards, correspondence and ERA agreement slips from 1953 and 1954 relating to the reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Hayden rider. File I: Suffrage period index (1915-1919) The Suffrage period files are typed paper cards containing biographical information about the elected officials at the time. This information was gathered primarily from the Congressional Directory (published for each Congress) supplemented with additional 1 “Suffrage Index of Good and Bad Governors,” New York Times, Sept. 7, 1919, Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006), p 71. “Her Pressure on Congress,” New York Times, Mar. 2, 1919, Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006), p 71. 3 information from the Congressional home districts. Elected officials have between one and twenty-eight biographical cards in the file, with most having between five and ten. (The average is seven.) These cards represent individuals from 15 states. Most heavily represented are: Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi and New York. Single individuals represent California, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey & Wisconsin, suggesting that many additional cards and states are missing from the current files. While the whereabouts of these additional cards are entirely unknown, the overall pattern and thoroughness of the states present suggests that the file today is only a small portion of the original records. File II: Equal Rights Amendment period index (1920-1932) The Equal Rights Amendment period file contains a combination of interview cards and letters related to the elected officials in Congress from 1920-1932. The files are approximately 80% interview cards with information (typed or handwritten) about meetings NWP lobbyists had with elected officials. The other 20% are letters to and from the elected officials. The documents relate primarily to the ERA, noting opinions and attitude for future reference. Other documents also note opinion and attitude toward additional, relevant women’s rights issues of the time. These topics include Puerto Rican suffrage (1929), the Cable bill (1922) and Cable amendment (1931)– relating to women’s citizenship when marrying a foreign national. More than 1000 individuals are represented in File II, from 45 states. (Cards are missing from the following states: Idaho, Oklahoma & Wyoming in addition to Alaska and Hawaii, neither of which had achieved statehood yet.) Because of the thoroughness of this file, these cards likely represent nearly all of the original ERA card index of the period. Several cards have “out” or “deceased” written across them, and records show that there was at least one attempt to ‘clean out’ the card index (in 1929, see full historical write-up for details). But given the range and scope of the available cards, it is clear that this file is far more complete than file I. File III: Equal Rights Amendment period index (1953-1954) This file contains interview cards, correspondence and ERA agreement slips from 1953-54. These files were used, as before, to document the opinions of Congress during the reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment and the attempted inclusion of several riders. The interview cards document Senators from 1953 and Representatives from 1954. The correspondence includes letters and envelopes and ephemera from a variety of elected officials in 1954. The Equal Rights Amendment agreement slips are small, quarter sheets of paper that identify the support for the ERA in both the Democratic and Republican party platforms and ask the Congressmen to commit to supporting the ERA without the harmful riders attached. All of the slips in File III are signed by elected officials in October of 1954. 4 This file includes Senators and Representatives from all 48 states as well as delegates from Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Its comprehensive documentation of elected officials suggests that the cards present represent the entire index of the period. Processing History: There are conflicting records about the original order of the Congressional Voting Card files, and multiple iterations of the index itself, resulting in no one correct order for the individual cards. The files present have been reorganized at least twice since coming into the NWP collection. Photos and records show that the Congressional Voting Card index was kept in filing cabinets in various places in the different NWP headquarters.2 While initially locked for security they have been opened to the public at various times throughout their existence. They are currently being stored in archival boxes in the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum with other archival collections. File I: Suffrage period index (1915-1919) The files were reorganized in 2008, and placed in archival boxes with archival paper dividers for each section. They were organized alphabetically by state, then by individual and within each, most cards alphabetically by title. The accuracy of this order is unknown, but not supported by any scholarship. The files were organized into their present order in the summer of 2010. They are organized alphabetically by state, and then by individual. Each set of individual’s cards (biographical cards) are organized as follows; Title Birth Ancestry District Education Hobbies Habits Religion Reputation Father Mother Spouse/ Marriage Children Military Service Occupation Election / Votes Received Political Life in Congress Political Life outside of Congress Newspaper Suffrage / Amendment notes Residences The order is: personal, family, professional (as applicable) and follows more closely with some of the historical descriptions of order. 2 “Her Pressure on Congress,” New York Times, Mar. 2, 1919, Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006), p 71. Photographs from the NWP Action Photographs collection: Image P2055 (Box 25, file 6), Image P2449 (Box 29, file 8) and Image P2413 (Box 29, file 4) 1929.011.001 – Letter on behalf of Rep. Eaton, includes handwritten note at top: “Congressional File – Basement” 5 In 2010, the cards were also cataloged into the PastPerfect collections database, including metadata to make them fully searchable. They were also digitally scanned for the records. File II: Equal Rights Amendment period index (1920-1932) The files were initially sorted in 2008, and placed in archival boxes with archival paper dividers for each section. They were organized alphabetically by state, then by individual. The accuracy of this order is unknown. The files were cataloged and digitized in 2010, but kept in the same order. Letters that were previously folded to fit were moved to a larger box for their preservation and archival slips were added in their place amongst the cards to identify their location within the card files. Cataloging and digitization of the entire file is ongoing. File III: Equal Rights Amendment period index (1953-1954) This file was transferred from its original container(s) into an archival box in 2008 but is otherwise untouched. It utilizes the original dividers and all cards are in order from their earlier container. They are organized by state and within, by year and then by individual. The cards and documents in this file have not yet been cataloged or digitized. Copyright Status: - Not sure what you want to put, if you want to include this section Preferred Citation: - Not sure what the proper citation would be for these, we can makeup something if you want to include this section. 6 Container Listing File I: Suffrage period (1915-1919) Box Folder Contents Name Nolan Lankford 1 California Count 9 cards 12 cards Congresses 63rd 67th-68th Delaware Miller 1 card 64th Georgia Tribble 7 cards 62nd-63rd Louisiana Aswell Broussard, R. Broussard, E. Dupre Elder Estopinal Lazaro Martin Morgan Ransdell Thornton Watkins 9 cards 3 cards 14 cards 9 cards 6 cards 8 cards 6 cards 3 cards 10 cards 12 cards 7 cards 8 cards 63rd-72nd 55th-65th 67th-72nd 61st-68th 63rd 60th-66th 63rd-70th 64th-71st 62nd-64th 56th-71st 61st-63rd 59th-66th Maine Beedy Fernald Guernsey Hale Hersey Hinds Johnson McGillicuddy Peters 11 cards 3 cards 9 cards 2 cards 2 cards 9 cards 8 cards 11 cards 8 cards 67th-73rd 64th-69th 60th-64th 65th-76th 65th-70th 62nd-64th 62nd-64th 62nd-64th 63rd-67th Maryland Andrews Covington Harrington Lee Lewis Linthincum Price 11 cards 9 cards 1 card 7 cards 7 cards 11 cards 1 card 66th 61st-63rd Governor 63rd-64th 62nd-64th, 72nd-75th 62nd-72nd 63rd-65th 7 Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Smith, F. Smith, J. Talbott Carter Connery Coolidge Dallinger Deitrick Gardner Gillett Gilmore Greene Lodge Lufkin Mitchell Murray Olney Paige Peters Phelan Roberts Rogers Tague Thacher Tinkham Weeks Winslow James 3 cards 14 cards 2 cards 1 card 1 card 8 cards 7 cards 2 cards 11 cards 18 cards 6 cards 6 cards 10 cards 2 cards 5 cards 8 cards 3 cards 12 cards 8 cards 11 cards 12 cards 8 cards 2 cards 7 cards 1 card 14 cards 16 cards 1 card 63rd 56th, 60th-66th 46th-48th, 53rd, 58th-65th 64th-65th 68th-75th Governor 64th-72nd 63rd 57th-65th 53rd-71st 63rd 55th-68th 50th-68th 65th-67th 61st, 63rd 62nd-63rd 64th-66th 63rd-68th 60th-63rd 63rd-66th 56th-64th 63rd-69th 64th-68th 63rd 64th-77th 59th-65th 63rd-68th 64th-73rd Anderson Burnquist Davis Ellsworth Hammond Johnson Keller Knutson Kvale Lindbergh Manahan Miller Nelson Schall 6 cards 1 card 10 cards 1 card 5 cards 9 cards 5 cards 4 cards 9 cards 3 cards 8 cards 13 cards 4 cards 4 cards 62nd-68th Governor 58th-68th 64th-66th 60th-63rd 68th, 73rd 66th-69th 65th-80th 68th-71st 60th-64th 63rd 61st-65th 48th-50th, 54th-68th 64th-74th 8 2 Shipstead Smith Steenerson Stevens VanDyke Volstead 11 cards 7 cards 5 cards 5 cards 7 cards 5 cards 68th-79th 63rd-64th 58th-67th 55th-63rd 64th-66th 58th-67th Mississippi Candler Collier Harrison Humphreys Quin Russell Sisson Stephens Vardaman Venable Williams Witherspoon 18 cards 13 cards 8 cards 11 cards 12 cards 1 card 9 cards 8 cards 11 cards 1 card 7 cards 8 cards 57th-66th 61st-72nd 62nd-77th 58th-68th 63rd-72nd Governor 61st-67th 62nd-66th, 68th-73rd 63rd-65th 64th-66th 53rd-60th, 62nd-67th 62nd-64th Montana Evans Leavitt Myers Stewart Stout Walsh Wheeler 7 cards 12 cards 10 cards 1 card 6 cards 8 cards 7 cards 63rd-72nd 68th-72nd 62nd-67th Governor 63rd-64th 63rd-72nd 68th-79th New Mexico Bursum Catron Fall Fergusson Jones Larrazola 7 cards 26 cards 28 cards 1 card 4 cards 1 cards 67th-68th 62nd-64th 62nd-67th 62nd-63rd 65th-70th 70th New York Bennett Brown Bruckner Caldwell Carew Cantor Chandler Charles 1 card 10 cards 9 cards 8 cards 17 cards 5 cards 9 cards 1 card 59th-64th 63rd 63rd-65th 64th-66th 63rd-71st 63rd 63rd-65th, 67th 64th 9 Clancy Conry Dale Danforth Dempsey Dooling Driscoll Dunn Fairchild Farley Fitzgerald George Gittins Goldfogle Goulden Griffin 9 cards 9 cards 10 cards 8 cards 3 cards 8 cards 4 cards 12 cards 6 cards 4 cards 7 cards 7 cards 8 cards 6 cards 11 cards 1 card 63rd 61st-65th 63rd-65th 62nd-64th 64th-71st 63rd-66th 61st-64th 63rd-67th 60th-65th 64th 56th-65th 62nd-63rd 63rd 57th-63rd, 66th 58th- 64th 65th- 74th New Jersey Wilson 3 cards Governor Wisconsin Classon 2 cards 65th-67th File II: ERA period (1920-1932) Box 2 Folder Contents Name Allgood Bankhead Bowling Heflin Hill Huddleston Jeffers McDuffie Patterson Steagall Underwood Count 2 cards 1 card 1 card 2 cards, 1 letter 1 card 1 card 1 card 2 cards 1 card 1 card 1 card Congresses 68th-73rd 65th-76th 66th-70th 58th-71st 68th-90th 64th-74th 67th-73rd 66th-74th 70th-72nd 64th-78th 54th-69th Arizona Cameron Hayden 1 card 1 card 61st-63rd, 67th-69th 62nd-90th Arkansas Caraway Oldfield 1 card, 6 letters 1 card 63rd-72nd 70th-71st Alabama 10 Ragon Tillman Wingo 1 card 1 card 1 card 68th-73rd 64th-70th 63rd-71st California Crail Fredericks Free Johnson Kahn, F. Kahn, J. Lea Raker Shortridge Swing Welch 2 cards, 1 letter 1 card 4 cards 1 card, 4 letters 2 cards 1 letter 1 letter 1 card 1 card, 4 letters 4 cards, 1 letter 1 card 70th-72nd 68th-69th 67th-72nd 65th-79th 69th-74th 56th-68th 65th-80th 62nd-69th 67th-72nd 67th-72nd 69th-81st Colorado Adams Eaton Hardy Price 1 card 1 letter 3 cards, 4 letters 1 card 68th, 73rd-77th 71st-72nd 66th-72nd ?? Connecticut Brandegee Fenn Freeman Glynn Tilson 1 letter 1 card 1 card 1 card 1 card 57th-68th 67th-71st 64th-72nd 64th-71st 61st-72nd Delaware Ball Bayard Boyce DuPont Hastings Houston Townsend 4 cards, 2 letters 2 letters 3 cards, 2 letters 1 cards 2 cards, 1 letter 1 letter 1 card 57th, 66th-68th 67th-70th 68th 67th-70th 70th-74th 69th-72nd Governor Florida Clark Drane Green Owen Sears Yon 1 card 1 card 3 cards 2 cards 1 card 1 letter 59th-68th 65th-72nd 69th-78th 71st-72nd 64th-70th 70th-72nd 11 Georgia Bell Crisp George Harris Lankford Larsen Lee Moore Park Rutherford Upshaw Vinson Wright 1 card 1 card 1 card 2 cards 1 card, 1 letter 1 card 1 card 1 card 2 cards 2 cards 1 card 2 cards 1 card 69th 68th 67th-84th 68th 68th 68th 68th 68th 68th 71st 68th 68th 68th Illinois Buckbee Buckley Denison Graham Hall Holaday Hull King Major McCormick McKenzie McKinley 1 letter 1 card 1 card 2 cards 1 card 1 card 2 cards 1 card 2 cards 1 card 1 card 1 card 70th 68th 68th 68th 70th 68th 68th 68th 68th 68th 68th 68th Indiana processing incomplete Total of 8 cards Iowa processing incomplete Total of 11 cards Kansas processing incomplete Total of 18 cards and 5 letters Kentucky processing incomplete Total of 15 cards and 12 letters 12 Louisiana processing incomplete Total of 10 cards Maine processing incomplete Total of 8 cards Maryland processing incomplete Total of 39 cards and 12 letters Massachusetts processing incomplete Total of 35 cards and 5 letters Michigan processing incomplete Total of 20 cards Minnesota processing incomplete Total of 25 cards and 11 letters Mississippi processing incomplete Total of 16 cards and 2 letters Missouri processing incomplete Total of 35 cards and 12 letters Montana processing incomplete Total of 3 cards Nebraska processing incomplete Total of 16 cards and 6 letters Nevada processing incomplete Total of 14 cards New Hampshire processing incomplete Total of 7 cards and 1 letter New Jersey processing incomplete Total of 40 cards and 13 letters New Mexico processing incomplete Total of 3 cards and 3 letters 13 3 New York processing incomplete Total of 113 cards and 25 letters North Carolina processing incomplete Total of 42 cards North Dakota processing incomplete Total of 29 cards Ohio processing incomplete Total of 72 cards and 39 letters Oregon processing incomplete Total of 4 cards Pennsylvania processing incomplete Total of 154 cards and 7 letters Rhode Island processing incomplete Total of 7 cards and 18 letters South Carolina processing incomplete Total of 18 cards and 11 letters South Dakota processing incomplete Total of 15 cards and 1 letter Tennessee processing incomplete Total of 14 cards Texas processing incomplete Total of 65 cards and 4 letters Utah processing incomplete Total of 12 cards and 1 letter Vermont processing incomplete Total of 4 cards Virginia processing incomplete Total of 13 cards and 19 letters 14 5 Washington processing incomplete Total of 9 cards and 3 letters West Virginia processing incomplete Total of 25 cards and 2 letters Wisconsin processing incomplete Total of 37 cards and 5 letters Letters and Oversized cards from File II: ERA period (1920-1932) – see NWP PastPerfect records for exact locations File III: ERA period (1953-1954) Box Folder Contents 4 Alabama processing incomplete Total of 13 cards and 1 ERA agreement slip Alaska processing incomplete Total of 1 card Arizona processing incomplete Total of 2 cards and 1 ERA agreement slip California processing incomplete Total of 6 cards, 2 letters and 9 ERA agreement slips California – 2 processing incomplete Total of 28 cards, 6 letters and 5 ERA agreement slips CO-CT processing incomplete Total of 2 letters and three ERA agreement slips Colorado processing incomplete Total of 6 cards and 7 letters Connecticut processing incomplete Total of 19 cards, 2 letters and 4 ERA agreement slips 15 Connecticut -2 processing incomplete Total of 2 letters and 3 ERA agreement slips D processing incomplete Total of 2 ERA agreement slips Delaware processing incomplete Total of 1 card Florida processing incomplete Total of 1 card processing incomplete Total of 8 cards and 3 letters processing incomplete Total of 1 card processing incomplete Total of 10 cards and 1 ERA agreement slip Florida -2 Georgia Georgia – 2 Hawaii processing incomplete Total of 1 card, 1 letter and 1 ERA agreement slip (Note: Hawaii was not yet a state, but the information here discusses their elected delegate at the time) Idaho processing incomplete Total of 1 letter and 2 ERA agreement slips Idaho -2 processing incomplete Total of 4 cards, 2 letters and 1 ERA agreement slip Illinois processing incomplete Total of 26 cards, 5 letters and 10 ERA agreement slips processing incomplete Total 25 cards, 12 letters and 23 ERA agreement slips Indiana IL/IN processing incomplete Total of 1 card and 8 ERA agreement slips Iowa processing incomplete Total of 9 cards, 1 letter and 8 ERA agreement slips Kansas processing incomplete Total of 1 card, 1 letter and 2 ERA agreement slips 16 Kansas -2 processing incomplete Total of 9 cards, 1 letter and 1 ERA agreement slip Kentucky processing incomplete Total of 9 cards, 1 letter and 1 ERA agreement slip Louisiana processing incomplete Total of 10 cards Maine processing incomplete Total of 4 cards, 4 letters and 1 ERA agreement slip Maryland processing incomplete Total of 15 cards, 4 letters and 10 ERA agreement slips -- (blank card) processing incomplete Total of 2 cards, 3 letters Massachusetts processing incomplete Total of 16 cards, 7 letters and 19 ERA agreement slips Michigan processing incomplete Total of 1 card, 3 letters and 13 ERA agreement slips Michigan-2 processing incomplete Total of 11 cards, 3 letters and 8 ERA agreement slips Minnesota processing incomplete Total of 11 cards, 1 letter and 3 ERA agreement slips Mississippi processing incomplete Total of 8 cards Missouri processing incomplete Total of 13 cards, 4 letters and 1 ERA agreement slip Montana processing incomplete Total of 3 cards Nebraska processing incomplete Total of 5 cards, 1 letter and 1 ERA agreement slip 17 Nebraska -2 processing incomplete Total of 1 card, 3 letter and 6 ERA agreement slips Nevada processing incomplete Total of 3 cards New Hampshire processing incomplete Total of 4 cards New Jersey processing incomplete Total of 11 cards, 20 letters and 2 ERA agreement slips New Jersey -2 processing incomplete Total of 1 card, 6 letters and 11 ERA agreement slips New Mexico processing incomplete Total of 4 cards, 2 letters and 2 ERA agreement slips New York processing incomplete Total of 2 cards New York -2 processing incomplete Total of 46 cards, 22 letters and 43 ERA agreement slips North Carolina processing incomplete Total of 2 cards and 2 ERA agreement slips North Carolina-2 processing incomplete Total of 17 cards, 2 letters and 2 ERA agreement slips North Dakota processing incomplete Total of 5 cards and 2 letters Ohio processing incomplete Total of 7 cards, 4 letters and 9 ERA agreement slips Ohio-2 processing incomplete Total of 31 cards, 10 letters and 3 ERA agreement slips Oklahoma processing incomplete Total of 7 cards, 1 letter and 2 ERA agreement slips 18 Oklahoma-2 processing incomplete Total of 2 cards, 3 letters and 6 ERA agreement slips Oregon processing incomplete Total 1 card, 3 letters and 2 ERA agreement slips Oregon -2 processing incomplete Total of 6 cards and 1 letter Pennsylvania processing incomplete Total of 3 cards, 4 letters and 9 ERA agreement slips Pennsylvania-2 processing incomplete Total of 29 cards, 11 letters and 7 ERA agreement slips Puerto Rico processing incomplete Total of 1 card Rhode Island processing incomplete Total of 5 cards South Carolina processing incomplete Total of 9 cards and 1 ERA agreement slip South Dakota processing incomplete Total of 4 cards and 1 ERA agreement slip Tennessee processing incomplete Total of 6 cards, 1 letter and 2 ERA agreement slips Tennessee -2 processing incomplete Total of 11 cards, 3 letters and 1 ERA agreement slip Texas processing incomplete Total of 19 cards and 2 ERA agreement slips Utah processing incomplete Total of 2 cards V processing incomplete Total of 1 card, 3 letters and 5 ERA agreement slips 19 Vermont processing incomplete Total of 3 cards Virginia processing incomplete Total of 11 cards WV / WA processing incomplete Total of 1 ERA agreement slip Washington processing incomplete Total of 9 cards, 4 letters and 2 ERA agreement slips West Virginia processing incomplete Total of 8 cards, 3 letters, and 6 ERA agreement slips Wisconsin processing incomplete Total of 2 cards, 1 letter and 4 ERA agreement slips Wisconsin -2 processing incomplete Total of 21 cards, 13 letters and 2 ERA agreement slips Wyoming processing incomplete Total of 4 cards Wyoming-2 processing incomplete Total of 2 cards