Catt Collection of Suffrage PhotographsBryn
Mawr College
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was an internationally
recognized suffragist, feminist and political activist.
She served two terms as President of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association, and is credited with revitalizing
the NAWSA during the struggle for passage of the nineteenth
federal amendment granting suffrage to women.
Catt founded the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
in 1902 (later the International Alliance of Women) and
served as its president for many years. She formed the
League of Women Voters in 1920 and was its honorary president
until her death in 1947. In 1925 Catt founded the National
Committee on the Cause and Cure of War. During the 1930s
and 1940s Catt was active in working against the Nazis,
particularly their persecution of Jews. Although a champion
of world peace, Catt was a vocal supporter of the Allied
Forces during World War II.
Description of the Albums
The six photograph albums in the Catt collection, which
seem to have been compiled and annotated by her assistant,
Alda Wilson, contain approximately 815 photographs and
a very limited amount of printed matter, mostly newspaper
clippings, related to the history of international woman's
suffrage. The photographs cover the period from circa
1840 to circa 1940, with the majority dating from the
last years of the nineteenth century through the first
two decades of the twentieth century.
This database retains the original order of the albums
and contains images of each page in its entirety along
with single images and their captions. It is possible
to browse the collection in album order. The corresponding
data files also are searchable by album number, by people
and subject. Search terms can be accessed from the advanced
page at http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cgi-bin/advsearch.exe.
Corrections and additional information, when available,
are given in the "notes" field.
Album 1,"Parades and Pageants," is comprised of photographs
of parades, floats, marching units, street meetings, suffrage
posters, and suffrage headquarters from throughout the
United States.
Album 2, "Pioneers and Leaders," is made up of individual
and group photographs of women leaders of the American
suffrage movement augmented with a small lot of photographs
of male reformers.
Albums 3 ("States M-W, Omitting New York"), 4 ("States
A-L") and 5 ("New York State and N.Y. City") are devoted
to the individual state organizations. They afford a pictorial
record of local campaigns, including New York parades,
and provide a collection of portraits of leaders and workers
in the suffrage movement at the state and municipal level.
Album 6 focuses on the international suffrage movement.
Although most of the photographs are of European subjects,
Africa, Asia, South America, and Canada also are represented.
Of special note are numerous photographs of international
woman's suffrage conferences. Additional information about
the Catt photograph collection can be found at http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/speccoll/guides/catt.shtml.
