Woman's Franchise League records
Scope and Contents
This collection includes meeting minutes and membership rolls, newspaper clippings, an auditor's report, programs, a scrapbook, an Indiana Directory, a history clipping, and other material from the Woman's Franchise League in Muncie, Indiana ranging from 1912 to 1919 and 1975 regarding the league's opperations.
Dates
- Creation: 1912-1975
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, Muncie, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Archives and Special Collections.
Historical Note
The Woman’s Franchise League of Muncie was formed in the summer of 1912 with the
avowed purpose of gaining women’s suffrage. According to Dick Greene, writing in his column
“Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood,” the first meeting of the group was held in the YWCA
rooms on Main Street, presided over by Mrs. Jessie Doran, wife of M.A. Doran, a salesman for
the Ball Brothers Glass Company. At the organizational meeting, Mrs. Electa Chase Murphy,
wife of Horace Murphy, local attorney was elected chairman. The group continued to meet at the
YW until the fall of 1913, when members began meeting in various homes. By October of 1913,
it was evident that the group had broadened their objectives to include education issues. Some of
the early presentations by the group also linked women’s suffrage with the temperance
movement, citing liquor as the root of many family problems. Child labor laws, the regulation of
milk production and the efforts of the police department to enforce curfews and “rid the streets
of loafers” were also issues that the local group discussed. Meetings of the group were social
occasions as well as educational experiences, and when held in members’ homes, were often
accompanied by the hostess ending the meeting with the serving of tea. The membership roster
at one time contained more than 250 names, including many wives of prominent businessmen.
During 1917-1918, some of the meetings were held in the First Universalist Church meeting
rooms.
The minutes show that the meetings continued into 1916, after which there is a gap,
probably due to World War I. Meetings resumed again in 1919 and continued until April 1920.
The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote was proposed by Congress June 4, 1919,
and ratification was certified by the Secretary of State on August 26, 1920, and so the League’s
primary goal was accomplished.
The Woman’s Franchise League of Muncie held its last meeting April 19, 1920 in the
Kirby Hotel. The League accepted all bills against the organization’s treasury and then turned
over the balance of its funds, $12.42, to the Armenian Fund. (There was much media coverage in
1916 concerning the starving people in Armenia.) A motion was presented to dissolve the local
League, since similar action had already been taken by the state organization. The motion made
the point that the League’s good will should be transferred to the League of Women Voters. This
motion, “after much difficulty was finally carried, as all present seemed to hate very much to
vote in the affirmative.”
Extent
0.3 Cubic Feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged alphabetically.
Custodial History
This collection was received by Archives and Special Collections as a donation.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Processing Information
Collection processing completed 1991/04/15 by K. Dean. EAD finding aid created 2009/06/30 by Maren Read. EAD finding aid revised 2013/10/02 by Lindsey Vesperry.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Woman's Franchise League records
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Stoeckel Archives of Local History Repository
Alexander M. Bracken Library
2000 W. University Avenue
Muncie Indiana 47306 USA
libarchives@bsu.edu