Vadae G. Meekison papers

Collection – Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0211

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

The collection profiles the efforts of Meekison to organize pro-suffrage support in Henry County in the 1910s. Letters, newspapers, printed material, and literary productions provide insight into campaign strategy on a state, local, and individual level. Meekison's local civic service is evidenced in her "History of the Red Cross," and her friendship with Judge Florence E. Allen is sketched by news articles and some correspondence.

Dates

Creation: 1903-1965

Extent

0.46 Cubic Feet (1 legal archive box)

1 Flat Files

Creator

Meekison, Vadae G. (Vadae Gwendolyne), 1883-1981 (Person)
Upton, Harriet Taylor (Person)

Scope and Contents

The heart of the Vadae G. Meekison Collection lies in the fifty-six letters written to Meekison by President Harriet Taylor Upton and other officers of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association between 1912 and 1916. They offer an intimate view of the political and personal pressures Upton felt, particularly before and after the Ohio Special Election of September 3, 1912, in which the suffrage amendment was defeated. The correspondence is one-sided but offers enough information to establish the train of queries and responses from Meekison. Suffrage speakers on the campaign circuit through northwest Ohio are identified by name (Helen Todd, Clara P. Laddey, Mrs. Ella Reeve Bloor, Minnie Bronson, Mrs. Frances Goddard, Ella S. Stewart, Miss Ellis Meredith, Miss Mary Graham Rice, Pauline Steinem, Miss Edith Weld Peck, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Elizabeth J. Hauser) The Association letterhead shows the shift in personnel over the four year period. Upton's closing remarks to Meekison are increasingly affectionate with constant concern for the health of Meekison's family.

Appendages to that core are speeches, brochures, flyers, advertisements, and special-interest newspapers, which are all pro-suffrage. The only negative sentiment comes from news clippings. Material directly concerning Judge Florence E. Allen is limited. Some newspaper reminiscences loosely chart her early years as a suffrage worker, while other articles provide endorsements for various political appointments (to the U. S. Supreme Court) and campaigns (for U. S. Senator) in her career.

The spirit of the women and the Woman Suffrage Movement is clearest through the Upton letters. The view-point is from a class of white, middle-class women who were politically aware and able to travel for the purpose of publicizing the movement. These letters are most helpful in illustrating the dedication of suffragists to the single issue of franchisement for women and the means by which this issue was expressed and supported.

Biographical / Historical

Vadae G. Meekison (1884-1981) was an attorney and suffragist in Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio. She was born in West Virginia and lived in Kansas; Detroit, Michigan; and Indiana before moving to Ohio with her husband George. She received her law degree from Valparaiso (Indiana) University and was admitted to the Indiana Bar in 1907. She was a critical figure in Ohio's Woman Suffrage Movement because of her work as a speaker, petitioner and local organizer during a "golden era of idealism, especially among women," i.e., the period of 1905-1920.

She met Florence E. Allen in 1912 while campaigning for suffrage and maintained a life-long friendship. Allen followed a brilliant career in law and eventually served as a judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. in 1948.

Meekison was married throughout this period and gave birth to a daughter, Virginia (1909) and a son David (1913), both of whom practiced law. Virginia is now retired from the State Department and living in Washington, D.C.; David continues a third-generation law practice in Napoleon, Ohio.

In 1917, Meekison coordinated the founding and charter of the Napoleon Red Cross. She was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1926, after which she shared a practice with her husband. She continued an active political and civic life with her professional obligations. Both she and her husband retired in 1969. George died in 1977; Vadae continued to live in Napoleon until her death in August 1981.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records were donated and transferred to the Center for Archival Collections in January 1982 through the cooperation of Meekison's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mary Fran Meekison, of Napoleon, and Jill Gates Smith, field specialist for the Women's Studies Archives Project.