Vadae G. Meekison papers

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.