Clarice Whittenburg Papers

May Preston Slosson was the first woman to obtain a doctorate in philosophy in the United States from Cornell University. Her thesis being about the Different Theories of Beauty. After moving to Wyoming with her husband she started her family. May, her husband, and her son Preston William Slosson were strong suffragists and marched in New York City. Flora Knight was a student at the University of Wyoming, but both Knight and Mrs. Scott E.

Colonel William H. Bright was born in Virginia, fought for the Union during the Civil War, and was a saloonkeeper in a small town near Cheyenne. Bright was the individual who introduced the bill that would give women the right to vote in Wyoming. Bright was voted as the President of the Council for the First Legislature. Many individuals on the council had the thought that if Black and Chinese men would have the right to vote then white women should also have that right to vote, Bright agreed with this argument.

On January 26th 1920, the Wyoming Senate voted unanimously to ratify the 19th amendment. Eleven women attended the legislative sessions and were recognized for thier work for women's suffrage. On August 26th 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified after Tennessee voted in its favor. Edward Ivinson was the Mayor of Laramie, Wyoming having had made his fortune from a banking career. Ivinson later in his life donated vast amounts of money leaving a strong legacy. One of the lasting legacies is the Ivinson Memorial Hospital and his support for the women right's movement.

Dr. Grace Hebard was a professor at the University of Wyoming and served as the first female on the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees. Dr. Hebard was the first woman admitted to the Wyoming State Bar Association in 1898, practiced before the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1914, and was the vice president of the National Society of Women Lawyers. Dr. Hebard took her stance for suffrage when she petitioned the Wyoming Constitutional Convention to adopt a suffrage clause in advance of Wyoming entering the Union in 1890.

Mary Godat Bellamy was the first woman to be elected to the Wyoming Legislature, serving in the House of Representatives for a single term starting in 1910. Before joining the legislature she ran for County Superintendent of schools in territorial Albany County in 1888. She supported changes in Wyoming law that allowed women to serve as administrators and executors. She was an active member of the Council of Women Voters.

Dr. Grace Hebard was a respected historian throughout her lifetime. She wrote many books, articles and pamphlets discussing topics that were pressed during her era. She was a professor of politics and history at the University of Wyoming. T.A. Larson was a Wyoming historian, Yellowstone employee and had a progressive outlook.

Not only were there strong female leaders during the beginning of the women's suffrage movement, the strong female leaders in Wyoming stayed until the end. Wyoming in 1869 passed a bill declaring that every women the age of 21 or older was able to cast her vote. In the first murder trial the jury consisted of 6 men and 6 women. Eliza Stewart was the only single woman to serve on the jury. Nellie Tayloe Ross was the nation's first woman governor.

The Wyoming territories needed publicity in hopes to attract population, an immigration of people coming to live in the territories. There were many people who played large roles in women suffrage, some passing through Wyoming and some callling Wyoming home, never the less the lasting impact made by these individuals was remarkable and continues to be seen nearly 150 years later.

Edness Kimball Wilkins was the first female Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives. She served a total of six terms in the state legislature. Having been passed over originally for Speaker of the House, stating that she was used to stepping aside for men.