Henry Mayer. “The Awakening.” Illustration. Puck: volume 77, no. 1981, February 20, 1915, pages 14-15. From Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division: http://loc.gov/pictures/item/98502844/.

By Thomas Dublin, Professor of History, University of Binghamton (SUNY)

The first installment of the Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States (OBD) is now freely accessible online!   Edited and compiled by Thomas Dublin as part of the online database and journal Women and Social Movements in the United States and published by Alexander Street, the Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States is the work of hundreds of volunteers who have researched, written, copyedited, and fact checked the 950 biographical sketches that appear in this first installment. We expect to add about 500 bio sketches every six months going forward, and by June 2021 to have completed the project with some 3,300 bio sketches accessible online. Divided into three sections, the OBD will include substantial numbers of Black women suffragists, militant suffragists associated with the National Woman’s Party, and mainstream suffragists of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Roughly a third of the anticipated number of sketches are not yet assigned and prospective volunteers should contact [email protected] to express their interest. He will put you in touch with a state coordinator or assign 1-2 suffrage activists for you to work on.  We also need volunteers interested in copyediting completed sketches or using genealogical skills to find birth, marriage, and death records for suffrage activists. Please join this project commemorating the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.


Learn more about the Women’s History Affinity Community.

Read the AASLH 19th Amendment Centennial Value Statement.