Scope and Content Note
The records of the National Woman's Party span the years 1850-2022, with the bulk of the material dating from 1913 to 2020. Collection material documents the party's founding as the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage by Alice Paul in 1913 to the final dissolution of the party in 2020. Included are documents from the party's efforts to promote Congressional passage of both the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, recognizing the right of women to a vote, and the Equal Rights Amendment. The National Woman's Party Records consist of correspondence, personal papers, administrative files, minutes of meetings, financial and legal records, photographs, memorabilia, printed matter, scrapbooks, material pertaining to the historic Sewall-Belmont House (their headquarters, renamed Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in 2016), audio and video recordings of events, and miscellaneous items. The collection, which also includes the papers of the World Woman's Party organized by Paul in 1938, is arranged in five groups with a restricted and an oversize series.
Group I of the National Woman's Party Records is mostly concerned with efforts to secure passage of the federal women's suffrage amendment. The records reflect the culmination of over fifty years of suffrage advocacy and document the creation and development of the National Woman's Party as an active participant in the women's rights movement. Though spanning the years 1889-1940, Group I dates primarily from 1913 to 1920, the period during which the party was most active in the suffrage campaign, and contains Correspondence, Administrative Files, Printed Matter, Medals and Ribbons, and Photographs. In 1981, the Microfilming Corporation of America (MCA) organized Group I of the National Woman's Party Records for microfilm reproduction. The scope and content of Group I are described in the guide to the to the microfilm edition, The National Woman's Party Papers: The Suffrage Years, 1913-1920, edited by Donald L. Haggerty, which is available in the reference collection of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Records not included by MCA in the microfilm edition of Group I have been removed and reorganized as Group IV, Addition I. Photographs reproduced in the microfilm edition represent only a selection of the originals listed in Group I.
Group II of the National Woman's Party Records reflects the party's efforts following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. The National Woman's Party began its various campaigns for equal rights for women and raising the legal, social, and economic status of women in the United States and around the world while remaining focused on passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. The records date from 1850 to 1974, with the bulk of the material dating from 1913 to 1974. Group II is organized in eight series as follows: Correspondence, Minutes, Legal Papers, Financial Records, Printed Matter, Photographs, World Woman's Party Papers, and Addendum.
Group II was received by the Library in 1979 following the organization and reproduction of the records on microfilm by MCA. In 2020, the Library received the microfilm of Group II and the reel numbers were added to the Group II container list in 2022. The scope and content of Group II are described in the guide to the microfilm edition, The National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974, edited by Thomas C. Pardo, which is available in the reference collection of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Some scrapbooks listed in the Printed Matter series of the Group II microfilm are copies of the physical scrapbooks in the Group V Scrapbook series. Items that MCA chose not to film as part of Group II were reorganized at various times and arranged as Group III and Group IV, Addition II.
Group III spans the years 1912-1971 and is organized in the following series: Correspondence, Account Books, and Miscellany. Group III supplements Groups I and II and provides additional documentation on the administrative operations and organizational development of the party. Group III further identifies the individuals who sponsored the party's programs and documents the political and socioeconomic groups from which the party drew its greatest strength. The Correspondence series pertains largely to routine financial affairs, including fundraising activities and appeals and the operations of the Investment and Endowment Fund Committee, which was responsible for the investment and distribution of party funds. Other topics discussed in the correspondence include routine administrative directives, subscription requests for the party's publications, The Suffragist and Equal Rights, efforts to repeal section 213 of the Economy Act of 1932, membership requests, donation acknowledgments, attempts to promote jury service for women, and general information and reference inquires.
The Account Books series contains records related to financial and investment accounts, donations, subscriptions, and memberships. The Miscellany series includes contributor and membership lists, financial records, minutes of meetings, reports, speeches and writings, and other items. Records are also included which chronicle cooperative efforts with other woman's organizations and with the international women's movement.
Group IV of the records is composed of three separate additions. Addition I and Addition II comprise material not included in the arrangement and microfilming of Groups I and II, respectively. Among the types of papers and records included in these additions are correspondence, personal papers, administrative records, financial and legal records, contributor and membership lists, printed matter, and duplicates. Addition III contains correspondence, administrative files, subject files, and miscellaneous items that have not been filmed.
Addition I spans the years 1884-1963, though most of the material documents the suffrage period from 1913 to 1920. The addition is organized by type of material, similar to the corresponding arrangement of Group I, and contains correspondence, administrative files, and printed matter. The correspondence contains field reports and memoranda concerning political campaigns, the organization of state branches, and the ratification campaign. Also included are copies of affidavits dating from 1917 to 1920 concerning the treatment of imprisoned suffragists. The administrative files are composed largely of reports and minutes of various party committees and departments, including those of The Suffragist. Although many of the items in this addition duplicate material from the microfilm edition of Group I, both sources should be consulted in order to obtain a more complete record.
Addition II consists mostly of the personal papers of several party members. The addition spans the years 1876-1968 with most of the items dated from 1920 to 1950. Party members and officers whose personal papers are contained in this addition include Jean Kane Foulke Du Pont, Lucia Hanna Hadley, Dora G. Ogle, Alice Paul, and Helen Hunt West. The addition further includes contributor and membership lists, financial and legal records, memorabilia, and other miscellaneous items.
Addition III spans the period 1898-1975, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1920s to the 1950s, declining in volume over time. It contains correspondence, administrative files, subject files, and miscellaneous records relating to the internal organization and financing of the National Woman's Party, legislative initiatives and political strategies designed to promote the Equal Rights Amendment, and material concerning the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. The addition sheds light on several of the party's internal disputes and documents the activities of a number of its leading officials. Correspondence files of Alice Paul and Anita Pollitzer are of particular note, the former highlighting the middle years of Paul's long tenure as leader of the National Woman's Party, while the latter document the party secretary's lobbying campaign on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment. The National Woman's Party efforts in support of women's rights emphasized strict legal equality and opposed special protective legislation. This position brought it into conflict with other women's groups as well as labor and religious organizations. These themes are documented in the subject file, which also contains records relating to several of the party's conferences and conventions.
Group V of the records represents the final additions of material from the National Woman's Party as it prepared to dissolve the organization in 2020. The physical number of items in Group V is nearly the size of Groups I-IV combined, and also includes a significant digital component. The records of Group V span the entire existence of the National Woman's Party (NWP) and also include posters, photographs, and printed matter documenting the suffrage movement prior to NWP's founding. All material post-1975 is found in Group V. This includes the 1977 formation of the Woman's Party Corporation (WPC), a 501(c) charitable arm meant to shore up the NWP's finances. Other post-1975 files document subsequent legal disputes between NWP and WPC, events at the Sewall-Belmont House, cooperative agreements with the National Park Service and transfer of the house (renamed the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument), museum exhibits, house renovations, and the final dissolution of the NWP, as well as their continued advocacy for the Equal Rights Amendment and other issues concerning the rights of women. Group V is arranged into the following series: Administrative Files, Alphabetical File, Correspondence, Photographs, Printed Matter, and Scrapbooks.
The Administrative Files is the largest of the Group V series and is organized into eleven subseries documenting the internal work of the organization: Board of Directors, Campaigns, Committees, Congressional Voting Cards, Financial Records, Legal Files, Membership, National Council, Officer and Staff Files, Programs and Events, and Sewall-Belmont House / Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument. The series contains both paper and digital files of individual staff and officers; minutes of meetings, committee and board reports, items from conventions and public events, financial records, legal documents, papers from NWP's lobbying and campaign work, and material from the administration of the historic house that served as its headquarters. The Campaigns subseries documents work to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and the campaign for woman suffrage. To aid in their lobbying efforts, the National Woman's Party maintained a card file on members of Congress noting all meetings, background information on the member, and their expressions of support or opposition. These card files are in the Congressional Voting Cards subseries. Boxes of paper files and digital media for particular staff members and officers have been organized as the Officer and Staff Files subseries. The largest paper file is that of Elizabeth Chittick, NWP chair (1971-175) and president (1975-1989). In addition to administrative matters, Chittick's files form a large subject file. Other individuals with substantial files include Barbara Good, Fann Harding, Page Harrington, Jennifer Krafchik, Martha J. Langelan, Alice Paul, and Sara Shriner. Shriner's file includes a collection of 1930s posters from the National Council for Prevention of War and the American Friends Service Committee. The Programs and Events subseries records various events held by the National Woman's Party and those sponsored by the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, including annual conventions, the annual Suffrage Day/Women's Equality Day commemoration, the Alice Award ceremonies, and other educational programs and panel discussions. Material in the Sewall-Belmont House / Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument subseries documents the historic Capitol Hill house that served as the party headquarters from 1929 until 2020. Topics include financial support of the house, construction and renovation, the party's work with the National Park Service, the Florence Bayard Hilles Library, and house functions such as the museum, tours, educational programs, and public and private events. In 2016, ownership of the Sewell-Belmont House transferred to the National Park Service, which renamed it the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument.
The core of the Alphabetical File is what NWP labeled a "Vertical File." While primarily a subject file, it also includes document types, and organization and personal name files alphabetically arranged. During processing, the Alphabetical File greatly expanded as miscellaneous material was incorporated. Organizations represented include the Inter-American Commission of Women, National Council of Women of the United States, the United Nations, and the World Woman's Party. The Alice Paul file in this series consists of items about Paul and material accumulated after her death. Paul's working files are in the Officer and Staff Files within the Administrative Files series.
The Correspondence is arranged into three subseries: Chronological File, Email File, and Subject File. Boxes labeled by NWP as "correspondence chronological" and "correspondence subject file" were retained as the foundation of the Correspondence series. No folders have been added or subtracted from the original "correspondence subject file." The original chronological file, however, became the home to stray correspondence found throughout the Group V addition. Substantial email files from staff and officer accounts form the third subseries in the Correspondence series. Email files are currently unprocessed and unavailable.
The Photographs series is arranged in two subseries. Part A consists of photographs and negatives maintained as arranged and described by the staff of the NWP library. It includes a sizable portrait collection, organized by name, and what the NWP called "action photographs" of campaigns and events. Part B consists of photographs not previously arranged. Part B includes photographs from throughout the life of the organization, especially more recent photographs, slides, and digital images of many programs and events.
The Printed Matter series includes a wide range of material, primarily items created by the National Woman's Party but also other printed matter concerning women's rights and organizations. The party's serial publications, The Suffragist, Equal Rights, and the National Woman's Party Bulletin, are in this series as well as ephemeral items announcing events and marches, posters, news clippings, and digital copies of some issues of Equal Rights and The Sewall-Belmont News. Included is a collection of United States Department of Labor booklets concerning women's labor issues.
The Scrapbooks series contains seventy-eight scrapbooks, forty-eight of which comprise the Alva Belmont scrapbook collection. The Belmont scrapbooks document the women's suffrage movement starting in 1909 and the National Woman's Party from its beginnings to the 1930s. The remaining scrapbooks were compiled by various NWP members and document events or provide a collection of news clippings dating primarily from the 1910s to the 1970s. Some of the physical Group V scrapbooks are available on the Group II microfilm. Some scrapbooks listed in in the Group V Scrapbooks series are the original physical copies of the microfilmed scrapbooks listed in the Group II Printed Matter series.
The Restricted and Oversize series include withdrawn restricted material and oversize items and card files for the entire collection, Groups I-V. Oversize for Groups I-IV consists of a photograph, broadsides, posters, and other printed ephemera. Group V oversize is extensive and includes photographs, a carte de visite photograph album, posters, printed matter, membership scrolls, and card files, and the card catalog for the Florence Bayard Hilles Library. The majority of the scrapbook collection is oversize. Full descriptions of the Congressional Voting Cards subseries and the Scrapbooks series can be found in Group V of the container list. Several scrapbooks and a large poster are restricted due to conservation issues.
Individual Portraits Contained in the Records of the National Woman's Party (Groups I and II) appears as an appendix to the container list. It gives an alphabetical listing by name of the extensive collection of photographic portraits in Groups I and II. Note that the Group V Photographs series contains a large alphabetical listing of portraits within the container list rather than as an appendix.