Papers of Claiborne Catlin Elliman, 1914-1919

Claiborne Catlin Elliman was born in the south (perhaps in Baltimore, Maryland) probably in the 1880s. Her first husband, Joseph Albert Catlin, died four years after their marriage. Not wanting to return home, Elliman went to New York City and attended the New York School of Philanthropy. She subsequently did settlement work on the east side, studied eugenics with Dr. Charles Davenport in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, and was on the staff of a psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania. During this period she joined the woman suffrage movement and eventually became a member of the Massachusetts Political Equality Union.

In 1914 Elliman, in charge of publicity for a National American Woman Suffrage Association rally, rode a horse through downtown Boston to advertise a public meeting at Tremont Temple. The hall was filled. This success gave Elliman the "idea of campaigning on horseback for Suffrage that summer."

Described in the newspapers as a "'suffrage' beauty," for four months (July-October) she rode "astride" through southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod, and as far west as Worcester. By the middle of October she estimated that she had covered 700 miles and given 70 talks. The adventure was cut short by four days when her horse broke a leg and had to be destroyed.

Little is known about Elliman after 1914. She was married again, to Kenneth Benbow Elliman, and in 1919 worked for the Boston Children's Friend Society.