Papers of Wenona Osborne Pinkham in the Woman's Rights Collection, 1918-1930
Overview
Memorial booklet, correspondence, clippings, etc., of Wenona Osborne Pinkham, teacher, suffragist, and civic reformer. These papers are part of the Woman's Rights Collection.
Dates
- Creation: 1918-1930
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. ORIGINALS CLOSED. USE MICROFILM. REQUEST AS: M-133, reel D49.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Wenona Osborne Pinkham as well as copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
4 foldersThis series consists of a memorial booklet, correspondence, clippings, etc. The memorial booklet includes reminiscences by Henry W. Pinkham and several of Wenona Osborne Pinkham's suffrage and other colleagues, and "The Child of a Colorado Pioneer" written by Pinkham in 1913 re: her childhood. These papers date from 1918-1930 and provide some documentation of Pinkham's childhood, suffrage activities, and work for the Massachusetts Civic League.
BIOGRAPHY
Wenona Osborne was born in 1882, probably in the Midwest. Her family traveled by "prairie schooner" to the plains of Colorado when Pinkham was five. After her father died, perhaps while Pinkham was in high school, she became the chief financial support for her mother, three brothers, and a sister. While teaching in the Denver public schools, Pinkham earned a B.A. from the University of Denver. She married Henry W. Pinkham, a Unitarian minister and pacifist, in about 1911; they moved to Massachusetts, first to Boston and then to Newton Centre. Their daughter Louisa Catherine was born in 1915.
As state chairman of organization for the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, 1913-1915, Pinkham was presented to audiences as an example of a woman voter, since Colorado had granted women suffrage years before. In 1917, Pinkham became executive secretary of the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government (BESAGG), and remained in this position when the organization became the Boston League of Women Voters. In late 1922 she left Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government and became associate executive secretary of the Massachusetts Civic League, an organization that promoted social welfare legislation and such issues as paying prisoners for their work. From 1924 until her death in 1930, Pinkham served as Massachusetts Civic League's executive secretary. After her death, a group of her friends established a trust fund for Louisa Catherine Pinkham.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These papers of Wenona Osborne Pinkham fill four folders of the Woman's Rights Collection, which was given to Radcliffe College in August 1943 and formed the nucleus of the Women's Archives, later the Schlesinger Library. The material in this series was prepared for microfilming in November 1990 by Kim Brookes. It was microfilmed as part of a Schlesinger Library/University Publications of America project.
Subject
- League of Women Voters of Boston (Organization)
- Park, Maud Wood, 1871-1955 (Person)
- Title
- Pinkham, Wenona Osborne, 1882-1930. Papers of Wenona Osborne Pinkham in the Woman's Rights Collection, 1918-1930: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch01036
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.