Our nation’s capital was the hub of the women’s suffrage campaign during its final push for a federal amendment enfranchising women. To spread their message coast to coast, suffrage envoys were dispatched to communities of all sizes to hand out written materials, give speeches, and encourage women to join forces for the ouster of anti-suffrage officials in favor of politicians who supported women’s rights. Soon, women began to gain the right to vote at local and state levels, leading to the election of the first woman Member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin from Montana, in 1917.

Suffrage envoys traveled cross-country by train and by car in a time when there were few paved roads, few maps, no motels or restaurants between towns, scarce gas stations, and no air-conditioning. Add to that the requisite clothing fashions of the time: modesty from head to toe, with only hands and faces free from cover, even in the heat of summer.

Suffrage lecture tours were held in homes, schools, churches, and local theaters. The envoys sold tickets to recoup their expenses and sent any additional money back to Washington to further the cause.