Suffragists on Campus

Supporters of voting rights for women were part of Simmons College history from its beginnings. Fanny Baker Ames had already been active in the suffrage movement for three decades before she became one of the College’s founding Trustees in 1899.

Home Economics faculty, including Dean Sarah Louise Arnold, and numerous other early instructors worked for change through suffrage organizations.

Some of the very first students also identified publicly as suffragists. This was especially true of those who came to Simmons for post-graduate work, like librarian Alice Charlotte Williams in 1900.

As the national suffrage movement reached out to college women specifically, Simmons students responded. Boston's suffrage marches in 1914 and 1915 ignited further interest, and a small group including Helena Veronica O'Brien (class of 1915) organized an informal student Suffrage Club. Increasing numbers of Simmons graduates proudly claimed their support for suffrage in their yearbook entries as the years passed.

Please click on the images below to reveal the individual life stories of suffragists on the Simmons campus!