Free, Virtual “Write” Stuff Program on Women’s Battle for the Ballot Oct. 10
Press Release · Friday, September 25, 2020

Washington, DC

The National Archives hosts its fourth annual “Write Stuff” program for aspiring writers and illustrators on Saturday, October 10 at 3 pm, streamed live on the National Archives YouTube Channel. The program’s timely topic, Records on Women’s Battle for the Ballot, commemorates the 2020 centennial of Women’s Suffrage. The program is free and open to the public. Register online. 

The research and writing process is crucial to any successful manuscript – even more so for works of nonfiction that rely upon first person source material to tell a story. Moderated by Dorothy Dougherty of the National Archives at New York, three authors, Winifred Conkling, author of Votes for Women: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot; Marjorie Spruill, author of Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights, and One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Women's Suffrage Movement; and Elaine Weiss, author of The Women’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, will discuss their work on researching women’s rights and suffrage and the movement that followed. This discussion includes a  Q&A session for participants to questions about the authors’ inspirations, creative processes, use of primary sources, and more. Special offer for Write Stuff participants! Pre-order these books online from the Archives Store and use code BOOK15 for a 15% discount!

See related National Archives public program featuring Elaine Weiss and Marjorie Spruill: Women and the Vote: Opposition to Women’s Equality, from Suffrage to the ERA.

Related online exhibit:  

Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment by looking beyond suffrage parades and protests to the often overlooked story behind this landmark moment in American history. This fuller retelling of the struggle for women’s voting rights illustrates the dynamic involvement of American women across the spectrum of race, ethnicity, and class to reveal what it really took to win the vote for one-half of the people. See the online exhibit and video tour by curator Corinne Porter. 

Women’s Battle for the Ballot-related online resources:

The campaign for women’s suffrage was long, difficult, and sometimes dramatic, yet ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement. The National Archives holds extensive documentation that helps tell this story, including the ratified amendment, petitions, court case files, educational resources, and more.

• Forging a Path to the 19th Amendment: Understanding Women’s Suffrage
• Slideshow of Featured Holdings for 19th Amendment Centennial 
• Women's Rights Primary Sources and Teaching Activities on DocsTeach
• Woman Suffrage Primary Source Set
• Highlights from virtual commemoration of Women’s Suffrage Centennial 
• 19th Amendment Centennial on Social Media