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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"All the women in art [seem to] hold the cause of suffrage at heart” -- so declared, in 1915, the magazine Arts and Decoration. Many Boston artists, including Anna Coleman Ladd, claimed their voting rights as soon as the 19th Amendment passed in 1920. Image: Library of Congress

Artist Anna Coleman Ladd working on a mask with a soldier in her studio.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Learn about our work and then check out the dataset for yourself!

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

As many of us head back to school, today’s #VoteroftheDay is veteran teacher Mabel Vivian Shaw (1879-1979), who registered to vote in Boston on September 8th, 1920. Image: 1906 Mirror, Edmund Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College

Black and white portrait of a young woman in a dress with a handwritten label, Mabel V. Shaw. The image is on a green background.

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Jocelyn @historygirl.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

My great grandma is in these books! Got to find her name while researching something else. You can often email or call the town clerk where your ancestors lived and ask if they have the 1920 voter registration books and if you can see them! 🗃️

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Laura R. Prieto @laurarprieto.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

WCVB reporter Leanna Scachetti interviewed me & Marta Crilly about our @maryelizaproject.bsky.social a while back; today the story aired. Happy primary day to Boston! Let’s use our hard-won rights and vote!

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

When the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, over 100 women living at the same address in Boston registered to vote: they were all residents of the Franklin Square House.

Color postcard of the Franklin Square House, a red brick building with six stories and trees in front.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

During #NationalAviationWeek, we recognize 1920 Boston New Voter Helen Messinger Murdoch (1862-1956), who took Boston's first aerial Autochrome photograph in 1928. Image from Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

Helen M. Murdoch : Seated at her work table on Aqua Background

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

On November 25, 1893, Sarah Cannon hurried to register to vote in Boston school committee elections. She'd immigrated to the city from Prince Edward Island + was one of many women who claimed partial suffrage after Mass granted women the right to vote for school committees starting in 1879.

Newspaper clipping "Greetings by Taft and Foss: Mr and Mrs G. N. Cannon of Dorchester Give Reception in Honor of 25th Wedding Anniversary," with portraits showing Sarah Cannon in a high-collared dress and George Cannon in a jacket and tie.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Our #VoterOfTheDay is Dr. Carrie Ines Felch who claimed her right on Aug 2, 1920. Dr. Felch graduated from Tufts Medical School in 1906, the same year as her husband, Louis. According to the 1915-1916 Medical Directory of Greater Boston, both spouses worked out of the same office at 355 Mass Ave🧵

DIrectory entry reading "Felch, Carrie I. (Tufts '06) Member Mass Med. Society, 355 Mass Ave, Boston" with entry below reading "Felch, Lewis Perley, (Tufts Med '06), Mass Gen. Hospital '09, Carney Hosp. '10, Asst to Orthopedic Surg and to Zander Dept., Mass Gen Hospital., Med Exam. Letter Carriers' Mutual Benefit Assoc., Penny Aid Soc. Member Am. Medical Assoc., Mass Med Society, Speciality Orthopedics. Hours 4-5, 7-8, 355 Massachusetts Ave, Boston

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

We found two major shoe factories that employed new women voters in the 1920 Boston voter registers. Learn more about the Boston stitchers, topmakers, and eyeleters who registered to vote after the 19th Amendment. sites.google.com/view/maryeli...

Women factory workers at Hood Rubber Factory stand around table of shoes, circa 1900-1930, Watertown Public Library

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

On September 17, 1920, educator, social worker and philanthropist Bertha Hazard claimed her voting rights. 🧵

Voter register entry reading Bertha Hazard, 11 Nassau St"

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

After the 19th, Boston women still had to clear hurdles to claim their voting rights. Clerks asked for birthplaces, occupations, age (under oath!), marital status, proof of citizenship, and sometimes for women to read lines from the State Constitution. Read more: sites.google.com/view/maryeli...

Newspaper headline reading "How Old Are You, Madam. That questions makes many of our new voters squirm and, as the Town Clerks say, some look old for their years - but they are registering, though most of them say they are strong "antis" by Marjory Adams

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Many of the women voters in Boston's Lower Roxbury and the South End supported themselves and their families by working at the United Drug Co. factory. Read our blog post, The Cherry Pickers of Lower Roxbury to learn more. sites.google.com/view/maryeli...

Box of Maxixe chocolate covered cherries will illustration of cherries

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Wendy Rouse @wendylrouse.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Good thread on Foley and Goodnow. Check out this video for more on their relationship. 🗃️ 🏳️‍🌈 #sschat

youtube.com

Wendy L. Rouse | Schlesinger Library - Suffrage School || Radcliffe Institute

YouTube video by Harvard Radcliffe Institute

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Margaret Foley and Helen Goodnow, lifelong partners, went together to register to vote in Boston on August 4, 1920, correctly anticipating that the 19th Amendment would soon be ratified. 🧵 @universalhub.com @hubhistory.com

Foley and Goodnow's adjacent signatures from Ward Book 17, Boston City Archives

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

On September 17, 1920, Maria L. Baldwin, a respected educator and tireless activist for African American and women’s rights, claimed her right to vote. Read more about Maria, her life, and her voter register entry in our latest blog post. sites.google.com/view/maryeli...

Sepia toned photo portrait of Maria Baldwin showing her head and shoulders

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

As we wrap up Jewish American Heritage Month, we recognize German-born 1920 Boston New Voters and Dorchester residents Hedwig “Haidee” Kaminsky Rosenblum and her widowed mother Emilie Neumann Kaminsky. Image from The Boston Globe, May 5, 1902, pg. 3

A scanned black and white newspaper clipping showing a head and shoulders portrait of a dark-haired woman captioned “Hedwig Kaminsky Secretary”

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

At the end of the 19th century, Scandinavian immigration to the US increased. While earlier waves of Scandinavian immigrants had often been farming families, a wave of starting in abt 1890 was primarily single men and women. We wondered, did these newly arrived women register to vote in 1920? 🧵

Wilson Line steamer departing Gothenburg with Swedish emigrants form norwayheritage.com

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

On August 6, 1920, Elizabeth Cheney Sanger of 518 East Broadway in #SouthBoston walked into Boston City Hall to register to vote. She gave her occupation as journalist at the Boston Globe. Intrigued, researcher Jocelyn Gould uncovered a fascinating story behind the line in the ledger.🧵

Black and white passport photo of Elizabeth Cheney Sanger

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

“The Distinctive Boston House” proclaims this early ad for the Hotel Puritan, in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. At least 21 women who lived at this hotel registered to vote in 1920, immediately after receiving their voting rights from the newly-ratified 19th Amendment!

An advertisement for the Hotel Puritan in Boston, featuring a likeness of a Puritan man and the facade of the hotel. Below is a separate screenshot of the 1920 Boston Register of Women Voters, with residence written "Commonwealth Ave Hotel Puritan."

Advertisement for the Puritan, The North Shore Blue Book (1915). Wikimedia Commons.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

For Medical Lab Worker Week, we are focusing on 1920 Boston New Voter Ethel M. Howard (Wetmore), listed in the registries as performing Laboratory Work at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, now part of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Image from the MIT Museum

Colored postcard of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital with trolly and horse drawn wagon in foreground. Postcard labeled "General View of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass."

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

During #NationalSocialWorkMonth, we recognize Mobile, Alabama-born Bertha Hazard. She was the compiler of the poetry book “Three Years with the Poets”, published in 1905, intended as a teaching tool for primary students. Image from the Internet Archive

Red book titled “Three Years with the Poets” on a grey background.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

On National Dentists Day, we recognize 1920 New Voter Dr. Fenecia L. Leonardi (later Campagna), who registered to vote on October 13th, 1920. #BostonHistory Image: The Boston Globe Sun, May 28, 1916

Black and whilte newspaper portrait of a woman showing her head and shoulders on a purple background

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

We have a website [sites.google.com/view/maryelizaproject/]! Our website brings together all of our work and resources: links to the dataset and research materials, the story of our project and our team, and maps and data visualizations. We'll also update the site with any upcoming events!

"The Mary Eliza Project has a website" imposed on a page from the New Women's Boston Registries from 1920 with the website address

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Sixty-seven of the new 1920 Boston women voters were born in Minnesota, including Minneapolis-born sisters, stenographer Dorothy Whidden (later Abbott) and Marjory (Whidden) Battilana. Image from the Minnesota Streetcar Museum via Minnesota Digital Library. #BostonHistory

Black and white image of a Streetcar on Hennepin Avenue at the Mississippi River, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1880 - 1888) on a green background

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

As some of us return to school after Winter Break, we recognize the three new voters listed as teachers at Dorchester’s Audubon School in 1920. Roxbury-born Anna L. Fitzsimmons was a 1894 graduate of Roxbury High School who registered to vote on October 6th, 1920. Image: Historic New England

Black and white image of Children gathered around a teacher in an interior photograph of the Audubon School on purple background.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

The new voter registries list 273 new voters born in Providence, Rhode Island, including sisters Housewife Rose L. (Boughan) Shiels (1866-1929) and Mary J. Boughan (1873?-1935). The registries list Mary J. Boughan as a clerk working for the Saxony Worsted Mills in Newton, Massachusetts.

Plan of a Andrew Adie (formerly Saxony Worsted Mills) site in Newton, Massachusetts from October 19, 1910.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

On #NationalViolinDay, we are recognizing 1920 Boston new voter, violinist Sarah Weenona (or Sara Winona) Lander (1888-1964), who registered to vote on October 5, 1920.

Black and White Newspaper clipping showing Sara Weenona Lander holding a violin

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Today’s #VoterOfTheDay is South Boston's Helen F. Merrill (later Hopkins), who registered to vote in Boston School Board Elections on November 27, 1918. In 1907, she earned a third-year diploma from South Boston High School. Image: @bpl.boston.gov #BostonHistory #WomensHistory #WomensSuffrage

Black and White Photograph from the front of South Boston High Schol on a blue background

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

On #NationalChocolateDay, we are spotlighting two new voters who worked as chocolate dippers for the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO). Best known for Necco Wafers, the company occupied a complex in South Boston from 1902 to 1927.

Scanned glass plate negative of New England Confectionary Co. from bridge slip, Ft. Pt. Channel corner of Summer St. bridge taken ca. 1898-1907.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

In 1920, Lilian T. Piotti (Moynihan) served on an executive committee of a Memorial Service featuring the Boston Italian Symphony in “Aid of Free Italian Home for Children.” The event was planned as the “largest Italian demonstration ever staged in this city.” Image: Boston Post, Sat. June 5, 1920

Newspaper advertisement for a 1920 Memorial Conference featuring the Boston Italian Symphony

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

For #PolishAmericanHeritageMonth, we are spotlighting Rae M. (Burnce) Davidson, who registered to vote on October 6, 1920, as a resident of East Boston. Image from The Boston City Archives

Black and While photograph of men waiting for a trolley in next to a building being moved.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

When Eva Ryerson Ludgate registered to vote on October 13, 1920, she gave her occupation as "Congregational Minister." One newspaper account claimed that she was the youngest ordained Congregational minister in the United States! Image: Library of Congress

Black and white image of woman staring at camera wearing black with crosses.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

On the evening of Saturday, October 9, 1920, Lili Shapiro registered to vote at the North End's Prince Street School in Boston. Lili was an artist who designed and crafted original ceramics. She was also an active participant in the North End’s Saturday Evening Girls. Image: Historic New England

Women seated around a table, painting ceramics

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

Over 1K of the 1920 New Boston Women Voters worked as Teachers and/or Instructors. #WorldTeachersDay

Map Identifying birth nations of teachers and Instructors listed in the Mary Eliza Project. 1,134 are identified as born in the United States, 30 in Canada, 1 born in China, and others born elsewhere.

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

For #ClassicalMusicMonth, we feature two new voters, Jessie Nute Bennett and Barbara (Loewenstein) Einstein, who performed as soloists in classical music concerts throughout Boston. Image: The Boston Globe, Mon, Jan 08, 1923, Page 4.

Black and White newspaper head and shoulders portrait identified as “The Late Jessie Nute Bennett”

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

As many of us head back to school, we recognize two of the nine voters who worked at High School for the Practical Arts in Roxbury. The school opened in 1913 to teach girls home and work skills, including nursing and home economics. Image from Boston Women’s Heritage Trail

Black and white image of the corner of the former High School for the Practical Arts

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Why was this woman’s voter registration crossed out? When Josephine Bowen tried to register to vote in Boston on September 8, 1920, her attempt was rejected because of the clerk’s note: “no papers.” At that time in the United States, a woman’s citizenship status was tenuous. @universalhub.com

Screenshots from Josephine Bowen's first entry in 1920 Boston Register of Woman voters, showing her name crossed out and "no papers." Top image says "Register of Women Voters."

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

At least 16 of Boston's new voters in 1920 worked for the Loose Wiles Biscuit Company, based at 226 Causeway Street. According to @westendmuseum.bsky.social the company began in 1906 as The Austin Biscuit Company and produced a variety of packaged baked goods.🧵

Newspaper Advertisement for Loose-Wiles Biscuit Co. offering gifts sent to those who provided proof of purchasing the company’s goods

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Travels of Boston's new women voters in 1920 can be found in local historic newspapers. For #CaribbeanHeritageMonth, we focus on a 1911 @bostonglobe.com story of Jamaica born voter Ethel (Parcells) Scott, encountering rough seas when returning to Boston from a trip to Jamaica. 🧵

Color postcard of a steamship from the Great White Fleet of the United Fruit Company

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

As team member, Laura Kitchings, prepares to present at #ASFS40 at Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, we found 1920 Boston Voter Lorna C. (Collamore) Jessup, who later served as the Dean of Women at the University. 🧵 Image : Corvallis Gazette-Times, Sat, Mar 29, 1958 ·Page 5

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Laura R. Prieto @laurarprieto.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Because housewives are also part of history. And sometimes they aren’t just housewives. #WomensHistory #BlackWomensHistory #WomenInHistory

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Every name in the Boston Women's Voter Registers leads us to a life and a story. But we can't always trust everything the registration officials wrote down as fact. Take for instance a “housewife” named Maude T Steward, who registered on August 20, 1920. 🧵

photo of Maude Trotter Stewart standing in front of "The Guardian" offices; backdrop of slide is a mosaic of the handwritten word "housewife"

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

1920 new Boston voters and #Dorchester sisters Vera M. (Warren) Nicholls and Bessie Warren both worked as Superintendents for different locations of Laboratory Kitchen Lunch Rooms, founded in 1903 by Bertha Stevenson. #MaryElizaProject @universalhub.com

Excerpt from Vera Nichols' voter registration record reading "Married, Supt Laboratory Lunch Kitchen, 243 Wash St"

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

For #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth, we highlighting new voter + philanthropist Charlotte (Lottie) Wolf Rabinovitz. As the wife of an immigrant, Lottie would have needed to present her husband’s 1889 naturalization papers to register to vote.🧵

Newsprint portrait of Charlotte Wolf Rabinowitz

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Mary Eliza Project @maryelizaproject.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

During #NationalNursesWeek, we're spotlighting 3 of the nurses who registered to vote in Boston in 1920. Ella W. Brigham registered on Oct 9th She served as a nurse for the U.S. Army and was later active in the Women’s Overseas Service League. Her career included a 3 year nursing course at MGH. 🧵

Boston Globe May 22, 1949] Newspaper clipping showing a photo of three women, who are identified as Women’s Overseas Service League officials in the caption. The caption identifies the woman in the middle as Ella W. Brigham.

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