Finish HerStory Community Artifact Day:
Archiving Women’s Suffrage in Western Maryland
It’s rare that you ask a
community to scour
their attics or interview
older relatives. But beginning in
December 2020, ACM Professor
Cherie Snyder and Reference
Librarian Barbara Browning did
just that. Starting with ACM
L-R, Reference Librarian Barbara Browning and Tawnisha Arthur, Keaira Thomas, and Tabatha Vassar, students in ACM’s Human
Service Associate program, review Allegany County voter registration records from the first half of the twentieth century.
DIGGING UP THE GOOD AND THE BAD
15 ACCESS ACM / Engaging Ideas
employees, Snyder
and Browning
asked community
and church groups,
librarians and history
aficionados to help
them locate evidence
and photographs
of local
connection
to the women’s suffrage
movement: information
about women’s marches,
meeting minutes, letters
recounting local activities,
and related materials or
memorabilia from the first
two decades of
the 20th century.
The project, made
possible through the
generosity of a Maryland
Humanities grant, included
the purchase of an
archival quality scanner. In
partnership with the
Allegany Museum,
the Allegany County
Commission for
Women, and the
Allegany County
Women’s Action
Coalition, a spring
Community Artifact
Day was held in March.
Collected documents and
photographs were scanned at an
astounding 1600 dpi. The digital
files became part of the ACM’s
historical documents collection and
will be shared through the Allegany
Museum with the Smithsonian
Institution’s Voices and Votes:
Democracy in America initiative.
Browning offers individual
appointments for scanning newly
found memorialia, materials,
and photographs. To schedule an
appointment, call 301-784-5269 or
email bbrowning@allegany.edu.
Maryland Humanities
creates and supports
educational experiences in
the humanities that inspire
all Marylanders to embrace
lifelong learning, exchange
ideas openly, and enrich
their communities. More
information available at
www.mdhumanities.org.
ACM students Tawnisha Arthur, Keaira Thomas, and Tabatha Vassar identified approximately 20 women
of note as well as a number of local events connected to the suffragist and early feminist movements. The
students’ initial findings proved both fascinating and revealing.
“It’s interesting to see how much work they had to go through to be seen and heard. If they didn’t take
extreme measures like the Suffrage Hike through Allegany and Garrett counties, how far would they have
gotten by taking small, socially acceptable steps?” said Vassar.
“I found that you have to research the men spouse or relative to find the identity of the women. The
biggest challenge is simply the absence of information because of the time period,” said Arthur. “When I
did find something, I was surprised by how vocal the women were.”
Of the women researched, Florence McKaig and Ellen Harris stood out. Florence (Pearre) McKaig (Mrs.
Merwin McKaig) founded the Just Government League, a women’s suffrage organization in Allegany
County, and pioneered free health services for economically disadvantaged women at the Western
Maryland Hospital while her brother, a U.S. Congressman, voted against women’s suffrage. Ellen Harris
(Mrs. Edward Harris), the second president of the Just Government League, was a community activist
who led suffrage protests and marches at local resorts during peak tourist season. When she questioned
a member of Congress at a public event who supported a woman’s right to vote but voted against a bill to
allow it, he stated that his vote was based on his desire to disallow the votes of Black women.
Thomas, who researched Harris as part of the project, was disheartened by this finding. “Even though
you know that racism existed, getting facts that back up what you assume was going on is different. You
wouldn’t expect it would come out of their mouths,” she explained. “But you quickly find that your dig up
the good and the bad in this research. You see evidence that men disregarded and ignored women, even
those in their own families, on this issue.”
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