Tips for Locating Primary and Contemporary Source Documentation

If you’re applying for a National Votes for Women Trail historic marker grant, the following list of websites may be helpful during your research. These sites contain digitized copies of original documents and are acceptable as primary source.

The NVWT Research Team has access to several subscription-only services. Contact us if you need assistance with material that is subscription-based.

Resources

Historical maps to verify the location of the current proposed marker.

• A collection of digitized maps are available online at the Library of Congress.
• Some state archives and local libraries also include digitized local maps.

Newspapers

• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress
• The Ancestor Hunt
• Newspapers.com, Newspaperarchive.com (subscription-based)
• State and local libraries with digitized local newspaper access (usually requires local library card)

Special Collections and Papers belonging to suffragists or related to suffrage (check college & university libraries for digital archives)

• Digital Collections at Library of Congress, including guide to collections containing materials on 19th Amendment and women’s suffrage.
• Digital Public Library of America: primary source set for Women’s Suffrage
• Woman’s Journal (1870 to 1917, freely available at Harvard University Library)
• Accessible Archives, Women’s Suffrage Collection (subscription only)
• History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 1-6 (widely available online). Vol. 4&6 include state reports.

Historical societies, museums that house special collections or suffrage artifacts/ memorabilia/ephemera

• National Women’s History Museum: primary sources
• Women’s Suffrage and the Media (filter for primary sources)

Census records, Land records/Deeds, Probate records

• Familysearch.org (requires free account signup)
• Genealogy databases, like Ancestry or Heritage Quest (subscription only, often available for free at local libraries)

Official government documents (check state and local digital archives)

 

Submitting Materials

Please note that images provided with applications may be scans, photocopies or photographs; email attachments are accepted, but if file sizes are an issue, use a file sharing option. Applicants should underline, highlight or otherwise indicate relevant text. Newspaper mastheads with date or other citation information must be included with the image. These may be included in a separate image, if necessary.