Articles

By Ian McLaughlin, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern “As I have often told my sisters … if they had the privilege of studying, [they] would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the […]

by Amy Tanner Thiriot   Mrs. William Henry Jones was a slender woman, married, but without any living children. She put on a black dress that day in 1900, fastened its white trim with a plain gold band, and went from her hotel to the Exposition Auditorium in Philadelphia, where she became one of the […]

by Kenzi Christensen, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern August 9, 2019 “Sisters, brave of heart and true, now for simple justice sue, claim the birthright of the free–Equal Rights and Liberty.” – “Equal Rights,” by Emily Woodmansee   From 1889 to 1895, women across Utah founded local suffrage associations and held meetings in small towns […]

by Tiffany Greene, Better Days Historical Research Consultant August 1, 2019 Monday, August 1, 1870: Having already voted in several municipal (city/town) elections across Utah Territory, female citizens participated in a territory-wide election for the first time on August 1, 1870. It was the first time in the post-Seneca Falls era that women voted to […]

by Emmalyn Pykles, Better Days 2020 intern   All my life I have carried, and I will carry, the names of two strong women: Emmalyn, after Emmeline B. Wells, and my middle name, Aline, after my great-grandmother. I say “carry” for a reason, because the weight of these women’s lives upon my own is something […]

by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days Historical Director May 8, 2019   2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad. Completed with a ceremonial golden spike driven at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869, the railroad brought technological, economic, and cultural changes to Utah Territory. Despite the fact that women do not appear in […]

by Gabi Price, Historical Intern May 2, 2019 I’ve been working with Better Days 2020 for about eight months now, and I can confidently say I’ve been overwhelmed with the wealth of information that exists about women in Utah history. Had you asked me what I expected out of this internship in August, you would […]

by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director April 26, 2019 Here at Better Days 2020, we want to make sure all Utahns know that Utah women were the first American women to vote under an equal suffrage law. That historic vote happened on February 14, 1870–a full 50 years before most women in the […]

by Rebekah Clark April 15, 2018 “I wanted to write a law on our statute books in the interest of art for the masses.” Hailed as Utah’s “First Lady of the Arts,” Alice Merrill Horne exemplifies the impact of women’s political participation in early Utah. As the third woman to serve in the Utah House […]

By Tiffany Greene, Better Days 2020 Historical Research Consultant April 4, 2019 The role Utah women played in the Chicago Columbian World’s Fair Exposition of 1893 is a case study in what’s possible when women join forces for a common cause. Hundreds of women across the geographic, religious, and cultural spectrum in Utah territory joined […]

By Jennifer Robinson March 28, 2019 “..a group denied the effective exercise of the vote is necessarily deprived of the ability to protect its rights.  Because elected officials are free to disregard its needs and concerns, a disfranchised group is denied an effective voice in policy-making decisions and is relegated to second-class status.”¹ Utah women […]

by Tiffany Greene March 18, 2018 On Feb 18, 1894, a full-house crowd gathered at the Salt Lake Theatre for the closing event of the Sunday night charity series hosted by the Salt Lake Press Club. Part of the program for the evening was devoted to a debate on equal suffrage between two local female […]