Articles

September 6, 2023 We’re pleased to announce the return of our annual “She Started It” art contest for students in grades 4 – 12! Utah women make history, and we need your help to show it. Download the contest flier here, or read on for full details. Submit to the contest here The task: Create […]

June 2021 We’re featuring actress, inventor, and production artist Maude Adams this month. Maude was the most famous actress of her time, and she debuted the role of Peter Pan on Broadway in 1905. Maude was interested in the technical aspects of theater as well as acting. She set up a research team to create […]

January 5, 2021 This year marks the 125th anniversary of Utah statehood. Utah women have always made history, but they’re often missing in our textbooks, classrooms, and public art. We need your help to change that! We’re holding a student contest and teacher awards this February and we hope you’ll participate and spread the word. […]

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 […]

Over the airfield, a wounded aviator fell from the sky. He lay there for what felt like hours, waiting to die, but suddenly, he felt hands lifting him onto a stretcher and gently setting him in the back of an ambulance. The aviator kept his eyes closed as the truck lurched forward. He hardly dared hope he’d survive the journey to the nearest hospital.

Contention at the Convention By Sarah Hancock Jones October 18, 2018   Filing into the Salt Lake City and County building in the spring of 1895, Utah women thought they had it in the bag. They had been working for years to build support for universal suffrage in the state constitution: collaborating with national leaders […]

By Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director September 13, 2018   Our mission at Better Days 2020 is to share the stories of Utah women – who were the first women citizens in the U.S. to vote under a women’s equal suffrage law! We’re pretty proud of that fact, so let’s take a closer […]

On This Day: A Mother’s Influence By Candace Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern August 18, 2018   On this day in history, August 18, 1920, Tennessee’s youngest state representative, Harry T. Burn, sat in his Nashville hotel room, poring over a letter from his mother. Postmarked August 17, most of the seven-page note was […]

The Suffrage Resolution at Seneca Falls By Candace Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern July 27, 2018   On July 19, 1848, in the opening speech of the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton declared, “We [women] now demand the right to vote.” Her audience applauded her gumption. But when she later presented the ninth […]

On This Day: Seneca Falls Convention By Candace Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern July 19, 2018 One hundred seventy years ago today, on July 19, 1848, thirteen-year-old Daniel Cady Eaton broke into the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel with both his aunt’s blessing and her assistance.Once inside, he made his way to the front of the […]

“None Of The Unpleasant Results Have Occurred” By Katherine Kitterman, Historical Director, Better Days 2020 July 10, 2018   On February 15, 1898, Susan B. Anthony led a delegation of women and men up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to speak in support of women’s suffrage. It was her 78th birthday, and the fifteenth […]

Gaining, Losing, and Winning Back the Vote: The Story of Utah Women’s Suffrage By Barbara Jones Brown, Naomi Watkins, and Katherine Kitterman     When Utah became a U.S. territory in 1850, all free white male inhabitants over the age of 21 had the right to vote if they were U.S. citizens. This meant many […]

By Rebekah Clark, Better Days 2020 Historical Research Associate January 23, 2018   Martha “Mattie” Hughes Cannon (1857 – 1932) blazed trails for women as a skilled physician, ardent suffragist, progressive public health reformer, and most notably, the first female state senator in the United States. Born in Wales, young Mattie immigrated with her family […]

Susan B. Anthony and Her Strong Utah Ties By Barbara Jones Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Director December 15, 2017   Like many American suffragists, Susan Brownell Anthony (1820 – 1906) began her activism by working to abolish slavery. Raised in upstate New York in the Quaker tradition, she became passionate about social equality and […]

Zitkála-Šá And The Struggle For Minority Voting Rights By Barbara Jones Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Director November 7, 2017   Ratified in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State […]

In Behalf Of The Ladies: Eliza R. Snow (1804–1887) By Jennifer Reeder October 31, 2017 Eliza Roxcy Snow, one of Utah’s earliest settlers, worked to empower women. She encouraged women to act independently, speak publicly, participate in civic activity, and defend religious freedom. In February 1870, one week after territorial governor Stephen A. Mann signed […]

Winning Back the Vote: Ruth May Fox Congress Took Away Utah Women’s Voting Rights in 1887. But Utah Suffragists Like Ruth May Fox Won Them Back. September 20, 2017   In February 1870, Utah women became the first to vote in the modern nation.  For the next seventeen years they cast their ballots in high […]

2020 Marks Monumental Anniversaries In Suffrage History August 28, 2017   August is a banner month in the nation’s voting history. On August 18, 1920, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, making women’s suffrage national law. Forty-five years later, on August 6, 1965,President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, protecting suffrage rights for women and […]

Emmeline B. Wells: A Leading Suffragist In Utah And The Nation By Barbara Jones Brown, Better Days 2020 Historical Director August 28, 2017   After receiving the franchise in 1870, Utah women enthusiastically voted and worked alongside Eastern leaders in advocating for national women’s suffrage. Thrilled at the enfranchisement of Utah women, the president and […]