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 […]

September 21, 2022 Utah women make history, but they’re often missing from our textbooks, classrooms, and public art. We need your help to change that! Our annual student art contest is open for submissions through January 25, 2023. Winners in each age category will receive cash awards and prizes from Utah businesses, and they’ll be […]

August 5, 2022 Black American Women of Utah’s History – Richmond Park Mural We’re pleased to share the new mural unveiled this summer at Salt Lake City’s Richmond Park! This project to highlight leading women in Utah history was a collaboration between Better Days, the Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation, and Wasatch […]

by Toni Pilcher, Better Days Graduate Intern May 18, 2022 In the fallout of the Civil War, many American women were trying to build new and meaningful connections within their communities. The war had really challenged what it meant to live in an increasingly diverse country. In response, women flocked to special interest clubs like […]

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 […]

April 2021 This month’s theme is “Utah Women Are Determined!” Our history definitely backs up this claim. This month’s calendar features Barbara Toomer, a powerhouse in the disability rights movement. She was determined to make a difference. One of many causes Barbara fought for was accessibility. She planned demonstrations called “crawl-ons” to show that people […]

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. […]

January 1, 2021 As we celebrate the 125th anniversary of Utah statehood this year, we’ll highlight women each month who shaped our state. In January, we’re featuring visionary women—who could see better days in the future and worked to get us there. Fanny Brooks was the first Jewish woman to make her home in Utah. […]

We’re thrilled with the new memorial to Utah women’s history! We unveiled this gift from Better Days 2020 to the state of Utah in a special ceremony for the centennial of the 19th Amendment in August 2020. “A Path Forward” was created by artists Kelsey Harrison and Jason Manley to honor Utah women’s contributions to […]

by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director December 12, 2019 This post continues our series on Utah women’s work with national suffrage organizations. Utah women were involved in the national suffrage movement for 50 years, from the time they first cast ballots in 1870 until the Nineteenth Amendment became law in 1920. Suffragists in Utah learned from suffrage leaders […]

by Kenzi Christensen, Better Days 2020 Historical Intern November 22, 2019 Ada Quinn was a talented inventor and successful businesswoman. She started her own corporation from her home, built several factories, patented a dozen designs, provided jobs to hundreds of women during the Great Depression, sold products around the world, and ran for governor of […]

by Tiffany Greene, Better Days 2020 Historical Research Consultant November 8, 2019 On February 22, 1897, when Nannie Cordell, Mary Hayt, and Jeanette Ferry decided to form the Woman’s Athenaeum Club in the small mining town of Park City, one can assume they didn’t consider the long-reaching effects this club would have on the lives […]

by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director October 3, 2019 Utah ratified the 19th Amendment 100 years ago today, on October 3, 1919. Unlike women elsewhere, Utah women had already been voting for 40 years, and in fact, four female lawmakers led the way for Utah to ratify the amendment extending women’s voting rights […]

by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director September 17, 2019 This Constitution Day, Better Days presents a look at the numbers on our favorite constitutional amendment (the 19th, of course). Constitution Day commemorates the day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention delegates in Philadelphia signed the document they had drafted that summer. When that […]

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 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 […]

March 7, 2019 March is women’s history month, and there are lots of great ways to honor women’s history in Utah. We’ve compiled a few ideas below: Take the Self-Guided Women’s Suffrage Walking Tour – explore the downtown Salt Lake City sites connected to the women’s suffrage movement in Utah. Read picture books about women’s […]

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 […]