Research Resources

The Alice Paul Institute is dedicated to providing quality assistance to researchers of all ages who want to learn more about Alice Paul, the women’s suffrage movement in the U.S., and the Equal Rights Amendment.

If you are purchasing any of the books listed below, consider doing it through our Bookshop.org affiliate page. API will receive a portion of the proceeds.  

Primary Sources

The Barbara Haney Irvine Library & Archives
The Barbara Haney Irvine Library & Archives is located on the 3rd floor of the Alice Paul Institute. It was named in 2015 to honor the API’s founding president. The library includes a small women’s history library of biographies, feminist theory, gender studies, and juvenile literature. It also holds the Alice Paul Archives, which features original copies of The Suffragist and Equal Rights newspapers, photographs, and Equal Rights Amendment research. The Paul family photograph albums show images of family members in addition to notable Quakers. The archives also houses Alice Paul’s personal library, which includes women’s history books, school textbooks, poetry, and a set of Charles Dickens’ novels.

The Alice Paul Archives are grouped in the following collections:
● First Accession
● Second Accession
● The Amelia R. Fry Collection
● Mixed Collection

For the collections’ finding aid, click here

To arrange a research appointment, contact history@alicepaul.org or 856-231-1885. Please note that the Barbara Haney Irvine Library & Archives is on the third floor; accessibility accommodations will be provided with at least two weeks’ notice. 

Online Sources
Conversations with Alice Paul

Conversations with Alice Paul is an oral history interview with Alice Paul, conducted by Amelia R. Fry from 1972 to 1973. The audio files are provided in their entirety on our website, while a transcript is held at the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. It is helpful to use these resources together.

The interview features information on Alice Paul from early childhood to her accomplishments towards the end of her life, all told in her own words. Each subject is broken up into separate sections, which can be viewed by clicking on the titles on the left of the transcript. The transcript is also searchable, using the search bar in the upper right corner. The audio files are made available here with permission from the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Requests to quote from or otherwise use this interview should be directed to The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.

What the Hometown Thinks of Alice Paul
What the Hometown Thinks of Alice Paul is an account of a visit to Alice Paul’s home in Mount Laurel, NJ in 1919, published in Everybody’s Magazine. This primary source offers a different perspective of Alice Paul, told by the members of her hometown and shows what those who knew her thought about her during the time of the women’s suffrage movement.

I Was Arrested, of Course
I Was Arrested, of Course is an interview of Alice Paul conducted by American Heritage journalist Robert S. Gallagher in 1974. It includes a brief background of Alice Paul and the women’s suffrage movement. The interview covers Alice Paul’s involvement in the women’s suffrage movement in England as well as the U.S, her drafting of the E.R.A, and her accomplishments up until 1974.

American Woman
American Women is a guide for Library of Congress researchers working in the field of American women’s history. The link provides access to a Research Guide as well as the Library of Congress’s photographs from the women’s suffrage movement.

Votes for Women

Votes for Women is the Library of Congress’s digital resources from the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Collection. This provides access to an extensive online collection of suffrage books and pamphlets.


Women’s Suffrage                                                                                                                                                                                              Women’s Suffrage: Pictures of Suffragists and Their Activities is a collection of pictures from the women’s suffrage movement at the Library of Congress. It includes photographs of women’s suffrage marches and protests and notable women involved in the movement, as well as political cartoons and posters.

Jailed for Freedom
Jailed for Freedom is an eyewitness account of Doris Stevens’ involvement in the women’s suffrage movement. She describes her time in jail as a result of her involvement in peaceful protests and picket campaigns to support the National Woman’s Party and their fight for suffrage.

The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 1-6
The History of Woman Suffrage Vol. 1-6 is a series written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Ida Husted, and Matilda Joslyn Gage. It was published between the years 1848 and 1920. These books provide a history of the women’s suffrage movement in America from its start to the ratification of the 19th amendment, from the perspective of those women’s group within the movement.

Woman’s Suffrage poster, 1915
This is a 1915 women’s suffrage poster from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. It includes an image of the poster itself and a transcript listing the duties of women in the home at the time and the problems they dealt with, and explains the suffragists’ arguments for giving women the right to vote. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History also includes secondary resources.

The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania, 1912
This is a late-stage draft of Alice Paul’s PhD dissertation from the University of Pennsylvania. The high-quality scan shows some pages hand-written, some typed, and includes notes scribbled in the margins. The dissertation surveys the legal history of women in Pennsylvania from 1638-1912. The University of Pennsylvania also provides additional digital scans relating to Alice Paul here.

Q&A: Alice Paul, Racism, and the 1913 First National Suffrage March
This is an examination of the participation of black women in the 1913 suffrage march and the role Alice Paul played in their participation, or lack thereof. In it, J.D. Zahniser, co-author of Alice Paul: Claiming Power (Oxford, 2014, 2019), explains what primary source documents said at the time and provides several sources to explore furthe

Secondary Sources

Articles

Braun, Sebastian and Kvasnicka, Michael. “Men, Women, and the Ballot: Gender Imbalances and Suffrage Extensions in the United States.” Explorations in Economic History 50, no. 3 (2013): 405-426.

Carpenter, Daniel; Popp, Zachary; Resch, Tobias; Schneer, Benjamin; Topich, Nicole. “Suffrage petitioning as formative practice: American women presage and prepare for the vote, 1840-1940.” Studies in American Political Development” 32 no. 1 (2018): 24-48.

Derleth, Jessica. “’Kneading Politics’: Cookery and the American Suffrage Movement.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 17 no. 3 (2018): 450-474. 

DeWolf, Rebecca. “The Equal Rights Amendment and the Rise of Emancipationism, 1932–1946.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 38, no. 2 (2017): 47-80.

Dodd, Lynda G., “The Rhetoric of Gender Upheaval during the Campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment.”93, no. 3 Boston University Law Review (2013): 709-727.

Lewis, Tiffany. “Mapping Social Movements and Leveraging the U.S. West: The Rhetoric of the Woman Suffrage Map.” Women’s Studies in Communication 42 no. 4 (2019): 490-510.

McCammon, Holly J. “’Out of the Parlors and into the Streets’: The Changing Tactical Repertoire of the U.S. Women’s Suffrage Movements.” Social Forces 81, no. 3 (2003): 787-818.

Neale, Thomas H. “The Proposed Equal Rights Amendment: Contemporary Ratification Issues.” Current Politics and Economics of the United States, Canada and Mexico; Commack 17 no. 2 (2015): 361-401. 

Mintz, Steven. “The Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.” OAH Magazine of History 21, no. 3 (2007): 47-50.

Sparacino, Elizabeth Kenny. “An Online Bibliography of Resources for the Study of Woman Suffrage.” The History Teacher 37, no. 2 (2004): 229-238.

Steve Kolbert, “The Nineteenth Amendment Enforcement Power (But First, Which One is the Nineteenth Amendment, Again?).” Florida State University Law Review 43, no. 2 (2017): 507-572.

Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn. “The Nineteenth Amendment and Its Outcome for African American Women.” Journal of Women’s History 32, no. 1 (2020): 23-31.

Books

Adams, Katherine H. and Keene, Michael L. After the Vote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists. McFarland, 2010.  

Adams, Katherine H. and Keene, Michael L. Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Campaign. University of Illinois Press, 2010.

Baker, Jean H. Sisters: The Lives of America’s Suffragists. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006.

Baker, Jean H. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s RIght to Vote. National Geographic Society, 2004. 

Butler, Amy E. Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith in the ERA Debate, 1921–1929. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

Cahill, Bernadette. Alice Paul, the National Woman’s Party and the Vote: The First Civil Rights Struggle of the 20th Century. McFarland, 2015.

Cassidy, Tina. Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vote. Simon and Schuster, 2019 

Clift, Eleanor. Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment. 1st ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003.

DeWolf, Rebecca. Gendered Citizenship: The Original Conflict over the Equal Rights Amendment, 1920-1963. University of Nebraska Press, 2021.

DuBois, Ellen C. Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote. Simon and Schuster, 2020

Guillain, Charlotte. Votes for Women! : Stories of Women’s Suffrage (Part of the Women’s Stories from History Series). Capstone, 2015.

Jones, Martha. Vanguard: How Black women broke barriers, won the vote, and insisted on equality for all. New York, NY : Basic Books, Hachette Book Group, 2020.

Lunardini, Christine A. Alice Paul: Equality for Women (Lives of American Women). Westview Press, 2012.

Lunardini, Christine A. From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, 1910-1928. New York: New York University Press, 1988.

Macmillen, Sally G. Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Nash, Carol R. The Fight for Women’s Right to Vote in America History. Enslow Publishing, LLC, 1998

Rossi, Ann. Created Equal: Women Campaign for the Right to Vote 1840 – 1920 (Part of the Crossroads America Series). National Geographic Society, 2005.

Wagner, Sally R. The Women’s Suffrage Movement. New York: Penguin Books, 2019.

Walton, Mary. A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Weiss, Elaine. The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote. Penguin Books, 2018 

Zahiser, J.D. and Amelia Fry, Alice Paul: Claiming Power. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Books for Young Readers

Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Children’s Books, 2004. Age 10 and up.

Bartoletti, Susan C. and Ziyue Chen (Illustrator). How Women Won the Vote: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and Their Big Idea. Harper Collins, 2020. 8-12 yrs.

Gillibrand, Kirsten and Maira Kalman (Illustrator). Bold & Brave: Ten Heroes who Won Women the Right to Vote. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.

Kamma, Anne. If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights. Scholastic Inc., 2008. Age 7-10 yrs.

Kennedy, Nancy B. Women Win the Vote!:19 for the 19th Amendment. WW Norton, 2020. Age 9-12 yrs.

Kops, Deborah. Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights: From the Vote to the Equal Rights Amendment. Calkins Creek, 2017. Age 10 and up.

Raum, Elizabeth. Alice Paul: American Lives. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004. Age 7-9 yrs.

Ridley, Sarah. Suffragettes and the Fight for the Vote. Hachette Children’s Group, 2017. Age 10 and up.

Robbins, Dean and Nancy Zhang (Illustrator). Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2016. Age 4-8 yrs.

Stone, Tayna Lee. Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote. Squire Fish, 2010. Age 6-10 yrs.

Weiss, Elaine. The Woman’s Hour (Adapted for Young Readers): Our Fight for the Right to Vote. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2020. Age 9-12 yrs.

White, Linda Arms. I Could Do That!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote, Farrar, Straus and Giroux , 2005. Age 7-9 yrs.

Zimet, Susan and Todd Hasak-Lowy. Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote. Viking Books for Young Readers, 2018. Age 8-12 yrs.

Videos 

Introduction to the life of Alice Paul 

Virtual tour of our exhibit, “In Pursuit of Ordinary Equality 

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