[Materials Relating to the First Woman Elected to the United States Congress]

Washington, D.C., 1942. Very good. Group of 16 pieces of ephemera measuring between 3¼" x 5½" and 11½" x 9". Most items very good: one with a tiny tear and moderate creasing at edges, not affecting any text; a few with light edge wear and a few small soil spots; some scattered light spotting.

This is a fantastic group of speeches, ephemera and campaign materials related to the first woman to be elected to national office in the United States, Jeannette Rankin.

Jeannette Rankin was born in 1880 near Missoula, Montana and graduated from the University of Montana in 1902.

After a brief period as a social worker in Spokane, she moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and became involved in the women's suffrage movement. She helped organize the New York Woman Suffrage Party, served as president of the Montana Women's Suffrage Association and as field secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1911, Rankin became the first woman to speak before the Montana legislature. In 1916 she ran for the state's seat in the House of Representatives, and became the first woman elected to the United States Congress. Her vote against entry into World War I likely cost her re-election, and Rankin went to work as field secretary for the National Consumers League and later as legislative secretary for the National Council for Prevention of War (NCPW). She bought a farm in Georgia, founded the Georgia Peace Society, lobbied and lectured around the country on behalf of various pacifist groups. As World War II loomed, Rankin once again ran for Montana's seat in the House, winning election in 1940. She was the only member of Congress to vote against entry into the war and again was not re-elected to a second term. Rankin went on to study pacifist teachings in India and mobilize against the Vietnam War, inspiring an all-women's protest group who became known as the Jeannette Rankin Brigade. In 1968 she led the Brigade on an anti-war march in Washington, D.C., the largest march by women since the Suffrage Parade of 1913. Rankin died in 1973 and as of 2023 is still the only woman to be elected to Congress from Montana.

This collection contains Rankin's speeches, statements and excerpts of speeches from both her terms in Congress. Several include their original distribution envelopes, featuring her printed signature in the top right corner. The speeches cover issues such as federal farm loans, wages and working conditions for women, food conservation, war risk insurance for the wives of soldiers with children, and government control of mines. There is also an extract from Rankin's statement to Congress when she was working for NCPW, regarding the Navy Department Appropriation Bill of 1936. A campaign postcard urges Republican voters to "Keep Our Men Out of Europe" and a pamphlet was addressed to the "Women of America": "The Choice is Yours - Shall it be Peace or War?" There are two blank pieces of Rankin's stationery, one of which listed her committees, and a typed circular letter from the President of the American Federation of Labor urging Montana voters to "give every aid" in electing Rankin to a second term.

Only one of these documents were located in OCLC: the extract regarding the Navy Appropriation Bill, with three holdings. Harvard holds a collection of Rankin's papers, but the finding aid notes that the collection is lacking in terms of her career - it mostly contains family papers, some correspondence and news clippings. There are also small collections related to Rankin at the University of Montana and at Swarthmore, similarly sparse and mostly comprised of secondary materials.

A fantastic group of primary documents revealing the work and words of the first female member of Congress.