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The California Equal Suffrage Association was founded in 1870 and incorporated as a state-registered organization in 1904. When the organization was founded, it was originally named the California Woman Suffrage Association. In 1896, the organization rebranded as the California Equal Suffrage Association. The name change was an effort to use more inclusive language in the hopes that it would encourage men to join the organization. The group rallied for women’s suffrage by distributing literature and through events they held. The endurance of the California Equal Suffrage Association demonstrates that many Californians remained deeply committed to women’s political rights decades before legal enfranchisement.

Date: June 3, 1904

Caption: "Filter Presses and Packing Room Gang," c. 1906, shows a group of unidentified men working in the packing room at the Crockett Sugar Mill.

Date: 1906

Absent of terms such as “women” or “sex”, the language for Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 8 appears intentionally neutral, labeled as “A Resolution to Propose to the People of the State of California an Amendment to Section One of Article Two of the Constitution in Relation to the Rights of Suffrage.” However, feelings about the amendment were decidedly strong. The arguments for and against Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 8 were closely watched by suffrage organizations, with crowds of onlookers filling the gallery and the lobby of the Capitol. Authored by Republican State Senator Charles W. Bell from Pasadena, Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 8 was passed by the Senate on February 2, 1911, receiving 66 ayes and 12 noes. Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 8 would be introduced to the public as Proposition 4 on the ballot for the special election scheduled for October 10, 1911, along with a variety of other reform amendments passed by the Senate.

Date: January 6, 1911

A. C. Mac Alpine

Date: 1890

Mrs. Green's Vegetable Dinner Pills

Date: 1875

[Clock with Man on it]

Date: 1892

No caption, c. 1905-1906. William and Grace McCarthy, with an unidentified woman, sitting on the entry stairs to an unidentified residence.

Date: 1906

Caption: "Sleighing -- Port Townsend.," c. 1908-1912. William and Grace McCarthy sitting in a sleigh pulled by two horses, in a snowy landscape.

Date: 1908

Caption: "Miami Beach, Florida. June 30 1934." William and Grace McCarthy posing in front of a Miami Beach lifeboat, with surf foaming around their ankles.

Date: 6/30/1934

Caption: "Touring De Luxe -- All Set for a Comfortable Rest. Oct. 10, 1934." William and Grace McCarthy posing with posing with the automobile they traveled across the U.S. with, showing it set up for sleeping with a canvas pulled across the top and windows for privacy. The vehicle appears to be a Studebaker sedan, possibly dating from the mid-1920s.

Date: 10/10/1934