Becoming Citizens: The Emergence and Development of the California Women's Movement, 1880-1911

289 Pages·2000·5.323 MB·English

by  Gayle Gullett

Becoming
Citizens
The Emergence and Development
of the California Women’s Movement,
1880–1911
Gayle Gullett
Becoming Citizens
Women in American History
Series Editors
Mari Jo Buhle
Nancy A. Hewitt
Anne Firor Scott
Stephanie Shaw
A list of books in the series appears
at the end of this book.
Becoming Citizens
The Emergence and
Development of the
California Women’s Movement,
1880–1911
v
Gayle Gullett
university of illinois press
urbana and chicago
∫ 2000 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
! This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gullett, Gayle Ann.
Becoming citizens : the emergence and development of the
California women’s movement, 1880–1911 / Gayle Gullett.
p. cm.—(Women in American history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-252-02503-2 (cloth)
isbn 0-252-06818-1 (pbk.)
1. Feminism—California—History. 2. Women in politics—
California—History. 3. Women—Su√rage—California—History.
i. Title. ii. Series.
hq1438.c2 g85 2000
305.42%09794—dc21 99-6028
cip
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
University of Illinois Press
1325 South Oak Street
Champaign, IL 61820-6903
www.press.uillinois.edu
For my parents,
Pat and Bill Gullett

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Politics of Women’s Work: Building the California
Women’s Movement, 1880–93 11
2. The Politics of Politics: The California Women’s Movement
Emerges and Campaigns for Women’s Su√rage, 1893–96 65
3. The Politics of Altruism: Rebuilding the California Women’s
Movement, 1897–1905 107
4. The Politics of Good Government: The California Women’s
Movement Helps Build Progressivism and Wins Su√rage,
1906–11 151
Epilogue: The Politics of Women’s Citizenship 201
Notes 207
Index 263

Acknowledgments
This book has taken me a very long time to write. But I could not have written
it at all without the support of many individuals, families, communities, and
institutions. I am solely responsible for the mistakes, errors in judgment, and
other failings, but everyone mentioned (and many more) helped make this
book possible.
I could not have written a history of the California women’s movement
without reading the materials that organized women left behind, a task en-
riched by the fact that in several cases I read materials still held by the original
organizations. Esther Depew, president of the southern California Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union, went out of her way to make sure that I had
access to everything that I needed in the organization’s Los Angeles archives.
The women of the northern California WCTU operated from a small o≈ce in
Oakland, but Cynthia Nelson, their president, kindly made space for me in
her cramped quarters. All the temperance women told me stories of their
former leaders and past political successes, stories that still live for them.
Club women were also generous. The late Margaret Grey of the Friday
Morning Club in Los Angeles gave me access to the club’s archives (now
housed at the Huntington Library). She shared with me her extensive oral
history of the club and made me welcome in the clubhouse, which dates from
the 1920s. I am sure that I first began to understand the relationship between
club buildings and club life when she graciously gave me an extensive tour
of the beautiful building. Mrs. Albert Crichton, president of the California