New Educationl Unit Highlights Seneca Falls Pioneer

Date: October 20, 2009
Contact: Lee Werst, 315.568.5302

Catharine Paine and David E. Blaine, 1853

University of Washington Special Collections

Catharine Paine Blaine: Seneca Falls and the Women’s Rights Movement in the State of Washington is a new on-line educational unit that explores the development of ideals espoused in Seneca Falls and carried by Blaine to the new territory and state of Washington. The on-line resource meets New York State educational standards with activities for elementary, middle and high school students. An extensive set of on-line documents, including local maps and objects from the Seneca County Historian and the Seneca Falls Historical Society, support the lessons. A related temporary exhibit is on display at Women’s Rights National Historical Park, 136 Fall Street, Seneca Falls, through December.

Catharine Paine Blaine was a woman of firsts. A Seneca Falls, N.Y. native, she was one of two teen-agers to sign the Declaration of Sentiments issued from the First Woman’s Rights Convention in July, 1848 and adopted the Bloomer Costume of short skirts over long pants. In 1853, she and her husband David were the first Methodist missionaries to the tiny settlement of Seattle. In January, 1854, she opened Seattle’s first school and registered to vote in Washington Territory in 1883, long before her sister in New York could do so.

The educational unit and exhibit were developed by the Washington State Historical Society in conjunction with Women’s Rights National Historical Park with funds provided by the National Park Service North East Region Challenge-Cost Share Program.

Women’s Rights National Historical Park exists to commemorate and preserve the story of the First Women’s Rights Convention and historical structures associated with it in Seneca Falls and Waterloo, New York. All public tours and programs are free and open to the public.