Rare Women's Rights Artifact to be Exhibited in Washington State

Date: November 21, 2008
Contact: Lee Werst, 315.568.5302

Women’s Rights National Historical Park recently loaned the “Report of the Woman’s Rights Convention Held in Seneca Falls, N.Y., July 19 and 20, 1848” to the Washington State Historical Society. The rare report, printed in August, 1848, is one of few known to exist. It includes reports of the convention sessions, the text of the Declaration of Sentiments approved at the convention, and the names of signers to the Declaration. 

The document will be displayed in “Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes,” an exhibit celebrating the 2010 centennial of woman suffrage in Washington State. The women’s rights ideas of Catherine Paine Blaine, a Seneca Falls resident and signer of the Declaration of Sentiments who moved to the new settlement of Seattle in 1853, are featured in the exhibit. “Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes” opens at the Washington State Museum in Tacoma in February, 2009 before traveling to four other venues throughout the state.

The loan is being made to a state agency whose director knows the importance of the 1848 first women’s rights convention first-hand. David L. Nicandri, executive director of the Washington State Historical Society, grew up near the Elizabeth Cady Stanton home in Seneca Falls. “I’m glad this national treasure will be seen by the residents of Washington State,” said Vivien Rose, Chief of Cultural Resources at Women’s Rights NHP. “The Seneca Falls convention shaped New York State and the nation through people like Catherine Blaine, who carried reform with her wherever she went.”

Reproductions of the rare report are available at the Eastern National bookstore at Women’s Rights NHP, 136 Fall Street, Seneca Falls.