NOW AVAILABLE! Booklet commemorating the
Champlain Valley Suffrage Centennial Tour 

Free
A limited number of printed booklets are available from Auto Tour sponsors and participants. You can also download and save the booklet as a PDF. 

Download Booklet as PDF

For educational and research purposes only. Not for publication or commercial use. 

See more pictures here!

In the early 1900s, suffragists would travel from place to place, holding events and speeches along the way to support the cause.  Women often drove automobiles decorated with banners and signs supporting suffrage. In celebration of 100 years of women voting, we re-created the auto tour atmosphere by holding events at several sites in the Champlain Valley. Pageants, olde time rallies, broom brigades,  suffrage exhibits, or other activities were specific to each site.  Antique automobiles were featured to create the auto tour atmosphere.

The Suffrage Auto Tour has completed.  Thanks to all who attended or participated!  Please visit the Pictures or Press tab for details on the event.  Or click on Learn to read more about suffrage.

LEARN more about the history of Woman Suffrage !  
​Fun Suffrage Snippets - cats, colors, sunflowers, and more  
​Intro to Suffrage history - national, state, and local topics
Suffragists' Strategies - auto tours, pageants, broom brigades
Suffrage in the Champlain Valley
Clinton County, Essex County, Vermont, Warren & Washington County, and more

ABOUT this project
​- who, why, and what

PRESS
- press releases and photos for media outlets

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Why a Suffrage Auto Tour?
Consider this photo and quotes from the New York Tribune, August 30, 1914, Section III, page 5:

“Carrying Suffrage’s Message Into the Hills” 

Sunny Jim, Notman's house in Keene Valley, 1914

​"Deep in the hills, and scattered in the little villages of Essex County, is a community rapidly being won over to the cause of woman’s suffrage through the unceasing efforts of Mrs. George Notman and her assistant Miss Louise Taylor.” In doing home-to-home canvases in July and August, Notman covered about 1,500 miles of mountain roads in her motor car.

“Essex County is a forty-one-mile square” so there is a lot of travel required for a county with only 10,000 voters. “Not long ago, we addressed gatherings at Westport, at Elizabethtown and a small place near Keene Valley, covering ninety-one miles in that one day."

Mrs. Notman said, “I use my own automobile for that is the only way in which we can get around.”

“Do you travel every day?” someone asked.

“Oh, dear no,” laughed Mrs. Notman. “You see the machine must rest some days, when its carburetor won’t work, or when its tires are inconsiderate.”

Plattsburgh, 1911

Amendment XIX of the U.S. Constitution:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

A Champlain Valley 
CHAMPION 
of the Woman Suffrage Movement

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Friday, August 6 --- Birthday of Inez Milholland
4pm, a Special hike on Mount Inez; details coming soon

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​The ROUTE of the 2021 Suffrage Auto Tour

 

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This project has been funded by an agreement awarded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP). The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of NEIWPCC, LCBP, or GLFC, nor does NEIWPCC, LCBP, or GLFC endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.