The new voter registries list 273 new voters born in Providence, Rhode Island, including sisters Housewife Rose L. (Boughan) Shiels (1866-1929) and Mary J. Boughan (1873?-1935). The registries list Mary J. Boughan as a clerk working for the Saxony Worsted Mills in Newton, Massachusetts.

On #NationalViolinDay, we are recognizing 1920 Boston new voter, violinist Sarah Weenona (or Sara Winona) Lander (1888-1964), who registered to vote on October 5, 1920.

Fantastic article about our recent program hosted by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. jamaicaplainnews.com/2025/11/18/m...

Today’s #VoterOfTheDay is South Boston's Helen F. Merrill (later Hopkins), who registered to vote in Boston School Board Elections on November 27, 1918. In 1907, she earned a third-year diploma from South Boston High School. Image: @bpl.boston.gov #BostonHistory #WomensHistory #WomensSuffrage

On #NationalChocolateDay, we are spotlighting two new voters who worked as chocolate dippers for the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO). Best known for Necco Wafers, the company occupied a complex in South Boston from 1902 to 1927.

In 1920, Lilian T. Piotti (Moynihan) served on an executive committee of a Memorial Service featuring the Boston Italian Symphony in “Aid of Free Italian Home for Children.” The event was planned as the “largest Italian demonstration ever staged in this city.” Image: Boston Post, Sat. June 5, 1920

For #PolishAmericanHeritageMonth, we are spotlighting Rae M. (Burnce) Davidson, who registered to vote on October 6, 1920, as a resident of East Boston. Image from The Boston City Archives

When Eva Ryerson Ludgate registered to vote on October 13, 1920, she gave her occupation as "Congregational Minister."  One newspaper account claimed that she was the youngest ordained Congregational minister in the United States! Image: Library of Congress

On the evening of Saturday, October 9, 1920,  Lili Shapiro registered to vote at the North End's Prince Street School in Boston. Lili was an artist who designed and crafted original ceramics. She was also an active participant in the North End’s Saturday Evening Girls. Image: Historic New England

Over 1K of the 1920 New Boston Women Voters worked as Teachers and/or Instructors. #WorldTeachersDay

For #ClassicalMusicMonth, we feature two new voters, Jessie Nute Bennett and Barbara (Loewenstein) Einstein, who performed as soloists in classical music concerts throughout Boston. Image: The Boston Globe, Mon, Jan 08, 1923, Page 4.

As many of us head back to school, we recognize two of the nine voters who worked at High School for the Practical Arts in Roxbury. The school opened in 1913 to teach girls home and work skills, including nursing and home economics. Image from Boston Women’s Heritage Trail

Why was this woman’s voter registration crossed out? When Josephine Bowen tried to register to vote in Boston on September 8, 1920, her attempt was rejected because of the clerk’s note: “no papers.” At that time in the United States, a woman’s citizenship status was tenuous. @universalhub.com

At least 16 of Boston's new voters in 1920 worked for the Loose Wiles Biscuit Company, based at 226 Causeway Street. According to @westendmuseum.bsky.social the company began in 1906 as The Austin Biscuit Company and produced a variety of packaged baked goods.🧵

Travels of Boston's new women voters in 1920 can be found in local historic newspapers. For #CaribbeanHeritageMonth, we focus on a 1911 @bostonglobe.com story of Jamaica born voter Ethel (Parcells) Scott, encountering rough seas when returning to Boston from a trip to Jamaica. 🧵

As team member, Laura Kitchings, prepares to present at #ASFS40 at Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, we found 1920 Boston Voter Lorna C. (Collamore) Jessup, who later served as the Dean of Women at the University. 🧵 Image : Corvallis Gazette-Times, Sat, Mar 29, 1958 ·Page 5

Because housewives are also part of history. And sometimes they aren’t just housewives. #WomensHistory #BlackWomensHistory #WomenInHistory

Every name in the Boston Women's Voter Registers leads us to a life and a story. But we can't always trust everything the registration officials wrote down as fact. Take for instance a “housewife” named Maude T Steward, who registered on August 20, 1920. 🧵

1920 new Boston voters and #Dorchester sisters Vera M. (Warren) Nicholls and Bessie Warren both worked as Superintendents for different locations of Laboratory Kitchen Lunch Rooms, founded in 1903 by Bertha Stevenson. #MaryElizaProject @universalhub.com

For #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth, we highlighting new voter + philanthropist Charlotte (Lottie) Wolf Rabinovitz. As the wife of an immigrant, Lottie would have needed to present her husband’s 1889 naturalization papers to register to vote.🧵

During #NationalNursesWeek, we're spotlighting 3 of the nurses who registered to vote in Boston in 1920. Ella W. Brigham registered on Oct 9th She served as a nurse for the U.S. Army and was later active in the Women’s Overseas Service League. Her career included a 3 year nursing course at MGH. 🧵

Hello, operator?” One of the most common occupations for women living in Boston in 1920 was telephone operator. In 1920, tens of thousands of working women, empowered by the 19th Amendment, registered to vote in the city for the first time.🧵

"Occupation: Artist." Amy Maria Sacker spent 1919 rather glamorously: working as an art director in Hollywood’s early film industry. But she returned to in Boston in 1920, in time to register to vote in her native city. We found her listed on Oct6 in the voter register for The #Fenway, Ward 8. 🧵

On August 5, 1920, Sarah Moses Bronkhurst Polak of 708 Columbus Ave in Boston lined up to claim her right to vote. Sarah’s journey to the Boston voter registration table took her across several national borders and showcased how marriage could impact women's voting rights. 🧵 @hubhistory.com

During #DentalHygienistWeek, we spotlight three new New England-born voters who worked as dental hygienists. New Hampshire-born Ursula Emerson registered to vote on September 15th, 1920. Image: Boston Post. Thursday, July 04, 1918

On #NationalSchoolLibrariansDay, we spotlight new voter Marion Lovis, who worked as a school librarian in Waltham, Massachusetts. She graduated from Simmons College in 1909. In 1914, she worked as a senior cataloging assistant in the Somerville library system

Edith Guerrier, a librarian at the Boston Public Library’s North End branch, registered to vote on Aug 18, 1920. The clerk misspelled her address as “Nottingham Road.” But Edith lived at 80 Notting Hill Rd, on the upper floor of the renowned ceramics studio she co-directed: Paul Revere Pottery.

Jennie O'Callaghan, Louise, and Nora O'Callaghan registered to vote on August 20th, 1920. From 1943 to 1962, Jennie lived at 362 Marlborough in Boston’s Back Bay. Image Boston Public Library, Bainbridge Bunting Photograph Collection via Digital Commonwealth

A 1948 article in the Boston Globe recognized Hyde Park born Edna E. Jeffery for her 31-year career as an accountant for the American Red Cross. She was one of at least thirty new voters who worked and volunteered with the American Red Cross. Image: The Boston Globe, March 12, 1948, pg. 6

Working with the 1920 New Women Voter Registries shows several new voters sharing residences. On #NationalAstrologyDay, we spotlight Pennsylvania-born Astrologer Elizabeth Goodrich and her boarder Effie J. Meriam. Image: Boston Evening Transcript, Fri, May 29, 1903, P. 24

Almost 4,000 of Boston’s new women voters in 1920 were born in Ireland. New voters represented every county in Ireland, but the largest number came from County Cork. The Cork voters ranged in age from 23 to 79.

On #NationalQuiltingDay we spotlight New Voter, Widow, and Quilter Mary Pilicy (née McDonald), who registered to vote on October 4th, 1920. #WomensHistoryMonth Image: The Boston Globe, Dec. 18, 1936, p. 18

As we finish #DentalAssistantRecognitionWeek (DARW) and celebrate #InternationalWomensDay, we spotlight two 1920 Boston New Voters who worked as Dental Assistants and registered to vote on October 11th, 1920, along with almost eight thousand women across Boston.

To begin #NationalSocialWorkMonth, we spotlight Boston voter Minnette Zuver, who registered to vote on August 20th, 1920. She was born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, educated in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and spent her early career in Cleveland and Buffalo. Image: The Boston Globe. April 26, 1921. p. 16

For Saint David’s Day, celebrated with parades in Wales, we spotlight three of the thirty-three 1920 Boston New Women Voters identified as born in Wales.

“The Distinctive Boston House” proclaims this early ad for the Hotel Puritan, in Boston’s #BackBay neighborhood. At least 21 women at this hotel registered to vote in 1920. Advertisement for the Puritan, The North Shore Blue Book (1915). Wikimedia Commons.

Why was this woman’s voter registration crossed out? When Josephine Bowen tried to register to vote in Boston on September 8, 1920, her attempt was rejected because of the clerk’s note: “no papers.” At that time in the United States, a woman’s citizenship status was tenuous.

23-year-old Hester B. Smith lined up to register to vote in Boston on October 13, 1920, just in time to qualify to cast her ballot in the upcoming Presidential election. A Black woman from Charlottesville, Virginia, she no doubt had experienced racial segregation and discrimination, & perhaps worse.

On #PresidentsDay 1914 (celebrated as Washington’s Birthday), future new voter Eunice S. Coyle won second prize, $25, for her essay on how Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall interpreted the Constitution from he Old South Association. Image: @BostonGlobe, February 24, 1914.

Fifty-one year old Sarah Selby missed the October 13 deadline to vote in the 1920 presidential election but registered about a month later on November 24

Image from: The Tribune: Weekend, Feb. 10, 2017, pp. 4-5 (Nassau, The Bahamas)

The Bahamas-born #AllstonBrighton resident Elizabeth A. Bosfield. registered to vote on September 9th, 1920, alongside her Massachusetts-born daughter Edith J. Bosfield. Based on citizenship laws at the time, Elizabeth A. Bosfield needed to produce her husband’s naturalization papers to register.

On National Women Physicians Day we are spotlighting Ward 23 New Voter Dr. Laura H. Muir (née Barbrick), who registered to vote on October 11th, 1920. Image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, @nypl”

Every name in the Boston Women's Voter Registers leads us to a life and a story. But we can't always trust everything the registration officials wrote down as fact. Maude T Steward, claimed her right to vote on August 20, 1920. Image: Maude Trotter Stewart in front of "The Guardian" offices, n.d.

Ruth Gustava Blasser (later Sheppard) was a 1918 graduate of  Framingham Normal School. During her teaching career she was a chorus member (soprano) in the 1928 Brookline Teachers’ Club production of H.M.S. Pinafore. Image: The Wasatch Wave, Utah, Oct. 26, 1988, Page 4.

Born #OTD, January 25, was one of the earliest Boston women to claim their equal right to vote: Zilpha Drew Smith (1852-1926). She registered to vote on August 4, 1920, weeks before Tennessee became the last state to ratify the 19th Amendment. Image: Registry from Boston City Archives

According to a 1920 Boston Globe article, when prospective new women voters arrived at the voter registration table, they had to demonstrate their literacy skills by reading lines from the State Constitution.

The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, and women in Boston had until October 13 to register to vote for that year’s presidential election. On October 13, almost 11,000 women registered. The chaos of Oct 13 is apparent in many of the last pages of the registers (Dorchester’s Ward 18).

What is this strange contraption? A dictaphone! In August 1920, in the first month that women could register to vote due to the 19th Amendment, Bostonian Sarah J. Risk signed her name to the register with the occupation “dictaphone operator” at the American Mutual Liability Insurance Company.

Mapping and interpreting the Boston Women Voters dataset is both exciting and challenging. One of the challenges the Mary Eliza Team faces is interpreting and analyzing new voters’ birthplaces.