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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Kathleen M. Miller, Executive Director, Rochester Regional Library
Council, (716) 223-7570

Western New York Suffragists: Winning the Vote Shares Unique Collections

The Rochester Regional Library Council today unveiled Western New York
Suffragists: Winning the Vote, a new Internet site that chronicles women
and men in the five-county Rochester region who championed women’s right
to vote. It is accessible at www.winningthevote.org, and is an
invaluable resource for students, teachers, researchers, women’s
organizations, and others interested in exploring the history of the
suffrage movement in the area where it was born.

As the home of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Western New York is rich
in unique materials never before made widely available to the public.
Winning the Vote is the result of the cooperative efforts of the
Rochester Regional Library Council and 18 regional institutions to
digitize photographs, letters, flyers, and pamphlets from their
collections and make them accessible at one site.

The web site features biographical sketches of 35 suffragists who played
a role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement between 1848 and 1920. It
includes the famous, such as Susan B. Anthony, but focuses on the lesser
known, such as Emily Collins of South Bristol and Dr. Cordelia Greene of
Castile, describing who they were, where they lived, and how they helped
to change our nation. The site also presents a summary of the suffrage
movement, as well as timelines of local and national events. It lists
and provides links to many related resources, books, films, and web
sites, such as the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester.

“Winning the Vote was made possible through the efforts of many people,
including our participating institutions,” said Kathleen Miller,
Executive Director of the Rochester Regional Library Council. “It is
another example of the new, exciting services libraries offer. We are
pleased that we were able to work with a wide range of institutions to
create this site, and hope that they benefit from having their materials
viewed by a wider audience without putting the original items at risk of
damage or loss.”

Images for the site were contributed by the American Baptist Historical
Society, American Baptist-Samuel Colgate Historical Library; the Castile
Historical Society; the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School’s Ambrose
Swasey Library; the East Rochester Local History Office; the Geneva
Historical Society; the Ontario County Records and Archives Center;
Rochester General Hospital’s Baker-Cederberg Museum & Archives;
Rochester Institute of Technology’s Wallace Memorial Library, Archives &
Special Collections; the Rochester Museum & Science Center; Rochester
Public Library, Local History Division; St. John Fisher College’s Lavery
Library; the Strong Museum; SUNY Brockport’s Drake Memorial Library;
Susan B. Anthony House; the University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees
Library, Rare Books and Special Collections; the University of Rochester
Medical Center, Edward G. Miner Library; the Village of Honeoye Falls
Historian; and the Wyoming County Historian.

Founded in 1966, the Rochester Regional Library Council is a
cooperative, multi-type library network that encompasses Livingston,
Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, and Wyoming Counties. It is one of nine Councils
in a statewide network that promotes cooperation among libraries of all
types and enhances access to library and information materials. Winning
the Vote was created as part of a two-year project to explore
digitization of historic materials in the region, supported by Federal
Library Services and Technology Act funds awarded to the New York State
Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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