Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Anna Dunn Noland, 1864-1936

By Jonathan Sinchi, student
Harry S Truman College-City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Suffragist; organizer

Anna Dunn Noland was born in 1864 in Logansport, Indiana, to Matthew Hale Dunn and Sarah Margaret Dunn. She spent most of her childhood in Logansport, later moving with her parents to Star City. She married Dr. James Franklin Noland on February 28, 1883, and the couple returned to Logansport. As for children, she had none. She was never divorced or remarried. She died in 1936 in Kouts, Indiana.

Noland was an advocate and leader for woman suffrage during the early 1900s. In 1906, she served as the second vice president of the Indiana state branch of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and she went on to serve as her state's president, secretary, and treasurer in 1908 in order to re-organize the woman suffrage effort in Indiana. In April of that year, Harriett Taylor Upton, the treasurer of NAWSA, requested that Noland call a state convention. Noland responded by sending hundreds of letters across Indiana, asking for the names of people interested in supporting woman suffrage. From there, Noland formed Indiana's Equal Suffrage Association (ESA) in 1909.

In 1911, the Municipal League invited the ESA to a meeting in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Even though the meeting was not focused on woman suffrage, it provided attention and awareness for the suffrage efforts. In 1912, Noland acted as publicity chair in Logansport to promote suffrage at the state convention. Weekly papers and posters were used to bring awareness to the upcoming event. In 1914, the yearly convention was held in Logansport, and it was welcomed by Mayor Guthrie. Among the speakers were Judge S.T. McConnell and O.P. Smith. Twenty-eight societies joined the ESA, and the convention attendees voted to work with the Legislative Council of Women and toward federal suffrage rights for women. In 1915, Noland addressed the United Mine Workers in Indianapolis, prompting the union to approve support for the women's right to vote. The Indiana state government ratified the federal Nineteenth Amendment in special session on January 16, 1920, and Hoosier women voted in state-level elections in September 1921.

SOURCES:

Conrad, T. "Women's Suffrage." Cass County Historical Society and Museum (blog). September 8, 1016. http://cassindianahistory.blogspot.com/2016/09/womens-suffrage.html.

Find a Grave. Anna Dunn Noland (1864-1936). Accessed February 6, 2018. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34820616.

Harper, Ida Husted, ed. "Indiana." Chapter XIII in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 6: 1900-1920. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922. [LINK]

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