Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Lenore C. Schultz, 1884-unknown

By Erica Bade, History Undergraduate, UC Santa Barbara and Mackenzie Butler

Secretary for the Woman Suffrage League; Member of the Friday Morning Club

Lenore C. Schultz was born in Iowa in about 1884. She was a married woman, and her husband was named John Schultz. While her highest education was elementary school through the eighth grade, she could both read and write. Lenore lived in Los Angeles in the early twentieth century. There is little documentation of Lenore's efforts within the California suffrage movement. However, she still made lasting and noteworthy contributions through her participation in two clubs.

Lenore can be found in the 1922 voter registrations listed as a Republican living in the Los Angeles area. During this time, Lenore lived just 1.4 miles from the Friday Morning Club meeting place. On April 16, 1891, the Friday Morning Club was created to rectify the two previous women's clubs created by Caroline Severance previously, in 1878 and 1888. The Friday Morning Club was synonymous with the Los Angeles Woman's club. By 1899, the women's club had garnered 312 members, including Lenore, and needed a building to house their meetings. They would go on to purchase the land on 938 South Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles, and in 1910, this building would be demolished so the club could build a much larger clubhouse.

In addition to the Friday Morning Club, Lenore was part of the Woman Suffrage League. After the defeat for suffrage in 1896, there was no active suffrage work done in Southern California for some years. In 1900, after Mrs. Mary Wood Swift held a parlor meeting and gave a public address at the Woman's Club House in Los Angeles, it was decided to revive the Woman Suffrage League. An executive committee was appointed, with Lenore serving as the secretary. They called the first meeting on December 1, 1900 and reorganized the league. The Woman Suffrage League went on to hold monthly meetings through 1911.

Sources:

California State Library. Sacramento, California. Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968. Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2017. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/33150386:61066. Accessed 23 March 2021.

"Chapter IV: California." History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 6: 1900-1920, edited by Ida Husted Harper. New York, NY: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1922, pp. 39-40. [LINK]

Hubbel, Thelma Lee and Gloria R. Lothrop. "The Friday Morning Club: A Los Angeles Legacy." Southern California Quarterly. 1 March 1968, 50 (1): 59-90. https://doi.org/10.2307/41170153. Accessed 27 Feb 2021.

"Woman's Club House, Los Angeles, CA." Pacific Coast Architecture Database. http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/21824/. Accessed 27 Feb 2021.

1940, Census Place: Los Angeles, California; Roll: m-t0627-00421. Page: 5B. Enumeration District: 60-1111. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/69209451:2442. Accessed 22 March 2021.

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