TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

TSLAC, manuscript collections donated by private entities complemented existing private or public records orfilled information gaps in TSLAC’s holdings. The prints and photographs collection came from private donorsas well as from state agencies. Primary sources held at TSLAC allowed the story of women’s suffrage to be toldby those on the ground while revealing the historical context of the movement.The Erminia Thompson Folsom PapersThe Erminia Thompson Folsom paperscontributed greatly to subsequent generations’understanding of the women’s suffrage movement.This collection illustrates the approaches usedby a mother and daughter to enfranchise women.The mother, Mariana Thompson Folsom, workedas a state lecturer for the Iowa Woman SuffrageAssociation from 1879 to 1881. 4 Her husband,Allan Perez Folsom, served as a Unitarian minister,teacher, and lecturer. The family moved to Texas in1881 after a successful lecture tour in the state. TheFolsoms lived in San Antonio, Hallettsville, andRefugio County before finally moving to Austin in1898.While in Texas, Mariana became a statelecturer for the Texas Equal Rights Association. 5Within TSLAC’s holdings are some of Mariana’slecture scripts/essays and advertisements forthese events. 6 She often spoke about women’sinequalities by providing audiences withbackground information on the issue thathighlighted the effects of these factors on women’slives.In one example of her approach to socialchange, Mariana explained that Texas’s laws werea combination of Spanish law and English commonlaw traditions. 7 According to Mariana, this legaltradition put “Texas women under guardianshipwith more binding disabilities than infants, idiots,lunatics, and habitual drunkards.” 8 In the eyes ofTSLAC # 1985_119_2_10_1, “Woman’s Rights in Texas” songlyrics (ca. 1917), Erminia Thompson Folsom papers, TSLACArch. & Info. Servs. Div. Suffrage supporters brought attentionto the issue through music and plays, including popular tunessuch as “Dixie Land.”4Tony Black, “Folsom, Mariana Thompson,” Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffo43,accessed June 30, 2015. See also A. Elizabeth Taylor, Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas (Austin: Temple, 1987).5Judith N. McArthur, “Texas Equal Rights Association,” Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vit02, accessed June 30, 2015.6http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/40035/tsl-40035.html, accessed June 30, 2015.7“Texas Laws,” undated, 1, Mariana Thompson Folsom correspondence, Erminia Thompson Folsom papers, Archives and Info. Servs.Div., TSLAC.8“Texas Laws,” 2.63