TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

arena. Jane Y. McCallum, a successful woman leader, campaigned for Dan Moody against Miriam Fergusonduring the 1926 election. When the position of secretary of state became vacant in 1927, Governor Moodyappointed McCallum to the position. Early in her tenure, she discovered an original copy of the 1836 TexasDeclaration of Independence in the State Capitol’s vault. A copy of the Declaration of Independence is in thecustody of TSLAC. 28 McCallum considered her role in preserving and displaying this Texas treasure as one ofher most important achievements as secretary of state. A photograph of McCallum and her office showing off theDeclaration demonstrates her pride.The prints and photographs collection also includes other portraits of women who became involved ingovernment. Some of these women are only represented in TSLAC’s holdings through this collectionGovernment RecordsGovernment records document the variety of actions citizens take from birth to death. This includesincoming correspondence to the governor’s office, election registers, and requests for legislative action. Manytypes of government records document the history of the women’s suffrage movement, but legislative bill filesand memorials and petitions to the legislature are particularly effective in highlighting the barriers women facedas well as ways they moved around those obstacles.Though the contents of individual legislative bill files vary, these records may include the introducedversion and committee report from each chamber. These materials also list the bill’s sponsors and the committee’srecommendation. Bills introduced in the 1910s reveal victories for the women’s suffrage movement. For example,the passage of House Bill 105 during the Fourth Called Session of the Thirty-Fifth Texas Legislature foreshadowedfull suffrage. This legislation stated that “women may vote in all primary elections and nominating conventionsin Texas.” 29 As Texas was largely a one-party state at the time, voting in the Democratic Party’s primaries allowedwomen to at least partially influence who ran in the general elections. As the 1910s progressed, more and morebills attempted to redefine what role women had in Texas.Bill files also show how issues revolving around a woman’s right to vote divided legislators. During theSecond Called Session of the Thirty-Sixth Texas Legislature, lawmakers introduced two Senate Joint Resolutionsin response to what became the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Senate Joint Resolution 1 statedthat one’s gender shall not be the basis for denying someone the right to vote. 30 Senate Joint Resolution 2 pointedout that a similar measure to amend the state’s constitution failed at the polls a few months prior. Accordingto this latter resolution, the issue should be voted upon in a general election instead of being decided upon bylegislators. 31The bill files for each stated that both resolutions were referred to the Amendments Committee, but onlythe first resolution passed out of committee. The bill files also showed that more legislators supported Senate JointResolution 1 than Senate Joint Resolution 2, which likely demonstrated that the suffrage movement had gainedmass appeal.Since only legislators can introduce a bill, members of the public petitioned lawmakers to author a28See “A Dozen Documents that Made a Difference,” TSLAC, https://www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits/texas175/declaration.html, accessedJune 30, 2015.29HB 105, 35 th Tex. Leg., 4 th Called Sess., 1918; SB 53, 35 th Tex. Leg., 4 th Called Sess., 1918.30Sen. Jt. Res. 1, 36 th Leg., 2 nd Called Sess.31Ibid.70