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COLLECTION Identifier: MC 355: M-133

Papers of Mrs. C.I.H. Nichols, 1827-1904

Overview

Biographical papers, correspondence, speeches, etc., of Clarina Irene Howard Nichols, newspaper editor and women's rights leader.

Dates

  • Creation: 1827-1904

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. CLOSED. USE MICROFILM, M-133, reel E35.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Mrs. C.I.H. Nichols is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

.21 linear feet ((1/2 file box) plus 1 folio+ folder)

This collection contains biographical papers of Clarina Irene Howard Nichols, including her bill of divorce from Justin Carpenter (1843), correspondence, and writings. The correspondence covers the years 1841-1904, and includes several letters from Nichols to Susan B. Anthony discussing divorce, women's property rights, suffrage, and liquor laws. Letters to family and others discuss her work for the legal rights of women and/or family affairs. There is also correspondence between family members. Writings include an early notebook of poems, several drafts of speeches, and newspaper clippings of her letters and editorials on women's rights. Most clippings were discarded after microfilming.

BIOGRAPHY

Clarina Irene Howard Nichols, a newspaper editor and woman's rights leader, was born on January 25, 1810, in West Townshend, Vermont, the eldest child of Chapin and Birsha (Smith) Howard. One of the early advocates of woman's equality, she campaigned in Vermont, Kansas, and California, and is credited with the incorporation of several woman's rights provisions in the state constitution of Kansas, provisions that secured for women property rights, equal guardianship of their children, and the right to vote in school district elections. She died in Potter Valley, California, on January 11, 1885.

For more detailed accounts of her life, see Dictionary of American Biography; Notable American Woman (1607-1950); and History of Woman Suffrage, volume I, pages 171-200. Her papers (1854-1885) have been published in eight segments in The Kansas Historical Quarterly, volume 39-40.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 80-M68

These papers of Clarina Irene (Howard) Nichols were given to the Schlesinger Library in April 1980 by Patricia Rabinovitz, a great-great granddaughter of Nichols.

Processing Information

Processed: March 1984

By: Anne Engelhart

Title
Nichols, C.I.H., Mrs.. Papers of Mrs. C.I.H. Nichols, 1827-1904: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
The collection was microfilmed as part of a Schlesinger Library/University Publications of America project.
EAD ID
sch00826

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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