English
Oregon Historical Society, Davies Family Research Library
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland, OR 97205
libreference@ohs.org
https://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/
Abigail Scott Duniway papers
Duniway, Abigail Scott, 1834-1915
Mss 432
1.35 cubic feet
3 document cases, 1 reel microfilm
1852-1915
1880-1915
A small collection of papers of Abigail Scott Duniway, who was an emigrant to Oregon, an editor, and an advocate of women's suffrage. Includes records of the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association, records of the Duniway Publishing Company, and copy of a typescript transcription of Duniway's overland diary, 1852.
Collection is open for research.
Probably the gift of Clyde Duniway, Library Accession 409.
Selected suffrage-related documents in the Duniway papers are viewable online in OHS Digital Collections.
Overland diary available in microfilm and a print copy from the microfilm.
The collection is arranged in the following series: Series A, Duniway Publishing Company records, 1881-1886; Series B, Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association Records, 1872-1915; Series C, General materials and overland journal, 1852-1914.
Abigail Scott was born in Groveland, Illinois, in 1834. One of her brothers, Harvey Scott, would become the editor of the Oregonian newspaper. The Scott family traveled overland to Oregon in 1852, a trip on which Abigail Scott's mother and youngest brother died. The family came first to Oregon City, then settled in Lafayette. Abigail Scott taught school at Eola, and in 1853 she married Benjamin C. Duniway, with whom she had four children. After Benjamin Duniway was incapacitated in an 1862 accident, Abigail Scott Duniway supported her family through teaching and a millinery business in Albany, Oregon. After moving to Portland in 1871, she published and edited The New Northwest and became Oregon's leading advocate of women's suffrage. She moved to Idaho in 1887 and helped to achieve women's voting rights there in 1896. After returning to Oregon, she was instrumental in the passage of Oregon's own women's suffrage bill in 1912. Her writings include the autobiography Path Breaking (1914) and the novel Captain Gray's Company. Duniway died in Portland in 1915.
Abigail Scott Duniway papers, Mss 432, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Additional papers of Abigail Scott Duniway are held at the University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives, Coll 232B, Eugene, Oregon.
The collection consists primarily of records of the Duniway Publishing Company and the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association. The Duniway Publishing records include cash books, mailing books, and advertising ledgers (1880-1886) of the publication The New Northwest. The Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association records include a minute book, membership and account books, constitutions, a small amount of correspondence, and a copy of a letter from Susan B. Anthony regarding the woman's suffrage movement. Also of note in the collection is a copy of a typed transcript of the journal Abigail Scott Duniway kept from April 2, 1852, to September 28, 1852, during her family's overland trek from Illinois to Oregon City, Oregon. The transcript contains an introduction by Leslie M. Scott. A subscription list from the Oregon State Secular Union from 1891 is also included in the collection.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Corning, Howard McKinley, Dictionary of Oregon history (Portland : Binfords and Mort, [c. 1956]), p. 77.
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906
Duniway, Abigail Scott, 1834-1915
Duniway Publishing Company
Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association
Oregon State Secular Union
Oregon--Politics and government--1859-1950
Oregon National Historic Trail
West (U.S.)--Description and travel
West (U.S.)--History--1848-1860
Overland journeys to the Pacific
Pioneers--Oregon--Diaries
Publishers and Publishing--Oregon--Portland--History
Suffragists--Oregon
Women--Suffrage--Oregon
Women pioneers--Oregon--Diaries
Journalism
Oregon
Overland Journeys to the Northwestern United States
Portland
Publishers and Publishing
Women
accounts
financial records
diaries
ledgers (account books)
minutes (administrative records)
Scott, Leslie M., 1878-1968
Duniway Publishing Company records
Series A
1881-1886
Advertising book and ledger
1880-1881
1
1
Advertising book and ledger
1882-1884
1
2
Advertising book and ledger
1884-1886
1
3
Advertising book and ledger
1886-1887
1
4
Cash book
1882-1883
1
5
Cash book (cover only)
1882-1883
1
6
Cash book
1884-1885
1
7
Cash book
1886-1887
2
1
Mailing book
1880-1883
2
2
Mailing book
1881-1884
2
3
Mailing book (covers only)
1880-1883
2
4
Mailing book
circa 1883-1886
2
5
Mailing book
undated
2
6
Subscription book
1877-1881
2
7
Subscription book--donated subscriptions for campaign
1884
3
1
Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association Records
Series B
1872-1915
Record book
1872-1912
3
2
Membership ledger
1908-1910
3
3
Membership book
1913-1915
3
4
Correspondence and general records
1903-1912
3
5
General materials and overland journal
Series C
1852-1914
Woman's Club--Record book
1902-1913
3
6
Personal accounts and diary
1882
1887
undated
3
7
Overland journal (photocopy from microfilm)
1852
3
8-9
Two additional copies available on microfilm.
General publications and brochure
1883-1914
3
10
Clippings regarding poems David and Anna Matson
1876
3
11
Oregon State Secular Union subscribers
1891
3
12