Historical Sketch

The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was founded in May 1895 by Mrs. J. Eliot Cabot, Mrs. C. E. Guild, Mrs. Henry O. Houghton, Elizabeth Johnson, Cornelia Baylis Lowell, Kate Gannett Wells, and Margaret Green Whitney. Prior to the formation of the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, the organized women's opposition to the suffrage movement in Massachusetts consisted of an anti-suffrage committee formed in 1882. Its primary function was to obtain signatures for "remonstrances" against "the imposition of any further political duties upon women." These "remonstrances" were circulated to offset the petitions of the suffragists.

In 1890, The Remonstrance, the official organ of the anti-suffrage movement in Massachusetts, was first published by the anti-suffrage committee. It appeared annually until 1908, when it was issued quarterly. In 1914, its title was lengthened to The Remonstrance Against Woman Suffrage.

The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women eventually changed its name to the Women's Anti-Suffrage Association of Massachusetts. By 1915, the association had nearly 37,000 members and was headquartered in the Kensington Building, Boylston Street, Boston. The activities of the members (as summarized by the president) were to: 1) furnish material to the press; 2) publish leaflets and pamphlets; and 3) work with the Men's Anti-Suffrage Committee in organizing rallies, furnishing speakers, maintaining anti-suffrage shops in Boston and other cities, and carrying on publicity work.