Author of women’s suffrage book visits Charles City

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Author Elaine Weiss took a detour on Sunday.

Weiss, an award-winning journalist and writer, made a stop in Charles City to discuss and sign copies of her latest book, “The Woman’s Hour; The Great Fight To Win The Vote,” at the Carrie Lane Chapman Catt Girlhood Home, hosted by the 19th Amendment Society. She also volunteered to speak to students Monday at Charles City Middle School.

“This was amazing to me, because an author of her stature generally charges a large sum of money, thousands of dollars, for speaking engagements,” said Charles City teacher Ann Prichard.

Weiss’s magazine feature writing has been recognized with prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists, and her by-line has appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s, New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as reports and documentaries for National Public Radio and Voice of America. She has been a frequent correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

Her first book, “Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army in the Great War,” was excerpted in Smithsonian Magazine online and featured on C-Span and public radio stations nationwide.

Visitors braved the snow Sunday and drove to Charles City from Manchester, Des Moines and Mason City, among other places, as Weiss presented a talk describing the days leading up to the ratification or defeat of the 19th Amendment, which are documented in her book.

Weiss had contacted the National 19th Amendment Society to arrange the visit. She flew into Cedar Rapids on Sunday and drove up to Charles City. She stayed overnight in town with Jim and Cheryl Erb and offered to visit the school on Monday morning. Weiss then headed to Iowa City Monday to speak at the University of Iowa, and then had a reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City.

Fifth-grade students at the middle school had prepared for Weiss by reading about the suffrage movement in the time period between WWI to the ratification in Tennessee that made it a federal law.

Students asked Weiss how she learned about Catt, as she sometimes doesn’t get the attention of other suffragists. Weiss said that as she researched her book, she realized that Carrie Chapman Catt was really the heroine of the whole story, and researched her specifically through her papers at the Library of Congress, Bryn Mawr, in Tennessee, where much from the time was archived, and elsewhere.

“We were so lucky to have her at school,” said Prichard. “She talked a little bit about how she started researching, and how she kept her information organized. It was a perfect discussion for the students doing National History Day.”

Books purchased for the Sunday event were sold out. The National 19th Amendment Society will be purchasing more books to have available for sale at the Carrie Chapman girlhood home. For information, call 641-228-3336.

Charles City’s National 19th Amendment Society is a local, non-profit group that is dedicated to telling the story of Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, who grew up just outside of Charles City.

Carrie’s girlhood home, located at 2379 Timber Ave., was purchased, restored and opened for public tours in 2005, followed by a newly constructed interpretive center in 2011 on the same site. Both facilities are dedicated to telling the story of Carrie and her leadership that resulted in passage of the 19th Amendment.

Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and was the founder of the League of Women Voters and the International Alliance of Women. She helped to pressure Congress to pass the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote and convinced state legislatures to ratify it.