Organization: Special Collections and University Archives of Rutgers University
Website: https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/scua
Submitted by Fernanda Perrone
Special Collections and University Archives of Rutgers University Libraries (SC/UA) collects, preserves, and makes available primary sources of a rare, unique, or specialized nature to support study and research in the humanities, social sciences, and the history of science; New Jersey state, local, and cultural history; and the history of Rutgers University.
Special Collections and University Archives is delighted to be a partner in NJ Women Vote. SC/UA is planning a major exhibition, On Account of Sex: Women’s Suffrage in Middlesex County, New Jersey in Fall 2020.
SC/UA comprises several large sections including the University Archives, Rare Books, Sinclair New Jersey Collection, and the Manuscript Collection. The Sinclair New Jersey Collection is the largest, most comprehensive collection of New Jersey materials in the state and one of the largest collections of state and local history in the country. The approximately 70,000 monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and serials in the collection cover numerous subject areas including many printed items related to women’s suffrage in New Jersey. Composed of over 2,200 distinct collections, the manuscript collection contains correspondence, diaries, literary manuscripts, organizational records, and local and regional public records. It is especially strong in New Jersey history and women’s history. SC/UA’sWomen’s History Sources: A Guide to Manuscripts and Archival Collections https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/scua/womens-history-resources describes over 300 individual collections. These include rich documentation of the women’s suffrage movement in New Jersey. The library holds records of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association, the Women’s Political Union of New Jersey, and the Equal Franchise Society; and the papers of individual suffragists including Frances Engeman of Hunterdon County and Sarah Atkinson of New Brunswick. The library also holds the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Memorial Collection assembled by the noted suffragist’s son Theodore Stanton.