BREAKING THE ICE: ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF THE NORTH
Cook Inlet Historical Society 2019-2020 Lecture Series
The Cook Inlet Historical Society is proud to present its 2019-2020 speaker series, Breaking the Ice: Envisioning the Future of the North. The speakers will present a range of historical perspectives, based on their long history and involvement in a variety of endeavors as lifelong Alaskans.
The Cook Inlet Historical Society is proud to present its 2019-2020 speaker series, Breaking the Ice: Envisioning the Future of the North. The speakers will present a range of historical perspectives, based on their long history and involvement in a variety of endeavors as lifelong Alaskans.

A 1915 illustration (“The Awakening”) by Henry Mayer, Puck Magazine. Illustration shows a torch-bearing female labeled “Votes for Women”, symbolizing the awakening of the nation’s women to the desire for suffrage, striding across the western states, where women already had the right to vote, toward the east, where women are reaching out to her. Cornell University/PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography/Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Thursday, November 21, 2019, 7:00 pm
Anchorage Museum Auditorium, 625 C St. (enter through 121 W. 7th Ave. entrance)
Speaker: Beverly Beeton, Ph.D.
Topic: Alaska Women Voted in 1913: “But They Weren’t Unsexed & Didn’t Neglect Wifely Duties.”
The first bill passed by Alaska’s first legislature granted women voting rights seven years before the national amendment to the Constitution in 1920. This presentation will be an historical perspective regarding the cause for Women Suffrage with emphasis on Alaska. After an overview of the women’s vote in the U.S. West, there will be coverage of the Alaska scene, especially the lobbying for votes for women, the legislative process and the key players in Alaska. Responding to questions about the impact of women voting, Governor John F.A. Strong said: The operation of the law has not besmirched the women of Alaska; it has not unsexed them nor caused them to take on ‘unwomanly attributes.’” In his view, voting had not “unfitted them to become wives and mothers or to attend to their domestic duties generally.”
Beverly Beeton holds a Ph.D. in social and intellectual history from the University of Utah. She served as a university administrator for 25 years, most recently as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Beeton has published a wide variety of books, articles, and reviews. Her best-known work is Women Vote in the West: The Women Suffrage Movement, 1869-1896 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1986). She served on the Alaska Historical Commission, the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Accreditation Association, and the Anchorage Museum Association and the Building Committee that planned the major expansion of the Museum with art, history and science galleries including the one with objects from the Smithsonian.
Anchorage Museum Auditorium, 625 C St. (enter through 121 W. 7th Ave. entrance)
Speaker: Beverly Beeton, Ph.D.
Topic: Alaska Women Voted in 1913: “But They Weren’t Unsexed & Didn’t Neglect Wifely Duties.”
The first bill passed by Alaska’s first legislature granted women voting rights seven years before the national amendment to the Constitution in 1920. This presentation will be an historical perspective regarding the cause for Women Suffrage with emphasis on Alaska. After an overview of the women’s vote in the U.S. West, there will be coverage of the Alaska scene, especially the lobbying for votes for women, the legislative process and the key players in Alaska. Responding to questions about the impact of women voting, Governor John F.A. Strong said: The operation of the law has not besmirched the women of Alaska; it has not unsexed them nor caused them to take on ‘unwomanly attributes.’” In his view, voting had not “unfitted them to become wives and mothers or to attend to their domestic duties generally.”
Beverly Beeton holds a Ph.D. in social and intellectual history from the University of Utah. She served as a university administrator for 25 years, most recently as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Beeton has published a wide variety of books, articles, and reviews. Her best-known work is Women Vote in the West: The Women Suffrage Movement, 1869-1896 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1986). She served on the Alaska Historical Commission, the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Accreditation Association, and the Anchorage Museum Association and the Building Committee that planned the major expansion of the Museum with art, history and science galleries including the one with objects from the Smithsonian.