Site of the Boston League of Women Voters Office

The Little Building held numerous offices, including those of suffrage organizations.

NPS Photo/Woods

Quick Facts

Location:

80 Boylston Street

Significance:

Site of the Boston League of Women Voters Office

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

Private Building

After the ratification of the 19^th Amendment in Massachusetts, the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government (BESAGG) became the Boston League of Women Voters in 1920. As a branch of the National League of Women Voters, the Boston League had a dual purpose: “to raise the standard of citizenship” through education and “to promote good government” through political participation.¹

From their offices at 80 Boylston Street, the League played a pivotal role in informing women on their rights as full voting citizens and later encouraging women to run for political office.² The League held citizenship classes, ran events, and published printed material to be distributed across the city. The organization’s work also involved pushing the government for other social improvements, including better access to food, workers’ rights, and public heath and safety measures.³

Manual for Massachusetts Voters, printed by the Boston League of Women Voters (Credit: Library of Congress)

For more information on the Boston League of Women Voters, please visit the article “Women Take the Ballot Seriously.”

Footnotes:

1. “Boston League of Women Voters,” The Woman Citizen vol 4 (January 17, 1920). Accessed January 2021. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651064&view=1up&seq=652.
2. Boston Register and Business Directory (Boston: Sampson & Murdock, 1920) 37. Accessed January 2021. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000532656.
3. “Boston League of Women Voters,” The Woman Citizen vol 4 (January 17, 1920). Accessed January 2021. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000098651064&view=1up&seq=652.