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Notebooks and Papers, 1885-1968

Manuscript Collection 353

• Information about Florence Brown Cotnam
• Information about the Collection
• Contents of the Collection

Florence Brown Cotnam (1865-1932) was a dramatic reader, teacher, and political and civic leader from Little Rock, who lectured in over twenty states on behalf of women's suffrage and citizenship. She was a leader in the passage of suffrage amendments nationally and in Arkansas, the first state to grant women suffrage in primary elections. She began campaigning for suffrage in 1913 under the auspices of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1915, on behalf of the suffrage amendment, she became the first woman to speak to the Arkansas General Assembly. From 1915 to 1920, as a member of the Speaker's Bureau of the National League of Women Voters, she lectured throughout the nation on behalf of the suffrage cause. In 1917 she helped establish and taught in suffrage schools for women and was elected to the national board of the League of Women Voters. She served as president of the Equal Suffrage Association in Arkansas for two years until it became the Arkansas League of Women Voters, then served as Chair of that organization in Arkansas from 1919 to 1921. Through her influence, Governor Charles Hillman Brough called a special session of the legislature in 1920 to ratify the Federal suffrage amendment.

Cotnam was also a prominent member of the Democratic party, campaigning across the country in 1920, 1924, and 1928 on behalf of the Democratic presidential candidates. She was a member of the Arkansas Democratic Central Committee, chair of the Arkansas Democratic Women's Club, delegate to several Democratic state conventions, and the first woman from Arkansas sent to a national political convention, in 1920. She became a popular "Four-minute" speaker during World War I and directed the Women's Division of the Arkansas War Savings Department for two years. Cotnam was also active in many women's clubs. Her daughter Nell Cotnam (1888-1987) was a society reporter, editor, and columnist for the Arkansas Gazette from 1917 until 1970.

The Florence Brown Cotnam papers were donated to Special Collections in 1979 by Warner H. Taylor of Little Rock. Florence Brown Cotnam and her daughter Nell Cotnam collected these papers, which date from 1885 to 1968.

The Cotnam papers are arranged in six series and consist of speeches, speech notes, newspaper and magazine articles, and notebooks regarding suffrage, citizenship, World War I, democracy, and postwar relations; records of suffrage clubs and women's clubs; personal papers of Florence and Nell Cotnam; printed items, including publications of the National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company; postcards; photographs; and miscellaneous objects.

Processed by Rachel Skoney, Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in April  l988.

1 1/4 linear feet (4 boxes)

Series 1. Public Speaking and Civic Work, 1900-1932. Box 1.
    Subseries 1. Women's Suffrage Movement, 1915-1932.
    Subseries 2. World War I and Postwar Materials, ca. 1919-1930s.
    Subseries 3. Clubs, 1900-1930s.

Series 2. Personal Papers, 1885-1966. Box 2.
    Subseries 1. Personal Correspondence and Documents, 1885-1966.
    Subseries 2. Nell Cotnam Papers, ca. 1906-ca. 1960s.

Series 3. Publications, 1920-1966. Box 3.
    Subseries 1. Publications about Women and Suffrage, 1920-1932.
    Subseries 2. Other Publications, 1921-ca. 1966.

Series 4. Postcards, 1915-1931. Box 3.

Series 5. Photographs, ca. 1890-ca. 1960s. Box 3.

Series 6. Objects, ca. 1900-1932. Box 4.

Speeches, speech notes, newspaper and magazine articles, and notebooks regarding women, suffrage, democracy, citizenship, World War I, and international relations. Notebooks also contain class records of suffrage and citizenship schools; lists of students; lessons on public speaking, including some of Florence Cotnam's arguments for woman suffrage; schedule of citizenship schools, lessons, and travel expenses for lectures in Alabama; Red Cross first aid lessons; travel expenses for speaking engagements in Arkansas and other states; appointments; lists of persons, including chairs of Arkansas organizations and members of a suffrage committee; and schedules of engagements from Florida lectures and from the Democratic campaign of 1924. Additional materials include club booklets and other records from women's clubs in Tyler, Texas, and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Subseries 1. Women's Suffrage Movement, 1915-1932.

Box 1

 1. Speaking Engagements, 1915-ca. 1916.
 2. Speeches, Speech Notes, and Articles: Suffrage and Women, 1915-Oct. 8, 1932.
 3. Notebooks: Public Speaking, Suffrage, Citizenship Schools, April 16, 1917-Oct. 2, 1920.
 4. Notebooks: Speaking Engagements and Suffrage Notes, June 1915-Oct. 1924.

Subseries 2. World War I and Postwar Relations, ca. 1919-1930s.
 
 5-6. Speech Notes and Miscellaneous: World War I and Postwar Materials, ca. 1919-1930s.
 7. Speech Notes: Citizenship and Democracy, ca. 1920-1930s.
 8. Speech Notes and Articles: Miscellaneous, 1922-Sept. 5, 1931.

Subseries 3. Clubs, 1900-1930s.

 9. Clubs, 1900-1930s.

Correspondence, including letters to and from family members, especially foreign travel correspondence. Noteworthy is a letter from Florence Cotnam's niece describing conditions in Russia, circa 1927. Additional materials include banking and legal records, newspaper articles, family obituaries, the Woodson-Brown family tree, and papers of Nell Cotnam. Nell Cotnam's papers consist of correspondence; short stories; notes regarding newspaper writing and Ellis Island; and miscellaneous travel papers, including maps; the oversized map has been removed to Manuscript Collection Oversize Box No. 5. For a biographical sketch of Florence Cotnam, see Dallas Tabor Herndon's Centennial History of Arkansas, vol. 3, pages 1140-1142. For biographical information about Nell Cotnam, see the Arkansas Gazette, March 11, 1979, pages 1F and 7F, and January 1, 1987, pages 5A and 8C.

Subseries 1. Personal Correspondence and Documents, 1885-1966.

Box 2 
 
 1. Personal Correspondence, ca. 1888-ca. 1927.
 2. Financial and Family Records, June 1, 1885-July 1, 1966.

Subseries 2. Nell Cotnam Papers, ca. 1906-ca. 1960s.

 3. Nell Cotnam, ca. 1906-Dec. 31, 1936.
 4. Nell Cotnam, Correspondence, Feb. 18, 1931-Dec. 1939.
 5. Nell Cotnam, Greeting Cards and Miscellaneous Cards and Notes, Nov. 5, 1921-1943.
 6. Nell Cotnam, Journalism and Writing, n.d.
 7. Travel, Feb. 12, 1931-ca. 1960s.

Pamphlets, periodicals, and government publications related to women, women's suffrage, World War I, democratic government, Arkansas, and other subjects. Includes publications of the National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company and books of Florence and Nell Cotnam.

Subseries 1. Publications about Women and Suffrage, 1920-1932.

Box 3

 1. Publications: Women and Suffrage, March 1920-Feb. 1922.
 2. Government Documents, 1923-1932.

Subseries 2. Other Publications, 1921-1966.

 3. Miscellaneous Publications and Pamphlets, Aug. 1921-ca. 1966.
 4. Advertisements, n.d.
 5. Books, n.d.

Travel postcards from the United States and Europe. Postcards from cruise taken during 1931; additional postcards from Cape May, New Jersey; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Washington, D. C.
Includes postcard from the head of Chateau de Dieudonne, the girls' school that Nell Cotnam attended, written from France during World War I.

Box 3 (cont'd)

 6. Postcards, 1915-1931.

Unidentified photographs. Photographs of persons, perhaps of members of Florence and Nell Cotnam's family; European trips, possibly from cruise taken by Florence and Nell in 1906; houses and gardens, which may relate to Nell Cotnam's writing for the Arkansas Gazette.

Box 3 (cont'd)

 7. Children, ca. 1890-1944.
 8. Persons, ca. 1917-ca. 1960s.
 9. Travel, ca. 1906.
 10. Houses and Garden, ca. 1930s.

Memorabilia consist of Florence Cotnam's calling card as member of the National Suffrage Association; her engraved calling card case with card from the "Palmer Primary Campaign" as chairman of the Women's Western Headquarters; bookmark; her delegate card to the Democratic convention of 1932; nib of the pen Governor Charles Hillman Brough used to sign the suffrage amendment to the Arkansas Constitution in 1920; and other objects.

Box 4

 1. Suffrage, ca. 1915-1920.
 2. Democratic Party and Miscellaneous, ca. 1900-June 1932.