Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
Chapter 4: Radical Woman
Suffragist
From a young age, Willard had believed that women should be able to vote. She brought the suffrage
campaign with her when she became involved in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, arguing that
women could vote prohibition into law. Although many of the WCTU women across the country were not fully
in favor of women's rights, Willard herself was both vocal and active in her involvement in suffrage
organizations.
This is Anthony's first letter
to Willard, written after
she "saw by the
newspapers a few days
since, that you had spoken
out for suffrage as a power
to help on your hearts
hope & work for
Temperance – and thought
to drop a note of cheer to
you …"
The four-page letter ends
with Anthony wishing "I
could see you & make you
feel my gladness, not only
for your sake, personally,
but for the cause sake – for
Temperance & Virtue’s
sake – for Woman’s sake. –
Figure 1, Letter from Susan B. Anthony, September 18, 1876
Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
Chapter 4
Figure 2, Home Protection Manual, 1879
Figure 3, "Capturing Congress," The Hatchet, March 24, 1888
Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
Chapter 4
Figure 4, An Address to all Knights of Labor, Trades-Unions, and other Labor
Organizations, 1886
Christian Socialist
In addition to temperance and
woman suffrage, Willard spoke,
wrote, and took action in favor of the
labor movement, prison reform,
social purity, raising the age of
consent, economic equity, and world
peace. She joined the Knights of
Labor and the Fabian Society, wrote
for such reform papers as Our Day
and WDP Bliss’s Dawn, and
corresponded with many of the
reformers of that busy era. She
read the latest books on
economics and social questions,
and highly praised Edward
Bellamy’s bestselling Utopian
socialist novel Looking Backward
(1888). In 1893 she proclaimed
herself a Christian Socialist. Late
in her life, despite her failing
health, she worked for the relief
of Armenian refugees from
Constantinople.
Figure 5, Letter from Edward Bellamy, January 3, 1888
Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
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Orator and Writer
After her first efforts in front of the women of the
Methodist Church in Evanston, Willard went on to
a career of public speaking, in front of groups large
and small, including men and women.
Her speaking style was powerful, yet always
described as “womanly” (never "strong-minded" or
"mannish"), relying on a conversational tone and a
supply of personal stories and quotations from
poetry, the Bible, American heroes, and other
reformers. The same accessible style infused her
written work—voluminous correspondence, article
after article for the WCTU’s Union Signal and other
reform newspapers, and a dozen books
encouraging women to transcend their traditional
roles (see Bibliography). Willard's charismatic
personality and understated approach, which
came through in person and in print, made the
broad platform of reform that she endorsed seem
less radical than it was.
Figure 6, Frances Willard, 1894, at St. Margaret's Church,
Horsmonden, Kent, England

Figure 7, Box of Wax Cylinders for Willard's Edison
Phonograph, 1898
Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
Chapter 4
Bicyclist
Willard's interest in reforms-especially
those that would benefit women—
extended to health and well being.
She supported dress reform, became a
vegetarian, and, in 1893, learned (with
difficulty) to ride a two-wheeled
bicycle—still a novelty for a woman-which she felt was a healthful and
freeing mode of transportation which
could be undertaken in a ladylike
fashion. Her book describing her
success in learning to cycle also served
as a lesson in continuing to try new
things.
Figure 8, Learning to Ride the Bicycle, 1893
Figure 8, Frances Willard's Book A Wheel
within a Wheel: How I learned to Ride the
Bicycle
Figure 10, Frances Willard on her Bicycle, 1894
Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
Sources of Items and Photographs
Chapter 4

Figure 1
Willard and Anthony maintained a friendly correspondence over the years, although Anthony feared that the
WCTU's support might discourage potential advocates of woman suffrage who didn’t want to give up alcohol.
On loan from Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives, Correspondence Files, 1876
Some of Willard’s correspondence is also available on microfilm as part of the Temperance and Prohibition
Papers (1977); NUL holds a set of the film (#7895) and the print Guide to the Microfilm (MI 016.178 G946)
Figure 2
Willard made woman suffrage part of the WCTU platform by convincing women that they could protect their
homes and children if they could vote against the sale of liquor, starting at the local level—their town, county,
or state. This booklet describes the "Home Protection" campaign, aimed at earning women the right to vote
on temperance issues. In 1879 Willard brought a petition with 180,000 signatures to the Illinois State Senate,
hoping to pass a Home Protection bill (it failed).
On loan from Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives. Subject folder "Home Protection"
Figure 3
This cartoon from a Washington, D.C., newspaper lampoons the representatives from a variety of women’s
organizations who gathered in Washington in 1888 to mark the 40 th anniversary of the Seneca Falls
Convention. Willard is prominently featured, waving the WCTU flag close to the battlements (flanked by Susan
B. Anthony). At this convention, Willard was elected president of the National Council of Women.
On loan from Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives (Scrapbook documenting the 1888 convention)
Figure 4
Better lives for working men and women had been part of the WCTU's platform since 1875. In 1886, to
demonstrate the WCTU’s support of labor issues, Willard sent a delegation to the Knights of Labor convention.
Willard herself joined the Knights in 1887.
On loan from Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives. Subject folder “Knights of Labor”
Figure 5
Willard and the author of the best-selling utopian novel Looking Backward (1888) exchanged several letters.
Like many reformers, Willard was greatly influenced by the book, and joined the Nationalist Movement it
inspired (dedicated to nationalizing industry). However, Bellamy did not agree that alcohol should be
eliminated from the utopian future.
On loan from Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives. Correspondence files, 1888
Figure 6
Frances Willard, 1894, at St. Margaret’s Church, Horsmonden, Kent, England
Although Willard’s appealing, powerful, and womanly speaking style was frequently described, this is the only
known photograph of her speaking.
Modern copy; original in Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives
Radical Woman in a Classic Town: Frances Willard of Evanston
Chapter 4
Figure 7
Thomas Edison gave Willard a phonograph to use as a Dictaphone to help her keep up with her
correspondence and writing. These cylinders are blank; no used cylinders are known to exist. The phonograph
is still on view in Willard’s office (the Den) at the Willard House Museum.
On loan from the Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives
Figure 8 and 9
It took Willard about six weeks to master the recalcitrant machine. On November 18, 1893, she recorded in
her journal that she was "Working away with my 'bike.' It's a regular study in mental philosophy, Christian
science mind-cure and balance all in one" (Journal #48). Her book A Wheel within a Wheel: How I Learned to
Ride the Bicycle, was published in 1894.
Her bicycle, which she named "Gladys," is on display at the Frances Willard House Museum.
Photograph on loan from the Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives
Figure 10
Photograph on loan from the Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives