May Memorial Church (1885)

May Memorial Church (1885)

Designed by Syracuse architect Horatio Nelson White and dedicated in 1885, May Memorial Church provided an imposing site for the plenary sessions of the 1906 convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association.

1906 NYSWSA Conference Program

1906 NYSWSA Conference Program

Title page of the program for the thirty-eighth annual convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) in Syracuse in 1906. This copy belonged to Anne Fitzhugh Miller, daughter of pioneer suffragist and Bloomers designer Elizabeth Smith Miller (1822–1911). Attached to the title page are Miller's NYSWSA membership ticket and her convention ribbon. Pictured on the pin atop the ribbon is Susan B. Anthony, who died just seven months prior to the Convention.

Rachel Foster Avery

Rachel Foster Avery

Rachel Foster Avery (right) is shown with Susan B. Anthony in an 1890 photograph. Avery spoke at the 1906 NYSWSA convention in Syracuse.

Julia Regula Jenney

Julia Regula Jenney

Julia Regula Jenney was the first woman attorney in Syracuse and a regionally prominent suffragist. In 1920 she would be named New York's first woman assistant attorney general. She spoke at the 1906 NYSWSA convention.

Mary T. L. Gannett

Mary T. L. Gannett

Mary T. L. Gannett of Rochester, presumably connected to the Gannett family that founded USA Today, spoke at the 1906 NYSWSA Convention on plans to erect a Susan B. Anthony Memorial Hall on the old Prince Street campus of the University of Rochester. The project was completed in 1914; when the forty-sixth annual NYSWSA convention was held in Rochester in that year, delegates attended a reception at the brand-new Anthony Hall.

Fanny Garrison Villard

Fanny Garrison Villard

Fanny Garrison Villard, daughter of leading abolitionist journalist William Lloyd Garrison, spoke at the 1906 NYSWSA convention.

May Church Site Today

May Church Site Today

The former site of May Memorial Church is now a parking lot located between the Century Club (far left), a reciprocal dining establishment, and a Quality Inn and Suites (far right).

Associated Causes

Associated Historical Events

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