Belva Ann Lockwood Papers

Belva Ann McNall Lockwood (1830-1917), was the first woman attorney to practice before the Supreme Court. In the late 1870s Lockwood personally lobbied members of Congress to pass a special act admitting women to the bar of the Court. Lockwood first practiced before the Court in 1879. Among other cases, Lockwood successfully represented the Eastern Cherokee Indians in an five million dollar suit before the Court. She also represented hundreds of family members of Civil War veterans in their pension claims. Lockwood was also an ardent supporter of women's rights. She lectured and toured the country in attempts to gather support for woman suffrage. In 1884, and again in 1888, she was the Presidential candidate for the National Equal Rights Party, capturing over 4,000 votes in six states. Her other feminist activities included serving as president of the Woman's National Press Association, and being appointed Attorney General of the American Woman's Republic, an organization founded by Marietta Stowe and dedicated to preparing women for the rights and responsibilities of full citizenship. As an executive board member of the Universal Peace Union, Lockwood attended many international peace congresses. She wrote tracts on international arbitration and was one of the nominating members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. The Papers of Belva Ann Lockwood are an assortment of writings both by and about her.

Belva Ann Lockwood Papers
Browsing as Anonymous (not verified)
104 items [showing 1 - 20]

Pages

Belva Lockwood biographical excerpt
Title:
Belva Lockwood biographical excerpt
Description:
Biographical excerpt of Belva Lockwood from the "Records of the Columbia Historical Society, vol. 35/36, 1935.
Date:
1935
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Belva Lockwood biographical notes
Title:
Belva Lockwood biographical notes
Description:
Lockwood's handwritten notes for her biography. She recounts an incident in the case involving the Estate of General John Sevier; Emmetta Humphreys, administrator to the estate, attempted to have Lockwood dismissed from the case, but the Chief Justice of the Court of Claims dismissed Humphreys' Motion and praised Lockwood extensively.
Date:
1908-1917
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Belva Lockwood Washington World article
Title:
Belva Lockwood Washington World article
Description:
Volume 9, number 11. Discusses issues with the U.S. Pension Office and laws involving it which Lockwood has encountered while helping clients claim pensions.
Date:
1884-01-19
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
'The Present Phase of the Woman Question"
Title:
'The Present Phase of the Woman Question"
Description:
Article in the Cosmopolitan Magazine. Argues that "a social revolution is impending." Discusses women's education as a means of their economic independence. Talks about women's entry into the legal and medical professions; attributes the rising number of women preachers to the temperance movement.
Date:
1888
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Alfred H. Love letter to Belva Lockwood
Title:
Alfred H. Love letter to Belva Lockwood
Description:
Alfred H. Love was a Quaker political activist, abolitionist, and pacifist. Wants Lockwood to represent the Universal Peace Union at the upcoming N.O. Exposition and attend the Pennsylvania Army [sp] meeting. Asks her about Alex D. Anderson and discusses the publishing of Grant's writing. Asks her if she did anything with his writing draft about arbitration for President Grover Cleveland.
Date:
1885-10-26
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Alfred H. Love letter to Belva Lockwood
Title:
Alfred H. Love letter to Belva Lockwood
Description:
Alfred H. Love was a Quaker political activist, abolitionist, and pacifist. Dr. M. Murdy [sp], Alex D. Anderson, and Senor Rimero [sp] will be representing the Universal Peace Union at the N.O. Exposition since Belva Lockwood is unable to attend. Asks for her help getting subscribers for the "Peacemaker" journal.
Date:
1885-11-06
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Newspaper articles about Belva Lockwood
Title:
Newspaper articles about Belva Lockwood
Description:
Photocopies, many of which are cut off or incomplete. Contains newspaper articles, tributes, political cartoons, and her obituary. Also includes sheet music for a song about Belva Lockwood written by De Wolf Hopper. The articles, some of which were written by Lockwood, discuss for campaigns for president of the United States, her prominent cases as a lawyer, and her peace and women's suffrage activities. There are also many articles announcing her birthdays later in life since she had become a very prominent figure.
Date:
1884-1917
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Paper presented by Belva A. Lockwood
Title:
Paper presented by Belva A. Lockwood
Description:
Presented to the Congress of Law Reform and the Fifth International Peace Conference. Discusses proposals for an international arbitration court and congress of nations.
Date:
1893-08
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Brief by Belva A. Lockwood
Title:
Brief by Belva A. Lockwood
Description:
Legal argument presented by Lockwood "In the Matter of the Probate of the Last Will and Testament of Myra Clark Gaines, Deceased."
Date:
1893
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Brief by Belva Lockwood
Title:
Brief by Belva Lockwood
Description:
Brief filed by Belva Lockwood, attorney for the Eastern and Emigrant Cherokees, in the United States Supreme Court, in the case of the Eastern and Emigrant Cherokees vs. the United States, no. 349.
Date:
1905-10
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Woman's National Weekly articles
Title:
Woman's National Weekly articles
Description:
Photocopies, several of which are partially cut off. Series of articles published in the Woman's National Weekly over a span of several months in 1913 concerning a peace envoy of seventeen prominent women sent out by the Woman's Republic and departing for Europe, including Belva Lockwood, who is referred to as the dean of the party. Lockwood is also listed as the Attorney General for the Woman's Republic. The goal of the envoy is to establish a "world-wide Republic of Women, in which all organizations of women throughout the world shall join without loss of their own individuality or interference with their own organization." Articles include photographs of the women in the envoy and from their trip.
Date:
1913
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Humphreys Adminx. v. the U.S. Chief notes
Title:
Humphreys Adminx. v. the U.S. Chief notes
Description:
Lockwood's handwritten notes, likely for her biography. She writes about the John Sevier estate case in which the judge denied Emmetta Humphreys' motion to have Lockwood dismissed from the case and praised her twenty-five years of service as a member of the bar. She then goes into detail about her struggle to get her law degree. She describes being rejected from Columbia Law College and Georgetown and then finally being admitted to the National University Law School (now the George Washington University Law School) but being denied her diploma because "some young men in the class did not wish to graduate with women." She transcribes the letter she wrote to President Ulysses S. Grant appealing to him for her diploma (Grant was chancellor ex officio of the National University Law School), and though she did not receive a direct answer from the president, a week later she received her diploma in the mail and was admitted to the bar the week after that. She also briefly discusses canvasing the South in support of Horace Greeley for president and claims that she gave "perhaps the first woman suffrage lecture ever made in the South." She notes that she is unable to give a very comprehensive account of the life of her second husband, Ezekiel Lockwood.
Date:
1910-1917
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Kentucky Equal Rights Party electoral ticket and newspaper clipping
Title:
Kentucky Equal Rights Party electoral ticket and newspaper clipping
Description:
The first page is an 1888 electoral ticket of the Equal Rights Party for the state of Kentucky, listing Belva Lockwood for president and Alfred H. Love for vice-president. The second page is a newspaper clipping titled "The First National Convention" reporting an 1888 convention of the Equal Rights Party.
Date:
1888
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Syracuse University tribute to Belva Lockwood
Title:
Syracuse University tribute to Belva Lockwood
Description:
Tribute to alumnus Belva Lockwood by Syracuse University, detailing her educational and professional achievements. On June 10, 1906, the University awarded her an L.L.D. (doctorate of law degree), the highest ever given to any woman in this or any other country. Brief handwritten note on the last page.
Date:
1906-1920
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
The Growth of Peace Principles, and Methods of Propagating Them
Title:
The Growth of Peace Principles, and Methods of Propagating Them
Description:
Presented to the Triennial Woman's Council. Argues against war; discusses recent changes in society.
Date:
1895-02-28
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Lottery Appeal by Belva Lockwood
Title:
Lottery Appeal by Belva Lockwood
Description:
Handwritten draft of "Lottery Appeal" by Belva Lockwood in the case of the United States vs. William H. Hale. Hale was charged with maintaining an illegal lottery.
Date:
1873-1917
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Mrs. Lockwood and the Late Associate Justice Knott [sic], of the Court of Claims, now Retired
Title:
Mrs. Lockwood and the Late Associate Justice Knott [sic], now Retired
Description:
Lockwood's handwritten notes, likely for her biography. She discusses her interactions with Judge Charles C. Nott, beginning with her attempt to be admitted to the U.S. Court of Claims bar when working on the Charlotte Van Cort case. Nott wrote and delivered the lengthy opinion rejecting Lockwood from admission to the bar on the grounds that she was a woman. Nevertheless, Lockwood persisted and was eventually admitted to the U.S. Court of Claims bar and argued cases before Nott, who became Chief Justice of the U.S. Court of Claims. She discusses at length the Eastern Cherokee case and writes that Judge Nott congratulated her on her efforts in that case. When Judge Nott retired, Lockwood and many other lawyers met with him, and he asked Lockwood for forgiveness for having turned her down so many years prior and Lockwood "with her characteristic generosity" told him that she never held anything against him.
Date:
1913-1917
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Equal Rights Party poll pamphlet
Title:
Equal Rights Party poll pamphlet
Description:
A pamphlet by the National Equal Rights Party concerning their nomination for Vice-President in the election of 1888; the Party has nominated Belva Lockwood for president, and invites write-in opinions about whether the vice-presidential nomination should go to a woman (Marietta L. Stow) or a man (Alfred H. Love). Lists N. S. Chapin as the Chairman General Committee and Kate Dunning Clarke as Secretary. There are crossed-out notes on the back of the pamphlet (third page).
Date:
1888
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
Congressional Record
Title:
Congressional Record
Description:
Pages 19 and 20 of the "Congressional Record." "Valuable" is handwritten at the bottom of the first page, possibly by Belva Lockwood, and parentheses are handwritten around the portion titled "Legal Disabilities of Women." This portion discusses the bill H. R. No. 177 which would entitle women lawyers who have been a member of the bar of the highest court of any state or territory or of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia for at least three years to be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. A vote was taken and the bill was passed. Lockwood had drafted this bill, which had come to be known as the "Lockwood Bill."
Date:
1878-02-22
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College
'Brief Prospectus of the American Woman's Republic: Its Declaration and Constitution"
Title:
'Brief Prospectus of the American Woman's Republic: Its Declaration and Constitution"
Description:
States the mission and goals of the American Woman's Republic and the officers, including Belva Lockwood, who is listed as the Attorney General. Also discusses sources of revenue and promotes membership. The Constitution of the organization, which was adopted on June 22, 1912, is transcribed within the pamphlet.
Date:
1912-1917
Collection:
Belva Ann Lockwood Papers, In Her Own Right, Swarthmore College

Pages