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Emma Molloy

Molloy Side One Molloy Side Two

Location: 300 S. Second St., Elkhart (Elkhart County) Indiana, 46516

Installed 2024 Indiana Historical Bureau, Elkhart County Historical Society and Museum, Indiana Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, and Indiana Historical Society

ID#:  20.2023.1

Learn more about Molloy's reform work through Untold Indiana, the IHB blog.

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Side One

Emma Molloy, 1839-1907

Activist and evangelist Emma Molloy was born in South Bend. As editor of the city’s National Union in the 1860s, she advocated for women’s rights and their entrance into the public sphere. Molloy moved to Elkhart, where she co-founded the Observer in 1872. Here, she grew into a prolific political reformer and public speaker, advancing temperance and women’s liberation.

Side Two

Molloy lobbied for temperance and liberalized divorce laws as a means to reduce financial hardship and abuse endured by wives. Realizing the ballot was necessary to effect this change, she advocated for women’s suffrage. Her speeches catapulted her to an international stage, as she lectured in England and spoke at National Woman Suffrage Association conventions.

Annotated Text

Side One

Emma Molloy, 1839-1907

Activist and evangelist Emma Molloy was born in South Bend.[1] As editor of the city’s National Union in the 1860s, she advocated for women’s rights and their entrance into the public sphere.[2] Molloy moved to Elkhart, where she co-founded the Observer in 1872. Here, she grew into a prolific political reformer and public speaker, advancing temperance and women’s liberation.[3]

Side Two

Molloy lobbied for temperance and liberalized divorce laws as a means to reduce financial hardship and abuse endured by wives.[4] Realizing the ballot was necessary to effect this change, she advocated for women’s suffrage.[5] Her speeches catapulted her to an international stage, as she lectured in England and spoke at National Woman Suffrage Association conventions.[6]


* All manuscript sources are from the Emma Barrett Molloy Collection, 1846-1985 (M1043) at the Indiana Historical Society.

[1] “Well Known Woman Gone,” South Bend Tribune, May 15, 1907, 5, accessed Newspapers.com; Martha M. Pickrell, Emma Speaks Out: Life and Writings of Emma Molloy (1839-1907), vol. II Indiana Women Who Made a Difference (Carmel, Indiana: Guild Press, 1999), p. 3; Image of tombstone, Red Man Cemetery, Port Townsend, WA, Emma Barrett Molloy Collection, 1846-1985, M1043, Box 1, F5, Indiana Historical Society.

[2] “Woman Suffrage,” South Bend National Union, February 16, 1867, Emma Barrett Molloy Collection, 1846-1985, M1043, Box 2, Folder 17; “Pittsburg Female College,” National Union, August 28, 1869, Box 3, Folder 1; “A Woman’s Soliloquy,” National Union, February 15, 1870, Box 3, Folder 2; “Free Love,” National Union, May 28, 1870, Box 3, Folder 2; “Woman’s Rights by Exemplification,” South Bend National Union, August 6, 1870, Box 3, Folder 2; “What the Press Says of the Editress’ Lecture,” South Bend National Union, February 24, 1872?; Pickrell, p. 3, 15, 20-21.

[3] “What the Press Says of the Editress’ Lecture,” South Bend National Union, February 24, 1872?; Notes about the Elkhart Observer in the South Bend Tribune, July 27, 1872, Box 2, Folder 14; “The Woman Question,” Elkhart Observer, January 29, 1873, Box 3, Folder 4; “Anna Dickinson’s Lecture,” Elkhart Observer, April 2, 1873, Box 3, Folder 4; Excerpt of “About Women” editorial by Molloy, Elkhart Observer, April 30, 1873 in Pickrell, p. 83-84; “What Women are Doing in Elkhart,” Elkhart Observer, May 28, 1873, Box 3, Folder 4; “An Earnest Temperance Advocate,” St. Joseph Valley Register, April 16, 1874, 1, Box 4, Folder 1; Emma Barrett Molloy, “Address on Women in Journalism, Woman’s Congress, Chicago, Illinois, Oct. 15-17, 1874,” printed in The Woman’s Journal, November 28, 1874, Box 5, Folder 13; James M. Hiatt, The Ribbon Workers (Chicago 1878): Chapter 1: Life of Mrs. Emma Molloy; “Mrs. Molloy’s Prison Work,” The Woman’s Journal, July 12, 1879, Box 5, Folder 13; Pickrell, p. 20-22.

[4] “An Earnest Temperance Advocate,” St. Joseph Valley Register, April 16, 1874, 1, Box 4, Folder 1; Goshen Democrat, April 8, 1874, Box 3, Folder 7; W.C.T.U Annual Meeting Minutes (1876-1882), Box 6, Folder 5; “The Reform Club Movement,” South Bend Daily Tribune, April 4, 1877, Box 4, Folder 2; “W. C. T. U.,” Richmond Weekly Telegram, March 11, 1880, Box 4, Folder 8; Our Union, June 15, 1880, Box 6, Folder 5; Hiatt, The Ribbon Workers , Chapter 1; "Emma Molloy Barrett Died Suddenly in California Wednesday Afternoon," South Bend Times, May 15, 1907, Box 1, Folder 1; Pickrell, p. 8-29.

[5] “The Woman Question,” Elkhart Observer, January 29, 1873, Box 3, Folder 4; “An Earnest Temperance Advocate,” St. Joseph Valley Register, April 16, 1874, 1, Box 4, Folder 1; “Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Woman Suffrage Association,” The Woman’s Journal 2, no. 48, (November 27, 1875): 380, Box 5, Folder 13; “Address of Emma Malloy,” The Woman’s Journal (December 4, 1875): 386-387, Box 5, Folder 13; Woman’s Journal, June 3, 1876, Box 5, Folder 13; Emma Molloy, “Conservative Women the Martyrs,” Woman’s Journal, January 6, 1877, Box 5, Folder 13; “Emma Molloy,” National Citizen and Ballot Box, August 1878, Box 5, Folder 14; “Mrs. Emma Molloy’s Visit,” The Republican (Rochester, IN), April 22, 1880, Box 4, Folder 9; “W. C. T. U. . . Address by Mrs. Molloy,” Evansville Journal, May 15, 1880, Box 4, Folder 7; “Temperance,” Rochester Republican, July 15, 1880, Box 4, Folder 9; Pickrell, p. 28-44.

[6] Sister Emma Molloy, “The Blue Ribbon Brigade: New War on Alcohol,” Good Templars’ Watchword, October 9, 1878 in Pickrell, p. 99; Pickrell, p. 35.

Keywords

Women