Description: This photograph is a portrait of Judge Florence Allen, taken by Standiford Studio in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1923. The Ohio League of Women Voters nominated Judge Florence Allen to the League's National Roll of Honor for her women's rights activism and achievements in politics. As a young woman, Allen (1884-1966) graduated from Western Reserve University in 1904, and worked as a music critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer while pursuing a graduate degree in political science and constitutional law at Western Reserve University. She received her master's degree in 1908, and soon moved to New York City to work for the New York League for the Protection of Immigrants while earning a law degree from the New York University School of Law. After receiving her JD, Allen returned to Cleveland, where she gained admittance to the Ohio bar and established her own law practice. She was appointed Assistant Prosecutor of Cuyahoga County in 1919, and was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas the following year. In 1922, Allen won a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. Not only was she the first woman to serve on Ohio's highest court, but she was also the first woman to serve on the supreme court of any state. Allen continued to serve as a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court until 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her to the Sixth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. Once again, Allen established a precedent as the first woman judge in a federal court. She eventually became chief judge of the court, a position she held until her retirement in 1959. This item comes from the League of Women Voters of Ohio Collection. The League of Women Voters was first formed at the national level in early 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Soon, additional leagues began to form at the state and local level, with the League of Women Voters of Ohio being organized in May 1920 in Columbus. The League was first formed to empower women to use their newfound right to vote, and today its primary purpose remains citizen education. To this goal, it supports voter registration efforts, provides information on candidates and issues, sponsors debates and offers publications on public policy and voter engagement topics. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS354_B10_LWVO_FlorenceAllen
Subjects: Women--Suffrage; Social movements; League of Women Voters of Ohio; Judges -- Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio);
 

Description: This is a photograph of William Day (1849-1923). Day was born in Portage County, Ohio. He was state court judge in Ohio, 1886; U.S. Secretary of State, 1898; Judge of U.S. Court of Appeals, 1899; and Justice of U.S. Supreme Court, 1903-1922. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03919
Subjects: Lawyers--Ohio; Judges; Portage County (Ohio)
Places: Canton (Ohio); Stark County (Ohio); Portage County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of Thaddeus Armstrong Minshall (1834-1908), a Civil War veteran from Ohio who became a Justice on the Ohio Supreme Court. Born in Ross County, Minshall enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil War and served in both the 22nd Ohio Infantry (Company C) and the 33rd Ohio Infantry (Company H). After returning to his law practice in Chillicothe, he was nominated for the Ohio Supreme Court and served from 1885 until 1902. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC4501_001
Subjects: Ohio--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Soldiers; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Ohio. Supreme Court; Judges; Lawyers--Ohio;
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Mary B. Grossman of Cleveland, Ohio. Grossman (1879-1977) was included on the "Ohio State Honor Roll" from the League of Women Voters of Ohio, ca. 1930, which listed prominent Ohio women involved in the suffrage movement. Her brief biography from the Honor Roll reads: "Mary Grossman was a member of the American Woman's Suffrage Association, the Cleveland Woman's Suffrage Party, of which she was treasurer for a time, the Wage-Earner's Suffrage League, and the League of Women Voters. An able speaker, she was a successful campaigner for suffrage. She was elected a Judge of the Municipal Court in Cleveland, the first woman to hold this position there. She was re-elected last fall on her record. She has been devoted and continuously interested in removing discriminations against women." This photograph comes from the League of Women Voters of Ohio Collection. The League of Women Voters was first formed at the national level in early 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Soon, additional leagues began to form at the state and local level, with the League of Women Voters of Ohio being organized in May 1920 in Columbus. The League was first formed to empower women to use their newfound right to vote, and today its primary purpose remains citizen education. To this goal, it supports voter registration efforts, provides information on candidates and issues, sponsors debates and offers publications on public policy and voter engagement topics. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS354_B10_LWVO_MaryGrossman
Subjects: Women--Suffrage; Social movements; League of Women Voters of Ohio; Suffragists; Activism; Judges -- Ohio; Women legislators;
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: This portrait engraving print is of Rufus P. Ranney, ca. 1860. Ranney (1813-1891) was a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court from March 1851 to February 1857, and was selected by Trumbull County residents to represent them at the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851. At the convention, Ranney supported popular election of state judges, but he opposed granting the governor the power to veto. Ranney also served as the first president of the Ohio State Bar Association, which was founded in 1881. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04280
Subjects: Ohio Government; Lawyers; Supreme Court justices; Judges--Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of the Ohio Supreme Court Justices seated at the bench, taken by the Baker Art Gallery, ca. 1880-1915. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05238
Subjects: Judges--Ohio; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: "Your Democratic Team" campaign poster in support of the Democratic candidates for Ohio's Supreme Court. The three men running for election are Frank D. Celebreeze for Chief Justice, Clifford F. Brown for Justice, and Lawrence Grey for Justice. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS_1265
Subjects: Ohio Government; Presidents and Politics; Ohio. Supreme Court; Supreme Court justices; Judges--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Campaign poster for Kingsley A. Taft for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, ca. 1962. A native of Cleveland, Taft was a prominent Ohio lawyer, politician and judge throughout his life. In 1962, Taft ran against Chief Justice Weygandt, who had been head of the Ohio Supreme Court since 1933. Weygandt was considered one of the most popular Democrats in the state, but was vulnerable because of his age, 74. This was believed to be the first time in the history of the American judiciary that a member of a State Supreme Court had challenged the court's chief justice for the top office. Judge James F. Bell, who retired from the court on October 8, 1962, stated, "[The candidacy of Judge Taft] is a great disservice to the court, and can only bring discredit on it in the eyes of the public." But Taft thought differently. He believed that Weygandt was getting too old for the job, did not administer the court well enough and was responsible in large part for the slow work of the court. Taft had urged a rotation of the chief justiceship and an election of a seventh judge in order to relieve Weygandt of the vast responsibilities. But when Weygandt filed for the office in 1962, Taft knew he had to oppose him. Despite the difficulties of the task, Taft defeated Chief Justice Weygandt 1,332,391 to 1,330,616. As a result of this close election, Taft achieved the highest position in Ohio's judiciary. He won re-election to his post in 1968 defeating his opponent John C. Duffy by over 800,000 votes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS_5973
Subjects: Ohio Government; Presidents and Politics; Ohio. Supreme Court; Supreme Court justices; Judges--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Calvin Pease (1776-1839) was the first postmaster of Youngstown, Ohio, from 1802 to 1803. He was also a Court of Common Pleas judge for the Third Circuit, and was elected to two terms on the Ohio Supreme Court from 1816-1830. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04025
Subjects: Judges--Ohio; Ohio History--State and Local Government; Ohio. Supreme Court
Places: Youngstown (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of politician Alphonso Taft (1810-1891) of Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as a superior court judge in Ohio from 1865 to 1872. Between 1876 and 1885 Taft held several federal appointments, including Secretary of War, Attorney General, Minister to Austria-Hungary and Minister to Russia. His son, William Howard Taft, served as both President of the United States and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03901
Subjects: Judges; Cincinnati (Ohio); Ohio History--Presidents and Politics
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Morrison R. Waite (1816-1888) left his home state of Connecticut to practice law in northwestern Ohio. Waite ran twice unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate and spent one term in the state legislature. Waite later declined a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. He served as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1874-88. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03903
Subjects: Judges; Lawyers; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Stanley Matthews (1824-1889) was justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1881 to 1889. A graduate of Kenyon College, Matthews was a common pleas judge of Hamilton county in 1850-1853, state senator in 1856-1858, and U.S. district attorney for the southern district of Ohio in 1858-1861. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03912
Subjects: Judges--Ohio; Other--Federal Government; Ohio--Politics and government
Places: Washington (D.C.)