Anonymous was a Woman

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman"

The quote above, adapted from a line by writer Virginia Woolf, epitomizes the place of women’s stories in the historical record. Click on thumbnails in the image gallery below to view photographs from the Hubert Jones Glass Plate Collection. These are a few of many anonymous portraits preserved at the Austin History Center. They are a reminder of how women had to rise out of obscurity to claim a place in the political sphere. The struggle to gain the right the vote and then hold elected office began among women like these, whose stories are largely lost.

[Unidentified Woman], circa 1860s-1890s, J276, Hubert Jones Glass Plate Collection