The National League of Women Voters was formed by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in response to the anticipated victory of the Woman Suffrage movement. This was achieved in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women nationally the right to vote. In 1919, NAWSA President Carrie Chapman Catt proposed the formation of an organization of women voters as a "mighty political experiment" aimed to help newly-enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters and "finish the fight." In February 1920, NAWSA held its Victory Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Knowing that the suffrage amendment would be ratified later that year, the Association reconstituted itself as the League of Women Voters. Having won the vote, women wanted to ensure that they were well-informed and would use it wisely.

At the 50th Anniversary Jubilee Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, in St. Louis, Missouri, Jane Brooks of Wichita, president of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association (KESA), was elected chairman of the National League of Women Voters. She went home to Kansas and set about dissolving the KESA and establishing the first local League of Women Voters in the country.

A Lawrence chapter soon followed, and though few records were kept, The Lawrence Daily Journal-World reported on their activities. This coverage was not afforded to the League of Women Voters No. 2, an African American organization with 26 members led by President Lula (Carr) Irving and Secretary Gertrude (Taylor) Clark. The dissolution of the first Lawrence League of Women Voters in 1930 was possibly due to charges of partisanship or to the forces of the Great Depression making dues a hardship. Regardless, a new League of Women Voters of Lawrence was chartered in 1931. The name was changed to the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County (LWVLDC) in 1986. Nationally, the League of Women Voters became open to male membership in 1974.

The work of the league is twofold: first, a voter’s service, which includes distribution of nonpartisan information on candidates and issues, campaigns to encourage registration and voting, candidate meetings and courses in practical politics; second, the league program, which includes governmental issues selected by members for study and action. The league’s position on issues is arrived at by consensus in a drawn-out process, which starts at the local level with members’ discussions and ends when the national group analyzes answers to questionnaires on the issues sent to local groups. Areas to be included in the national program are chosen at the biennial conventions.

Local accomplishments of the LWVLDC include a 1945 ordinance requiring the pasteurization of milk, the adoption of a city manager style of government in 1950, and support for the creation of public transportation starting in 1971 that was realized in the Lawrence Transit System in 2000. The league continues to operate as a nonpartisan group promoting voting rights, education, and civic involvement.

[Information pulled from the collection, including a 1969 Lawrence Daily Journal-World article, and from the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County website, lawrenceleague.com]