A history marker: NM suffrage leader honored by plaque

Just steps from Hodgin Hall, where she worked as the first professionally trained librarian in the University of New Mexico’s history, a trailhead marker honoring the life and legacy of women’s suffrage leader Julia Brown Asplund will stand.

The marker is part of a national project, the National Votes for Women Trail. Started by the national nonprofit Women’s History Sites, the goal of the project is to establish and promote the preservation of sites around the nation where women championed the cause of women’s suffrage.

Born on Oct. 6, 1875, in Palmyra, Missouri, Asplund moved to New Mexico in 1903. She served as president of the New Mexico Federation of Women’s Clubs from 1914 to 1916 and helped organize an automobile parade of more than 150 women to challenge U.S. Sen. Thomas Carton, a New Mexico Republican who opposed the suffrage movement. She was also instrumental in forming the New Mexico chapter of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage, serving as vice chairman and playing a pivotal role in lobbying for the ratification of the 19th Amendment by the Legislature in 1920. The 19th amendment guarantees women the right to vote.

Outside of her role during the suffrage movement, Asplund served as the first female regent at UNM from 1921-1923 and was appointed as the first chair of the State Library Commission from 1941-1954, where she focused primarily on providing books in both English and Spanish to children.

Asplund died on July 26, 1958, at age 82.

In a Monday afternoon ceremony celebrating the trail marker, members of the League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico, UNM Board of Regents Historic Preservation Committee and UNM College of University Libraries and Learning Services came together to honor Asplund’s legacy and the installation of the marker.

“She was prominent in so many ways,” Jeanne Logsdon, a League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico board member, said of Asplund. “Her contributions were important in helping bring other women together.”

In addition, Yvette Tovar, a field representative from Mayor Tim Keller’s office, presented the League of Women Voters with a proclamation declaring that Aug. 26 would forever be known in Albuquerque as “Julia Brown Asplund Day.”

The marker is now one of the more than 2,000 spread around the nation and the 16th in New Mexico. With such a prominent location on UNM’s campus, League of Women Voters of Central New Mexico President Starlyn Brown is hopeful that students, especially female students, will stop and read about Asplund’s legacy and be inspired to learn more.

“I hope it sparks curiosity about the movement and why it’s significant,” she said. “They should have a lot of pride in New Mexico.”