Friends of Womens Rights

Friends of Women's Rights National Historical Park, Inc.

"Preserving the Past and Providing Inspiration for the Future"

The Friends of Women's Rights National Historical Park, Inc. is a Seneca Falls based not-for-profit organization committed to raising awareness and funds to insure that the Park is positioned to continue the work begun in Seneca Falls in 1848. Our vision is to insure in perpetuity the perservation of the Park for the inspiration and full achievement of equality for all. Our goal is to inspire individuals to support the Park dedicated to women's rights.

To achieve this end, the national Friends organization and its important local chapters engage in educational programs, fundraising for Park initiatives, preservation of Park historical sites, advocacy efforts and engaging in strategic alliances with otrher supportive organizations. Because of its significance to the positive development of girls and young women, this nationally-focused organization supports the critical mission of the Park. To be a "Friend" is to be an advocate of this important, historical landmark and all it holds for the future.

Please feel free to contact us with your comments and questions, and we welcome your support, whether through a financial contribution and/or possible future participation in one of our many, outstanding local chapters.

The History of Friends

The Friends of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park was formed in conjunction with Forum 98, a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1848.

Under the dynamic leadership of Nan Johnson, co-chair of Forum ’98 and director of the Susan B. Anthony University Center in Rochester, NY, Friends was established as a registered not-for-profit organization to raise awareness and funds to support the Women’s Rights National Historical Park and promote the concepts of women’s rights and equality for all. Our goal is “to preserve the past and provide inspiration for the future.”

Forum 98 brought together many of the nation’s most prominent women – academics, policy-makers, politicians, opinion leaders, feminist activists and writers – to serve as consultants for the presentation and consideration of the issues still facing women 150 years after the birth of the modern women’s rights movement. The conference was held July 13-17, 1998, in the upstate New York centers of Seneca Falls, Geneva, and Rochester.

The highlight of Forum 98 was the development of a new Declaration of Sentiments to serve as a modern framework for continuing the work of the women who created the first Declaration of Sentiments in 1848. In drafting their document, the women of Forum 98 considered the following questions:

What had advocacy for women accomplished since 1848?
What should the priorities be in working to achieve full equality and equality of opportunity for women in the 21st century?

The conference also endorsed resolutions calling for passage of a National Women’s Equality Act and ratification of the United Nations Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.