The National Woman’s Party (NWP) is pleased to announce that longtime board member Lucy Calautti has assumed the role of National Woman’s Party Board President, effective May 18, 2016.

Lucy Calautti has had nearly 30 years of legislative and political experience in state and federal government, serving most of that time as Chief of Staff to Senator Byron Dorgan. Ms. Calautti has also used her extensive campaign experience to help women seek and win public office. Today, she is the President of Dakota Strategies, LLC.

“The NWP has been the leader and catalyst for women's equality at two great junctures in American history: women's suffrage and the Equal Rights Amendment” says Lucy Calautti, “and I'm delighted to lead the NWP in its next great mission— winning greater equality for women through education and civic engagement.”

The home and headquarters for women’s suffragist, human rights activist, and founder of the National Woman’s Party Alice Paul, the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum was designated America’s newest national park site by Presidential Proclamation, April12, 2016. The Board of Directors agreed that this was an ideal time to honor this historic event and party founder by renaming the house, the Belmont- Paul Women’s Equality National Monument after benefactor Alva Belmont and party founder Alice Paul.  The National Woman’s Party will continue to operate from the house and maintain ownership of the archival collection and all intellectual property associated with our story. Additionally the NWP will continue to convene a robust calendar of public programs around the ongoing quest for women’s equality. 

The National Woman’s Party archival collection that documents the work of the party is among the finest and most complete collections of the suffrage and equal rights movements in our Nation.  The Florence Bayard Hilles Research Library that houses the archival collection was the first feminist library in the nation and is sought out as a repository for primary documents by many noted scholars, academics, and students.

For more than sixty years, the trail-blazing National Woman’s Party utilized the strategic location of the house to lobby for women’s political, social, and economic equality.  Today, visitors from across the United States and many other countries tour the house and explore the collection for inspiration and to learn about how American women influenced social change.  As a unit of the National Park System, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument will benefit fully from the agency’s resources for historical sites.

While establishing the national monument occurred through an executive action, there have been Congressional efforts to permanently honor and safeguard the site since 1974.  Most recently, in the current 114th Congress, Senators Mikulski (D-MD) and Capito (R-WV) introduced the Sewall-Belmont House Act of 2015 (S. 1975) in August 2015 to “establish the Sewall-Belmont House National Historic Site as a unit of the National Park System (NPS).”  This bipartisan bill is supported by more than two-thirds of all current female senators.

About the House: An Affiliated Site of the National Park System since 1974, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument is now operated by the National Park System and by the National Woman’s Party (NWP), a nonprofit 501(c) (3) educational organization.  Additionally, the House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was one of the first four National Treasures designated by the original Save America’s Treasures legislation—along with the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Star Spangled Banner. The Alice Award is presented annually, named for Alice Paul—suffragist, human rights activist, and founder of the National Woman’s Party—the Alice Award honors a distinguished woman who has made an outstanding contribution in breaking barriers and setting new precedents for women. 2015 recipients were Senator Patty Murray and Senator Lisa Murkowski.  Sheila Johnson was honored with the 2015 Voice for Women Award.  2016 awards will be presented later this month to Senator Barbara Boxer and to Senator Shelley Moore Capito.