Women's Votes, Women's Voices: The Campaign for Equal Rights in Washington by Shanna Stevenson

Abstract

 OHQ vol. 112, no. 1 The volume’s first paper, by Don Hann, James D. Keyser, and Phillip Cash Cash, summarizes known ethnographic material regarding the purpose and function of rock art within the Columbia Plateau.Information from more than twenty Plateau groups is used to show that most of the rock art is probably shamanistic, and associated with personal spirit quest activity , while some is shamanic, the product of a religious specialist. In the second paper, David Kaiser examines the imagery of Plateau rock art from the perspective of neuropsychology, arguing that specific motifs may represent entopic forms “seen” in the altered states of consciousness experienced during the vision quest. Kaiser’s research focuses on a specific design element, the rayed arc, common to Plateau rock art, where it appears often as a “halo” over the human head. Three other papers in this volume are sitespecific in their content and include Keyser’s study of the rock art at Fisher’s Landing, in Clark County, Washington; a paper by Kaiser and Keyser on Rood Canyon Rockshelter,in the Blue Mountain foothills, eastern Oregon; and a paper on two sites in the Fremont National Forest, southeast Oregon, written by Keyser, Poetschat,and Johannes Loubser.Keyser’s documentation of the Fisher’s Landing site,largest in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area, is detailed and thorough. Assessing the function of the carvings,which include hundreds of cupules and a remarkable bedrock bowl in the form of a beaver,he reviews ethnographic data relating to the forms represented,and suggests a shamanic use of the site related to weather control and salmon migration. The Rood Canyon paintings provide a marked contrast to the Fisher’s Landing rock art. Here are rare examples of historic-period “biographic” art, including horse and rider images more common to the Northwestern Plains and frequently associated with depictions of warfare.Different still is the rock art from the Fremont National Forest, with its ties to the geometric imagery of the Klamath Basin.The focus here,however, is not strictly documentation and analysis but also the methodology of rock art conservation and restoration, including lichen removal. The final contribution, by D. Russel Micnhimer and LeeAnn Johnston, is a brief summary of newly discovered rock art from throughout eastern Oregon. With this final piece, we are reminded that now, nearly fifty years after the Lorings launched their project, sites continue to be rediscovered and documented , adding to our knowledge of this most ancient indigenous art form. Although specialized in content, Rock Art of the Oregon Country: Honoring the Loring’s Legacy will appeal to armchair archaeologists and professionals alike, and particularly those with an interest in Pacific Northwest Native art traditions. Richard McClure Gifford Pinchot National Forest Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices: The Campaign for Equal Rights in Washington by Shanna Stevenson Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, 2009. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. 127 pages. $24.95 paper. Every state should have a book like this one, although Washington State has played an unusually dramatic and influential role in the history of women’s rights. Stevenson’s book is one product of a remarkable initiative, the Washington Women’s History Consortium, which was established by the state legislature in 2005. Working through the Washington State Historical Society, and partnering with many other historical institutions in the state, the Consortium has collected an extensive amount of primary source material related to Washington women’s history, made it available on the web, and developed an exhibit  Reviews to commemorate the centennial of woman suffrage in Washington in 2010. This book summarizes these results in an attractive and readable format, supplemented by numerous images,timelines,short biographies,footnotes, and a bibliography. In addition to its appeal for general readers, it will be a great resource for teachers who wish to incorporate women’s history into their curricula. The first three chapters focus on the woman suffrage movement in Washington. Chapter 1 discusses initial efforts to win suffrage from the territorial legislature, the speaking tour of Abigail Scott Duniway and Susan B. Anthony through the region, the foundation of the first suffrage organizations, and changes in the legal status of women, primarily relating to...