Health and Medicine

Women’s Advocates

In the early 1970s, women across Minnesota calling a legal information telephone line told staffers that they were experiencing physical abuse from their partners. In response, a group of St. Paul women formed Women’s Advocates to connect these callers with emergency housing and information. In 1974, the group purchased a St. Paul house and transformed it into a groundbreaking shelter for victim-survivors of domestic violence. In the following decades, Women’s Advocates expanded the shelter, initiated education programs, and advocated for policy changes—all with the goal of breaking the cycle of domestic violence.

Women’s Advocates building, 2024

Children gather outside the Women’s Advocates building in St. Paul, 2024. Used with the permission of Women’s Advocates.

Information card for women experiencing domestic abuse

Copy of an information card, developed with input from Women’s Advocates, that St. Paul police distributed to women experiencing domestic abuse in the 1970s. From "Battered Women: The Hidden Problem," a report by the Community Planning Organization, Inc, 1976. Battered Women Resource Center, St. Paul Records, 1971–1981, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Program from a forum about battered women

Program from a December 3, 1976 forum about battered women in St. Paul. From Women’s Advocates, Inc., Shelter Records, 1973–1984, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Women’s Advocates house log

Women’s Advocates house log, 1975. This notebook and others like it were used by staff and volunteers to document information about shelter residents. From Women’s Advocates, Inc., Shelter Records, 1973–1984, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Women’s Advocates flyer

Women’s Advocates flyer created between 1971 and 1974. From Women’s Advocates, Inc., Shelter Records, 1973–1984, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Women’s Advocates buildings in St. Paul

The three buildings that make up Women’s Advocates Shelter, St. Paul. Photo by Emily Shepard, December 13, 2024. Used with the permission of Emily Shepard.

Death of Anna Salzer in Rochester State Hospital, 1897

When Anna Salzer died while a patient at Rochester State Hospital in 1897, her death was first reported as the result of heart failure after a twelve-hour illness. Later, the cause of death was changed to pneumonia. But another patient, Lydia B. Angier, reported details about Salzer’s death to officials, writing that “every day I saw her abused—shoved about—and on the last day actually kicked.” The incident reveals how abuse contributed to excess mortality among patients confined to insane hospitals at the turn of the twentieth century.