SALEM, OR -- A little-known piece of U.S. history is the focus of a new virtual exhibit on the Oregon State Capitol website. As part of Women’s History Month, the exhibit recognizes the nation's first female Governor, who served Oregon in 1909.

While Caralyn Shelton only served as acting Governor of Oregon, she got a lot of attention in her day. "She was intelligent, articulate, smart, recognized for her executive abilities," says the Willamette Heritage Center’s Kaylyn Mabey, who has studied Shelton for nine years.

Shelton's role lasted a long weekend. She was appointed by Governor George Chamberlain as he resigned to take his newly elected seat in the U.S. Senate. Curator Kylie Pine says Shelton simply held down the fort until the Secretary of State could be sworn in as Governor the following Monday, "It was three days. But it became more, almost a marketing stunt to showcase the ability of women to do things in politics."

Pine says her role as acting Governor garnered worldwide attention, "Women didn’t even have the right to vote in Oregon. It would be another three years before women were able to gain the right to vote, and nationally it would take several more years to do that. So, to have somebody serving as the highest executive office within the state was a really, really big deal." In fact, says Mabey, "It was coming on the heels of the fourth defeat of the referendum for the women’s vote. And it was a charge that George Chamberlain, the sitting Governor, was very passionate about and supportive of." She says he knew exactly what he was doing with the appointment, "He used this opportunity as a way to also put forth that idea that women can serve just as capably as men can in these higher government offices."

Shelton, who was originally from the eastern Oregon town of Union, later moved to Washington, D.C. to work with Chamberlain in the Senate. "What a beacon of hope she was to the women who were fighting for suffrage," says Mabey, "Not just Oregon women, who had just been defeated again by the men, but also across the United States and the world. Women were fighting for their voices to be heard and counted."

The virtual exhibit is a partnership between the Willamette Heritage Center and the Oregon State Capitol Foundation. See it HERE through May 31, 2024. 

Image of Caralyn Shelton: Willamette Heritage Center 2019.13.0008