{{Short description|American reformer and suffragist (1868–1946)}} {{infobox person |name=Minnie Rutherford Fuller |birth_name=Minnie Ursula Oliver |birth_date={{birth date|1868|1|25}} |birth_place=Ozark, Arkansas, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1946|10|15|1868|1|25}} |education=Sullins College (MA) |occupation={{flatlist| *Farmer *broker *temperance leader *suffragist *lobbyist }} |spouse={{marriage|O. H. Scott|1882}}<br>{{marriage|W. B. Rutherford|1889}}<br>{{marriage|Seabron J. Fuller|1915}} }} '''Minnie Rutherford Fuller''' ({{nee}}, '''Oliver'''; after first marriage, '''Scott'''; after second marriage, '''Rutherford'''; after third marriage, '''Fuller'''; January 25, 1868 – October 15, 1946) was an American farmer, broker, temperance leader, suffragist, and lobbyist.<ref name="Kirk2010">{{cite book | editor = John A. Kirk | date = 2010 | title = An Epitaph for Little Rock: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective on the Central High Crisis | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | page = 117 | isbn = 978-1-61075-142-1 | oclc = 1058171247 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pyq_fqZbUAwC&pg=PA117}}</ref><ref name="Harper1922">{{Cite book|last=Harper|first=Ida Husted|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aX5KAAAAYAAJ&q=arkansas|title=The History of Woman Suffrage|publisher=J.J. Little & Ives Company|year=1922 |pages=16, 22|location=New York|author-link=Ida Husted Harper}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref><ref name="Ezell1971">{{Cite book|last=Ezell|first=John S.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&dq=%22minnie+rutherford+fuller%22&pg=PA683|title=Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|year=1971|isbn=0674627342|editor-last=James|editor-first=Edward T.|volume=1|location=Cambridge|pages=683|chapter=Fuller, Minnie Rutherford|editor-last2=James|editor-first2=Janet Wilson|editor-last3=Boyer|editor-first3=Paul S.}}</ref> She served as president of the Arkansas Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.).<ref name="Cherrington1926">{{cite book |last1=Cherrington |first1=Ernest Hurst |author-link1=Ernest Cherrington |title=Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem |date=1926 |publisher=American Issue Publishing House |location=Westerville, Ohio |volume=3 |via=Internet Archive |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/standardencyclop02cher/page/1059 |page=1059 |chapter=FULLER, MINNIE URSULA (OLIVER) (Mrs. MINNIE U. RUTHERFORD-FULLER) |access-date=31 December 2022 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Minnie Ursula Oliver was born at Ozark, Arkansas, January 25, 1868.<ref name="Cherrington1926" />
She was educated at Sullins College, Bristol, Virginia (A.M). She also studied at University of Chicago, at Nancy, France, at Florence, Italy, and at the Leipzig University (Germany), Harvard University, and University of California, Berkeley.<ref name="Cherrington1926" />
==Career== Fuller was an active worker for temperance as well as for other reforms. In spite of the duties necessarily connected with her vocation of farm manager and broker, she found time to devote herself to work for the betterment of others. In 1913, she accepted the position of president of the Arkansas W.C.T.U. Before this, she had been actively engaged with the Union as organizer and speaker and in other capacities, campaigning throughout the State, besides spending time attending sessions of the Legislature, seeking to promote the passage of various reform measures. Among these were the White Slave Law, the Juvenile Court, and several Prohibition bills. Under her presidency, the State W.C.T.U. membership increased and continued to grow.<ref name="Cherrington1926" /> As president of the State Union, she was an ex-officio vice-president of the National W.C.T.U.<ref name="Gordon1924">{{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Elizabeth Putnam |title=Women Torch-bearers: The Story of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union |date=1924 |publisher=National Woman's Christian Temperance Union Publishing House |page=260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_a-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA260 |access-date=1 January 2023 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref>
During the 1918-20 term of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, Fuller served as vice-chair of the Legislation Department.<ref name="TheRegister1920">{{cite book |editor1-last=Winslow |editor1-first=Helen M. |title=The Register of women's clubs |date=1920 |location=Boston |pages=10–13 |volume=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6n0fAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA13 |access-date=1 January 2023 |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref> In 1921, Fuller was a member of the commission appointed by the Governor of Arkansas to make a survey of the state's school system.<ref name="JournalofEd1921">{{cite journal |title=Educational news |journal=Journal of Education |date=6 October 1921 |volume=94 |issue=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8wBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA332 |access-date=1 January 2023 |publisher=Boston University, School of Education |location=Boston |language=en}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref> Owing largely to the resourcefulness and activity of Fuller, Arkansas obtained a Woman’s State Farm, State Industrial School, and its Commission of Charities and Correction.<ref name="Cherrington1926" />
A social activist, Rutherford Fuller was one of the founders of the Political Equality League (PEL).<ref name="Ezell1971" /> For Fuller, women's suffrage would help the passage of the kinds of reforms and community improvement that she supported.<ref name="Ezell1971" /> Fuller and Olive Gatlin Leigh testified in 1911 about proposed suffrage legislation at a Committee meeting held at the Marion Hotel.<ref name="Harper1922" /> Fuller was involved in the state's suffrage struggle of 1915.<ref name="Christ2020">{{cite book | editor = Mark K. Christ | date = 10 April 2020 | title = The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience During World War I | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | pages = 181– | isbn = 978-1-68226-126-2 | oclc = 1126792723 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ddrKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181}}</ref>
==Personal life== Rutherford-Fuller was married three times: in 1882 to O. H. Scott, Magazine, Arkansas; in 1889 to W. B. Rutherford, Little Rock, Arkansas; and in 1915 to Dr. Seabron J. Fuller.<ref name="Cherrington1926" />
Minnie Rutherford Fuller died October 15, 1946.<ref name="ANB">{{cite web |title=Fuller, Minnie Ursula Oliver Scott Rutherford (1868-1946), reformer and suffragist |url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1500940 |website=American National Biography |year=2000 |access-date=1 January 2023 |language=en |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500940|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 |last1=Venturella |first1=Karen }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Minnie Rutherford}} Category:1868 births Category:1946 deaths Category:People from Ozark, Arkansas Category:Temperance activists from Arkansas Category:Presidents of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union Category:Clubwomen Category:American lobbyists Category:Farmers from Arkansas Category:Sullins College alumni Category:Leipzig University alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Suffragists from Arkansas