| RARE & BOLDLY GRAPHIC AMERICAN SUFFRAGETTE POSTER, COMMISSIONED BY THE EMPIRE STATE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE, CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT’S GROUP, circa 1915 |
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| Web ID: | ws-140 |
| Available: | In Stock |
| Frame Size (H x L): | 49.75" x 37.75" |
| Flag Size (H x L): | 39" x 27" |
| Description: | |
| Extremely rare and boldly graphic Suffragette movement poster, with a golden yellow ground and dark blue text that reads: “Vote YES on the Woman’s Suffrage Amendment November 2nd.” There is a line and corner block border, in the same blue. Printed just inside this, along the bottom, is: "Empire State Campaign Committee, 303 Fifth Ave., N.Y, N.Y.” Also present is the "Union Bee," in the lower, right-hand corner, which denotes that the piece was produced with union labor and documents the location of manufacture as New York City. This is one of just 3 or possibly 4 examples of this poster that I am presently aware to exist. One survives in the Dobkin Family Collection of Feminist History at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, and another in the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke.* The Empire State Campaign Committee of New York, led by Carrie Chapman Catt (b. 1859, d. 1947), was instrumental in the push that brought the issue of suffrage to the voting block in New York State in 1915. Public support had been favorable in New York in that year, where the suffrage movement was 100,000 members strong, and polls predicted the likeliness of a win. In addition to New York, three other eastern states found the matter presented to their populous at the same time, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Although unsuccessful in all four states, Catt’s efforts, aided by others, paid off in 1917, when New York became the first eastern state to adopt suffrage. Brief History of Carrie Chapman Catt: Born in Wisconsin, Catt attended Iowa State College and joined the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association in 1887. She soon became an officer and in 1890 became a delegate to the newly formed National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), of which Susan B. Anthony was president. Catt became a driving force almost immediately, speaking at the 1890 NASWA annual meeting, and in 1892 was asked by Anthony to address Congress on the proposed woman’s suffrage amendment. Catt was chosen as head of field organizing for the NAWSA and in 1900 was elected to succeed Anthony as president. She served for 4 years, resigning in order that she may care for her dying husband. In 1904 she founded the International Woman Suffrage Organization, serving as its president until 1923 and afterwards, until her death, as its honorary president. Catt's leadership the suffrage movement focused on success in at least one eastern state, because previous to 1917, only western territories and states had granted women suffrage. Catt felt that state decisions were critical to success on the national level. In 1915 she was once again elected president of the NASWA and served until 1920, when the 1919 national victory, by way of popular vote, was ratified into law by way of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Success of the Suffrage movement came on the coattails of the U.K., where women obtained the right to vote in 1918. * A 4th may be represented in an image I discovered of an unidentified museum exhibit, though it could be either the Dobkin or Unger example. Mounting: 100% cotton rag mat board was covered in 100% hemp fabric with a twill weave, ivory in color. The mount was placed in a deep, cove-shaped molding with a rope-style inner lip and a dark brown surface, nearly black, with reddish undertones and highlights. To this a narrow, gold molding was added as a liner. The glazing is U.V. protective acrylic (Plexiglas). Condition: There are some small spots of staining. There are numerous fractures, some with associated loss. The poster was at some point mounted to cotton rag mat, by a former owner, most certainly with the intent to stabilize it. This poster is huge among its counterparts that enter the private marketplace. The extreme rarity of large scale, bold and colorful, Women’s Suffrage campaign objects warrants practically any condition. For these reasons, and because it presents so beautifully, the impact of the losses and mounting on value are nearly mute. |
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| Collector Level: | Flags for the truest Patriots. My best offerings |
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| Earliest Date of Origin: | 1915 |
| Latest Date of Origin: | 1919 |
| State/Affiliation: | New York |
| War Association: | |
| Price: | Please call (717) 676-0545 or (717) 502-1281 |
| E-mail: | info@jeffbridgman.com |
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