Exhibit marks women’s suffrage centennial
ALBANY, N.Y. » With Election Day in the offing, the New York State Museum opened a new exhibit Friday focused on the fight for women to get the right to vote.
Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial will be on display through May 13, 2018, honoring the centennial of women’s suffrage in New York state and raising awareness of the struggle for equal rights through the present day. The exhibition features more than 250 artifacts and images from the collections of the State Museum, State Archives, State Library, cultural institutions and private lenders from across the state.
“As we celebrate the centennial of women’s suffrage in New York, we reflect on how far we have come and the fight that lies ahead to truly achieve equal rights,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa in a news release announcing the exhibit. “This exhibition is a learning opportunity for all of us, especially our children and students, to appreciate the immense contributions that women and men before us have made to champion women’s rights and how it is up to us to continue advocating for equity in our society, in our schools, and in our lives.”
In honor of the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in New York state, the museum will open the Votes for Women exhibition for visitors Monday, when the museum is normally closed, with a guided tour offered at noon. In addition, a public opening reception will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, that will also include a guided tour of the exhibition.
“New York passed state suffrage in 1917, three years before women were granted the right to vote nationwide with the ratification of the 19th Amendment,” said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. “The New York State Museum’s Votes for Women exhibit will help educate and inspire young people across the state and country about the importance of the women’s suffrage movement in New York history and American history.”
Votes for Women is organized into three areas: “Agitate! Agitate!” (1776 – 1890); “Winning the Vote” (1890-1920); and “The Continuing Fight for Equal Rights” (1920 to present). The exhibition begins with the stories of countless women and men who worked for equality in the late 18th and early 19th century, the 1848 women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls and the subsequent women’s suffrage movement.
Visitors will learn how powerful women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Morgan Wright helped lead the “Votes for Women” fight in New York and how New York state passed the referendum for women’s suffrage Nov. 6, 1917.
The exhibition concludes by exploring the continuing fight for equal rights since the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, including the Equal Rights Amendment and the nationally significant role New York leaders played in advancing women’s rights through the present day.
“New York women have led the nation when it comes to furthering women’s rights, from the suffragists of 100 years ago to the activists of today, and this exhibit is a powerful way to showcase our rich history,” said Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, chairwoman of the New York Women’s Suffrage
Commission. “I hope this exhibit will educate people about the great women who came before us and inspire visitors to continue the quest for equal rights. As we celebrate the upcoming centennial of women’s suffrage here in New York, we must continue to ask ourselves: 100 years from now, how will we be judged and what can we do to help create a more equitable society?”
Artifacts in the exhibition date from the 19th century and include:
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s writing desk (ca. 1855), on loan from Coline Jenkins, Elizabeth Cady Stanton family. Stanton’s writing was a powerful tool in the fight for women’s suffrage, and she would communicate her ideas in newspaper articles, addresses to conventions she could not attend in person, and speeches delivered by Susan B. Anthony.
• Susan B. Anthony’s alligator purse, on loan from the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House. The prominent women’s rights activist was known for carrying an alligator skin satchel in which she carried her speaking notes, pamphlets and a copy of the transcript of her 1873 trial for voting.
• Bloomer costume (ca. 1851), on loan from the Cortland County Historical Society. This bloomer costume, a symbol of women’s rights, is one of the few known surviving examples from the 19th century.
• “Victory in 1917” poster, on loan from the Howland Stone Store Museum. This poster was recycled from the 1915 New York state campaign. There is evidence of a “7” patch placed over the “5,” changing the date to “1917”.
• Votes for Women pilgrimage petition, 1912, on loan from the New York State Library. This petition was carried to Gov. William Sulzer on the first “suffrage hike” from New York City to Albany. It is signed by wellknown women’s rights activists including Harriet May Mills, Helen C. Mansfield and Mary Garret Hay.
• Bella Abzug Hat and dress (1970–79), on loan from the Museum of the City of New York. Abzug was a longtime activist and proponent of equal rights for women, including during her time serving as a congresswoman. Abzug was well-known for her hats and was often quoted as saying, “It’s what’s under the hat that counts.”
• Walkway Over the Hudson Women’s March banner (2017), from the New York State Museum’s collections. Featuring an image of the Walkway Over the Hudson bridge, the banner was carried by four women from Poughkeepsie who participated in the 2017 Women’s March.
The museum, located at 222 Madison Ave., is normally open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. For more information, call 518-474-5877 or visit the museum website at www. nysm.nysed.gov.