Government, Politics, and Reform

March on Washington Handbill

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln are all represented in the Museum's collections—by a surveying compass, a lap desk, and a top hat, among other artifacts. But the roughly 100,000 objects in this collection reach beyond the possessions of statesmen to touch the broader political life of the nation—in election campaigns, the women's suffrage movement, labor activity, civil rights, and many other areas. Campaign objects make up much of the collection, including posters, novelties, ballots, voting machines, and many others. A second group includes general political history artifacts, such as first ladies' clothing and accessories, diplomatic materials, ceremonial objects, national symbols, and paintings and sculptures of political figures. The third main area focuses on artifacts related to political reform movements, from labor unions to antiwar groups.

Date: 1910s

Clark Campaign Paperweight, 1912

date made
ca 1884
ca 1912
associated person
Clark, Champ
ID Number
1978.1021.01
catalog number
1978.1021.01
accession number
1978.1021

Woman Suffrage Paper Cup, 1915

This paper cup was made to support the unsuccessful 1915 Empire State Campaign for a referendum to add a suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution. Suffrage slogans and encouragements appeared on a variety of merchandise.Currently not on view
Description
This paper cup was made to support the unsuccessful 1915 Empire State Campaign for a referendum to add a suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution. Suffrage slogans and encouragements appeared on a variety of merchandise.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
ID Number
1979.0735.18
accession number
1979.0735
catalog number
1979.0735.18

Woman Suffrage Postcard

This postcard promoting woman suffrage shows an American flag with four stars representing the four states which had full suffrage at the time of its printing: Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896) and Idaho (1896).The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a p
Description
This postcard promoting woman suffrage shows an American flag with four stars representing the four states which had full suffrage at the time of its printing: Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896) and Idaho (1896).
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1910
associated date
1890
1910
associated organization
National American Woman Suffrage Association
ID Number
1978.2120.01
accession number
1978.2120
catalog number
1978.2120.01

Glass Hatchet, "Carrie Nation Wyer", 1913

By her own account, temperance reformer Carry A. Nation used rocks, a sledgehammer borrowed from a blacksmith, and a bar room billiard ball to destroy five Kansas saloons—before she took up a hatchet to destroy a Wichita, Kansas, saloon on December 27, 1900.
Description
By her own account, temperance reformer Carry A. Nation used rocks, a sledgehammer borrowed from a blacksmith, and a bar room billiard ball to destroy five Kansas saloons—before she took up a hatchet to destroy a Wichita, Kansas, saloon on December 27, 1900. Saloons were illegal under Kansas state law, but tolerated by officials. Explaining her choice of weapon, Nation recalled that the state’s “liquor interests” had nothing to fear from the usual temperance advocates, “but they were not prepared for a furious woman and a hatchet.” Her saloon smashings became known as “hatchetations”—a play on words coined by the publicity-savvy Nation.
Date made
1913
associated date
1913
ID Number
1979.0520.02
accession number
1979.0520
catalog number
1979.0520.02

Woman's Ostrich Feather Hat

Dating from 1910-1912, this woman's hat is trimmed with ostrich plumes. At the end of the nineteenth century, there was an ever increasing demand by hat makers for plumes, especially ostrich, to decorate women's millinery.
Description
Dating from 1910-1912, this woman's hat is trimmed with ostrich plumes. At the end of the nineteenth century, there was an ever increasing demand by hat makers for plumes, especially ostrich, to decorate women's millinery. With new legislative restrictions on hunting wild birds for fashion, ostrich farming became a successful enterprise in California, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, and Florida in the 1880s so that feathers could be clipped from the farmed birds to satisfy the American demands for hat making using ostrich feathers.
This hat is made of ivory silk and trimmed with plumes of a pale ivory shade. The underside of the hat brim is covered with black silk velvet. The ostrich plumes were extended by tying on barbs cut from other ostrich plumes. It measures 8.9 inches by 18.3 inches by 15.9 inches overall.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1910-1912
ID Number
1972.299884.008
accession number
299884
catalog number
299884.8

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
circa 1910
depicted
Burroughs, Nannie Helen
ID Number
1978.0342.059
accession number
1978.0342

Woman Suffrage Postcard

Invoking the American Revolution through the slogan, “No Taxation without Representation,” the postcard argues that America is now doing the same thing that it rebelled against by denying representation through voting to tax-paying women.The National American Woman Suffrage Assoc
Description
Invoking the American Revolution through the slogan, “No Taxation without Representation,” the postcard argues that America is now doing the same thing that it rebelled against by denying representation through voting to tax-paying women.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
April 12, 1915
ID Number
1980.0606.001
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.001

Woman Suffrage Postcard

Suffragists used holidays such as Easter to promote the cause of “Votes for Women.”The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser.
Description
Suffragists used holidays such as Easter to promote the cause of “Votes for Women.”
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
April 23, 1916
ID Number
1980.0606.056
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.056

Woman Suffrage Postcard

A popular anti-suffrage argument claimed that entering the supposedly masculine world of politics would take away from women’s femininity.
Description
A popular anti-suffrage argument claimed that entering the supposedly masculine world of politics would take away from women’s femininity. This postcard directly refutes that argument by giving examples of other tasks women commonly performed that, while by no means feminine, were not considered to take away from their “womanliness” in the same way that voting would not change a woman’s fundamental character.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1915
associated institution
National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company Incorporated
ID Number
1979.0939.70
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.70

Woman Suffrage Postcard

Women’s need of the vote to better look after their children and their world is invoked by many suffrage postcards.
Description
Women’s need of the vote to better look after their children and their world is invoked by many suffrage postcards. They invoked the Progressive Era’s belief in “social housekeeping.” The logical extension of women’s ability to clean and order their homes was to apply those skills to clean and remedy the ills of society.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
April 28, 1913
ID Number
1979.0939.32
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.32

Woman Suffrage Postcard, c. 1915

Some postcards used images of children to project a nonthreatening image of women voters.The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser.
Description
Some postcards used images of children to project a nonthreatening image of women voters.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
associated date
1915
associated institution
National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company Incorporated
ID Number
1979.0939.28
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.28

Woman Suffrage Postcard

Suffragists used holidays like Valentine’s Day to promote the cause of “Votes for Women.” This card appeals to men for support for suffrage by suggesting that women respect and love men who support the cause.The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campai
Description
Suffragists used holidays like Valentine’s Day to promote the cause of “Votes for Women.” This card appeals to men for support for suffrage by suggesting that women respect and love men who support the cause.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
February 12, 1916
ID Number
1980.0606.047
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.047

1920

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1915 06 13
1920
ID Number
1980.0606.044
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.044

1905 - 1910 Presbyterian Ladies Society Patriotic Banner

This is one of two banners or wall hangings made in the late 19th-early-20th century by the Ladies Society of the First Presbyterian Church, New York City, as a fundraising project.
Description
This is one of two banners or wall hangings made in the late 19th-early-20th century by the Ladies Society of the First Presbyterian Church, New York City, as a fundraising project. The donor referred to them as “Autograph Quilts” as they contain many signatures of prominent political personages of the period. The banners belonged to her husband’s grandmother, Margaret Clarke Goodall Bradley, and were donated in her memory. This banner, made about 10 years after a similarly designed banner, was also raffled as a fundraiser, possibly for a 1919 addition of a chancel to the church. Although she did not win the raffle, it was presented to Margaret Bradley because of “her efforts for the projects.”
Similar in design to an earlier (about 1890) banner made by the same group, it has a black satin ground with an appliquéd American flag made of red silk and white satin ribbon and a printed 46-star flag. Inked signatures of Theodore Roosevelt (president 1901-1909) and his cabinet members are on the flag. The center 6 ¾-inch blue silk circle is embroidered "E PLURIBUS UNUM.” It is surrounded by 47 rays representing 46 states (one ray is empty). Utah and New Mexico had joined the Union since the earlier banner had been made. Made of red and white silks, each ray has the name of a state and inked signature of the governor at that time.
The patriotic center is enhanced with appliquéd and embroidered flags of many nations. Some of these have pencil or ink signatures, over 300 in total. Seven metal rings are sewn to the banner's top edge, an indication that it was meant to be hung. It does not have a lining.
The donor recalled in a letter that she remembered hearing that the quilts and banners were “a money-making project, and all the ladies of the church participated in the assembling of the ‘Autograph-Swatches’ and the stitching and embroidery. The signatures on the flags were probably by members and friends of the congregation, (and possibly charged a small fee for the privilege) and when the quilts were completed they were raffled off.”
Margaret J. Clarke was born December 1858 to John and Matilda McKinney Clarke in New York City. Her parents were born in Ireland. She married Edward F. Goodall on September 18, 1877. He was killed by a train in 1880 and she married Samuel Bradley on February 25, 1885. She died November 21, 1929, in New York.
Margaret's daughter Louise, from her first marriage, married John Gordon Noakes. Their son, Donald Gordon Noakes, married Emilie, the donor. He died in 1948 and Emilie later married John Manley. In 1979 Emilie Noakes Manley gave the quilts to the Museum in honor of the family and Margaret Clarke Goodall Bradley. Another granddaughter, Marjorie Blampied, wrote that the quilts “. . . most certainly are where they belong . . . where they will be treasured and appreciated.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1905-1910
maker
unknown
ID Number
1979.1019.02
catalog number
1979.1019.02
accession number
1979.1019

Woman Suffrage Postcard

Women countered the argument that they were too pure for the dirty business of politics by invoking the Progressive Era’s belief in “social housekeeping.” The logical extension of women’s ability to clean and order their homes was to apply those skills to clean and remedy the ill
Description
Women countered the argument that they were too pure for the dirty business of politics by invoking the Progressive Era’s belief in “social housekeeping.” The logical extension of women’s ability to clean and order their homes was to apply those skills to clean and remedy the ills of society. Some postcards used images of children to project a nonthreatening image of women voters.
The postcard was part of a 1911 campaign for suffrage in California, which by a state-wide referendum in that year became the sixth state to approve woman’s suffrage.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
associated date
1915
associated institution
National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company Incorporated
ID Number
1979.0939.59
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.59

Woman Suffrage Postcard

The postcard’s map illustrates the types of local, state, and national suffrage available to women at the time it was printed.The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser.
Description
The postcard’s map illustrates the types of local, state, and national suffrage available to women at the time it was printed.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913
associated date
1913
associated institution
National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company Incorporated
ID Number
1979.0939.24
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.24

Woman Suffrage Postcard

Women’s need of the vote to better look after their children and their world is invoked by many suffrage postcards.
Description
Women’s need of the vote to better look after their children and their world is invoked by many suffrage postcards. They recalled the Progressive Era’s belief in “social housekeeping.” The logical extension of women’s ability to clean and order their homes was to apply those skills to clean and remedy the ills of society.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
associated date
1915
associated institution
National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company Incorporated
ID Number
1979.0939.67
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.67

Woman Suffrage Postcard, c. 1917

The postcard challenges the United States to keep pace with Canada in its treatment of woman suffrage.
Description
The postcard challenges the United States to keep pace with Canada in its treatment of woman suffrage. It contrasts the less democratic attitudes of the “republic” of the United States with those of the “monarchy” of Canada.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1917
associated date
1917
ID Number
1979.0939.57
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.57

Anti-Woman Suffrage Postcard

An anti-suffrage postcard.Currently not on view
Description
An anti-suffrage postcard.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1916 02 14
ID Number
1980.0606.053
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.053

Woman Suffrage Postcard

“Votes for Women,” was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser.
Description
“Votes for Women,” was one of the most popular and recognizable slogans used by members of the woman’s suffrage movement.
The National American Woman Suffrage Association began a postcard campaign in 1910, partly to raise awareness of the cause and partly as a fundraiser. The cards could be funny, serious, or sentimental. Some employed powerful patriotic symbols and logical arguments to make their case for woman’s right to vote. Cards like this one emphasized the femininity of suffragists.
associated date
1915
associated institution
National Woman Suffrage Publishing Company Incorporated
ID Number
1979.0939.16
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.16

Woman Suffrage Postcard, 1913

Several different scenes of the 1913 suffrage parade and pageant were available on postcards, a popular souvenir.
Description
Several different scenes of the 1913 suffrage parade and pageant were available on postcards, a popular souvenir. The parade’s floats and marching sections represented women’s organizations and the progress of women’s rights.
On the day before the 1913 presidential inauguration, more than 5,000 women marched up Pennsylvania Avenue demanding the right to vote. Women from around the country came to Washington in a show of strength and determination to obtain the ballot. More than 10,000 spectators crowded the parade route. Some were simply boisterous, but others were hostile. They spilled past the barriers and off the sidewalks, clogging Pennsylvania Avenue. Police officers were unable or unwilling to hold back the crowds and after the first four blocks the parade stalled as the marchers couldn’t pass through the mob. A cavalry unit from Fort Myer was finally called in to restore order and the parade finished hours late. The public was horrified, and a one-day event became an ongoing story, with demands for an investigation of the police department’s failure to protect the women.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1913
ID Number
1979.0939.21
accession number
1979.0939
catalog number
1979.0939.21

Suffragettes Procession Moving up Pennsylvania Avenue ...

A postcard of the Suffrage Parade on March 3, 1913 in Washington, DC.Currently not on view
Description
A postcard of the Suffrage Parade on March 3, 1913 in Washington, DC.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
March 3, 1913
ID Number
1980.0606.060
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.060

Woman Suffrage Badge, 1915

Badge worn to support a 1915 referendum amending the state constitution of Pennsylvania to allow woman suffrage. The referendum failed.Currently not on view
Description
Badge worn to support a 1915 referendum amending the state constitution of Pennsylvania to allow woman suffrage. The referendum failed.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1915
ID Number
1980.0606.160
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.160

Anti-Woman Suffrage Postcard

associated date
1910 11 13
Associated Name
Krebs, Susan D.
ID Number
1980.0606.016
accession number
1980.0606
catalog number
1980.0606.016

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