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Suffrage and Anti-suffrage Postcards

Imagine the first decade of the 1900s - a time with no e-mail and the telephone still a novelty. But a time when an interesting form of communication - the postcard - was experiencing it's "Golden Age." During the struggle for women's rights these postcards were a major means of advocating both for and against "woman suffrage." Pictured here are a few facsimiles of the suffrage movement postcards from the early 1900s.

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In 1909 a set of comic postcards about Women's Suffrage was produced that included this "Suffrage Madonna" and the "Uncle Sam, Suffragee" shown below.

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    The four stars in the blue field on this card represent the first four states to pass women's suffrage - Wyoming, 1890, Colorado, 1893, Utah, 1896, and Idaho, 1896.

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The writing in the lavendar ribbon across the bottom of the cards in this series reads "an ounce of prevention precedes a pound of coercion." The shield in the top corner has a blot on it and reads "The ballot is denied to women." Under the shield is printed "a blot on the escutcheon."

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    Rose O'Neil, most famous for her "Kewpies" drew several cards and since she was a suffragette herself, all of her cards were pro-suffrage.

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The mottos and caricatures were strong both for and against suffrage as indicated by the Uncle Sam in a skirt and by the message that "Any MAN who denies that WOMAN is not his equal mentally simply casts a slur on his MOTHER."

    In March of 1913 the National Woman Suffrage Association scheduled a parade march from the Capitol to the White House to coincide with the inauguration of President Wilson. Tens of thousands showed up and the U.S Cavalry had to be mustered to escort the marchers. This event was depicted on early photographic postcards.

Images of the above
postcards courtesy of Barbara A. Wilson


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© 1990-2006 Irene Stuber, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71902. Originally web-published at http://www.undelete.org/. We are indebted to Irene Stuber for compiling this collection and for granting us permission to make it available again. The text of the documents may be freely copied for nonprofit educational use. Except as otherwise noted, all contents in this collection are © 1998-2009 the liz library.  All rights reserved. This site is hosted and maintained by the liz library.

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