DOCSLIB.ORG

Voices of Rebellion: Gilded Age Suffragists, 1870-1920 Karma

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Voices of Rebellion: Gilded Age Suffragists, 1870-1920 Karma Voices of Rebellion: Gilded Age Suffragists, 1870-1920 Karma Bromwell Junior Division Historical Paper: 2445 Words Process Paper: 500 Words Process Paper August 26, 2020 was the one-hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting the constitutional right to vote for American women. Throughout the country, celebrations focused on efforts of suffragists who worked for over 72 years to win the right to vote in 1920. Excited by this momentous event, I wanted to identify women who were key players in the women’s suffrage movement and to help keep their stories alive. At critical points in our nation’s history, exchange of information was key, influencing sentiments resulting in the passage of the amendment. Because voting is a primary method used to voice opinions about the destiny of the country, my topic directly ties into “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.” Initially, I brainstormed, then researched topics associated with the Nineteenth Amendment. I thought critically and concluded communication isn’t just verbal, but includes images, symbols, and the written word. Suffragists used all of these methods to gain attention and convince American men to ratify the amendment. It was essential to separate fact, fiction, and myth in the suffrage tales. This exploration verified women were historically denied access to higher education. My excitement piqued when I discovered Katherine Dexter McCormick, a socialite, used her prestige and money to force Massachusetts Institute of Technology to admit women into their programs and provide housing. She was also actively involved in the suffrage movement and the crusade to allow women control over their bodies. My investigation revealed McCormick, and many other socialites, invested in a variety of philanthropic endeavors that laid the foundation for the women’s rights movement. 2 I enjoyed studying about suffragists who worked tirelessly to assist disenfranchised American women. In addition to reading numerous books on the women’s movement, I visited New Mexico State University Branigan Library where I often consulted academic resources and used the Internet to access primary sources in the National Archives, Library of Congress, and newspaper archives. Finally, I consulted several books that directly tie to my thesis, while writing my paper using Microsoft Word. My research led me to conclude that the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment was primarily due to the involvement of wealthy women who took up the cause when it was floundering in the early 1900s. Without Gilded Age socialites leveraging their prestige and monies, it is dubious that the amendment would have been ratified. These women used their voices, celebrity status, and resources to create a cohesive network of individuals who were committed to voting, and thereby improving society. Wealthy suffragists such as Katherine Duer Mackay, Louisine Havemeyer and Mary Cassatt shaped history that brought about societal changes leading to the women's rights movement in the nineteenth century and the feminist movements during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Their efforts further supported equal access to education, fair employment and equitable wages, equality within marriage, child custody, and reproductive rights. Efforts to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment facilitated broad- spectrum reforms, supported by law, that continue to provide women opportunities to pursue an equal place in society. “Philanthropy lies at the heart of women’s history.” --Kathleen D. McCarthy1 Without the committed intercession of socialites who actively fought for women’s right to vote, it is highly doubtful the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution would have been ratified. The wealth of gilded age suffragists amplified the voices of women throughout the country and delivered their right to vote. Just as Alexander Hamilton asserted in Federalist 12, “a nation cannot long exist without revenues,” contending an independent and consistent revenue stream is necessary for political independence, the struggle for women’s suffrage was dependent upon steady and sufficient monies.2 In 1776, Abigail Adams cautioned her husband to “Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.... If particular care and attention is not paide to the Laidies we are determined to forment a Rebelion and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”33 Despite the plea, it was not until August 26, 1920 that American women won the right to vote. 1 Kathleen D McCarthy. Lady Bountiful: Women, Philanthropy, and Power, (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, November 1, 1990), x. 2 The Federalist No. 12, [27 November 1787],” Founders Online, National Archives and Records Administration, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0165. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 4, January 1787 – May 1788, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, pp. 346–352.], (Accessed Dec 18, 2020). 3 “Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives and Records Administration, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0241. [Original1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 369–371.], (Accessed Dec 18, 2020). 2 Indeed, Abigail Adams’ prediction of a “formented Rebelion” occurred and was funded through the efforts of privileged women who leveraged their social standing and wealth for political gain. In 1890, eleven million Americans earned less than $1200 a year and the average annual income was $380, yet a small elite group in society enjoyed untold wealth and power; opportunities for leisure and extravagance were seized by the ruling class.4 One might question why wealthy women courageously committed themselves to support suffrage and catalyze an equitable society through philanthropy, especially when their actions were met with vehement animosity and sarcastic accusations of dilettantism.5 While the actual intentions of any group may not be adequately ascertained, one can speculate as to the reasoning and find answers within the lives and communiques of these socialites who used their privileged positions to improve the lives of women, including those significantly less fortunate than themselves. The historian Eric Homberger has suggested glitterati such as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Florence Jaffray “Daisy” Harriman, Miriam Leslie, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, Charlotte Anita Whitney, and Katherine 4 “Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in the World: The Gilded Age,” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-gilded/ (Accessed November 20, 2020). 5 “Our Suffrage Movement Is Flirtation on a Big Scale”, New York Times, May 27, 1913, 10, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/05/27/issue.html; and “Suffragists’ Appeal,” (New York Times, May 27, 1913,): 10, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/05/27/issue.html, (Accessed December 29, 2020). 3 Duer Mackay became activists because they believed it was “the prerogative of the elite to speak for the poor.”6 It has further been suggested by the historian Johanna Neuman: For women of the gilded set, modernity meant jettisoning old social customs....in favor of education, career, and independence.... Instead they made a bid for influence --- not the moral suasion of motherhood or the indirect power of social standing, but the political influence of the men of their class, long denied them because of their gender.7 Other than a desire for social change, there was no universal reason why these socialites threw themselves into “the cause”; some idle rich women were motivated by progressive ideals, while other women simply felt political enfranchisement would protect their class privilege. Prior to the Gilded Age8, wealthy women did not attend college, but were taught by private tutors, and then enhanced their education by traveling through Europe to master the languages, paint images of the landscapes, and wed an affluent husband. It was on one of these tours Louisine Elder Havemeyer met the artist Mary Cassatt, who introduced her to the works of Edgar Degas and other impressionists. Louisine met Mary in France when she was fourteen, and 6 Eric Homberger, The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City’s History (New York: Macmillan, 2005), 231. 7 Johanna Neuman, “Introduction.” In Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women’s Right to Vote, 1st ed., (New York, New York: Washington Mews Books, 2017,) 2-3. 8 Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. "Gilded Age," https://www.britannica.com/event/Gilded-Age, (Accessed January 3, 2021). 4 they quickly became close friends.9 Cassatt not only mentored Louisine in the nuances of art collecting, but also encouraged her to support the suffrage movement. Louisine readily embraced this suggestion, as her mother supported women’s suffrage and was a friend of both Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Burns, pioneer activists in the movement. Furthermore, while in Paris, Louisine became friends with Harriot Stanton Blatch, later the head of the Women’s Political Union in New York.10 Blatch was the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the main force behind the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention that demanded women’s rights. At the bidding of Mary Cassatt in 1912, after the death of Louisine’s husband, Henry O. Havemeyer, she lent her art collection to M. Knoedler’s
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The American Public Art Museum: Formation of Its Prevailing Attitudes
    Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1982 The American Public Art Museum: Formation of its Prevailing Attitudes Marilyn Mars Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the Art Education Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1302 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE AMERICAN PUBLIC ART MUSEUM: FORMATION OF ITS PREVAILING ATTITUDES by MARILYN MARS B.A., University of Florida, 1971 Submitted to the Faculty of the School of the Arts of Virginia Commonwealth University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of d~rts RICHMOND, VIRGINIA December, 1982 INTRODUCTION In less than one hundred years the American public art museum evolved from a well-intentioned concept into one of the twentieth century's most influential institutions. From 1870 to 1970 the institution adapted and eclipsed its European models with its didactic orientation and the drive of its founders. This striking development is due greatly to the ability of the museum to attract influential and decisive leaders who established its attitudes and governing pol.icies. The mark of its success is its ability to influence the way art is perceived and remembered--the museum affects art history. An institution is the people behind it: they determine its goals, develop its structure, chart its direction.
    [Show full text]
  • Objectified Through an Implied Male Gaze
    Lehigh Preserve Institutional Repository “Dear Louie:” Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer, Impressionist Art Collector and Woman Suffrage Activist Ganus, Linda Carol 2017 Find more at https://preserve.lib.lehigh.edu/ This document is brought to you for free and open access by Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Dear Louie:” Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer, Impressionist Art Collector and Woman Suffrage Activist by Linda C. Ganus A Thesis Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts In the Department of History Lehigh University August 4, 2017 © 2017 Copyright Linda C. Ganus ii Thesis is accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of (Arts/Sciences) in (Department/Program). “Dear Louie:” Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer, Impressionist Art Collector and Woman Suffrage Activist Linda Ganus Date Approved Dr. John Pettegrew Dr. Roger Simon iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. John Pettegrew, Chair of the History Department at Lehigh University. In addition to being a formidable researcher and scholar, Prof. Pettegrew is also an unusually empathetic teacher and mentor; tireless, positive, encouraging, and always challenging his students to strive for the next level of excellence in their critical thinking and writing. The seeds for this project were sown in Prof. Pettegrew’s Intellectual U.S. History class, one of the most influential classes I have had the pleasure to take at Lehigh. I am also extremely grateful to Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Woman Suffrage Debate 1865-1919
    Dialectic of the Enlightenment in America: The Woman Suffrage Debate 1865-1919 Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät für Sprach-, Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften der Universität Regensburg vorgelegt von Frau Borislava Borisova Probst, geboren Marinova Wohnadresse: Ludwig-Thoma-Str. 19, 93051 Regensburg Vorlage der Arbeit bei der Fakultät für Sprach-, Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften im Jahre 2014 Druckort: Regensburg, 2015 Erstgutachter: Herr Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat, Lehrstuhl für Amerikanistik, Universität Regensburg Zweitgutachter: Frau Prof. Dr. Nassim Balestrini, Institut für Amerikanistik, Karl-Franzens- Universität Graz Dialectic of the Enlightenment in America: The Woman Suffrage Debate 1865-1919 Table of Contents: I. Introduction: I. 1. Aim of Study…………………………………………………………………..…1 I. 2. Research Situation ………………………………………………………………9 I. 2.1. Scholarly Situation on Female Suffrage ……………………………10 I. 2.2. The Enlightenment in America…………………………………..……12 I. 2.3. Dialectic of Enlightenment in America………………………….……16 I. 3. Mothodology und Sources ……………………………………………………..18 I. 3.1. Methodology………………………………………………………….18 I. 3.2. Sources………………………………………………………………30 II. Suffragist and Anti-Suffragist Pragmatics of Communication II. 1. The Progressive Era, Women and the Enlightenment…………………………33 II. 1.2. The Communication of the Suffrage Debate: The Institutionalization of the Movements…………………………….……42 II. 1.3. Organized, Public Suffrage Communication………………………………43 II. 1.4. Organized Public Anti-Suffrage Communication……………………….….67 III. Enlightenment and Inclusion: Suffrage Voices…………………………………………88 III. 1. Isabella Beecher Hooker: “The Constitutional Rights of the Women in the United States” (1888)……………90 III. 2. Carrie Chapman Catt: “Will of the People” (1910)………………………………..104 III. 3. Further Suffrage Voices………………………………………………………….…114 III. 3.1. Suffragists’ Self-understanding…………………………..……………….115 III. 3.2. Rights…………………………………………………………………..…120 III. Suffragism and Progress……………………………………………………….126 IV.
    [Show full text]
  • Chefs D'œuvre De La Peinture Française Du Clark / Once Upon a Time...Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark
    Alison McQueen exhibition review of Il était une fois...l'impressionisme: Chefs d'œuvre de la peinture française du Clark / Once Upon a Time...Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12, no. 1 (Spring 2013) Citation: Alison McQueen, exhibition review of “Il était une fois...l'impressionisme: Chefs d'œuvre de la peinture française du Clark / Once Upon a Time...Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark,” Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12, no. 1 (Spring 2013), http:// www.19thc-artworldwide.org/spring13/mcqueen-reviews-once-upon-a-time-impressionism. Published by: Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art. Notes: This PDF is provided for reference purposes only and may not contain all the functionality or features of the original, online publication. McQueen: Once Upon a Time...Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12, no. 1 (Spring 2013) Il était une fois...l'impressionisme: Chefs d'œuvre de la peinture française du Clark / Once Upon a Time...Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Clark Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal October 9, 2012 – January 20, 2013 Previous venues: Palazzo Reale Milan, Italy March 2 – June 19, 2011 Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, France July 12 – October 31, 2011 CaixaForum Barcelona, Spain November 18, 2011 – February 12, 2012 Kimbell Art Museum Fort Worth, Texas March 4 – June 17, 2012 Royal Academy of Arts London, UK July 7 – September 23, 2012 It will also travel to Japan, China, and South Korea in 2013–2014. What is at stake in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute’s re-branding of itself? The exhibition and catalogue of nineteenth-century French art from the Williamstown-based institute that is currently traveling to three continents presents a new history to unsuspecting visitors: Sterling Clark, founder of the eponymous institute, was an autonomous collector who selected and acquired works with complete independence.
    [Show full text]
  • Winning the Franchise
    Please cite as: Spinzia, Raymond E., “Winning the Franchise – Long Island Activists in the Fight for Woman’s Suffrage and Their Opponents, Long Island’s Anti-Suffragists, 2018, revised 2021.” www.spinzialongislandestates.com W i n n i n g t h e F r a n c h i s e: L o n g I s l a n d A c t i v i s t s i n t h e F i g h t f o r W o m a n’s S u f f r a g e a n d T h e i r O p p o n e n t s , L o n g I s l a n d’s A n t i - S u f f r a g i s t s 1 ″Men who disapprove of Votes for Women are divided into two classes, those who are married to women who lack intelligence and who are prone to measure other women in the same bushel with their wives, and those men whose wives are so bright that the men are afraid to give them a chance at the ballot." Dr. George Edwin Rice, DDS Maywood, 407 Middle Road, Bayport [The Suffolk County News August 23, 1913, p. 4.] 1916 Since many of house numbers cited were from the early 1900s, please be aware that they may not correspond to the present day addresses. A n t i – S u f f r a g i s t s: Backus, Harriet Ivins Davis (Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Lucy Hargrett Draper Center and Archives for the Study of the Rights
    Lucy Hargrett Draper Center and Archives for the Study of the Rights of Women in History and Law Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library Special Collections Libraries University of Georgia Index 1. Legal Treatises. Ca. 1575-2007 (29). Age of Enlightenment. An Awareness of Social Justice for Women. Women in History and Law. 2. American First Wave. 1849-1949 (35). American Pamphlets timeline with Susan B. Anthony’s letters: 1853-1918. American Pamphlets: 1849-1970. 3. American Pamphlets (44) American pamphlets time-line with Susan B. Anthony’s letters: 1853-1918. 4. American Pamphlets. 1849-1970 (47). 5. U.K. First Wave: 1871-1908 (18). 6. U.K. Pamphlets. 1852-1921 (15). 7. Letter, autographs, notes, etc. U.S. & U.K. 1807-1985 (116). 8. Individual Collections: 1873-1980 (165). Myra Bradwell - Susan B. Anthony Correspondence. The Emily Duval Collection - British Suffragette. Ablerta Martie Hill Collection - American Suffragist. N.O.W. Collection - West Point ‘8’. Photographs. Lucy Hargrett Draper Personal Papers (not yet received) 9. Postcards, Woman’s Suffrage, U.S. (235). 10. Postcards, Women’s Suffrage, U.K. (92). 11. Women’s Suffrage Advocacy Campaigns (300). Leaflets. Broadsides. Extracts Fliers, handbills, handouts, circulars, etc. Off-Prints. 12. Suffrage Iconography (115). Posters. Drawings. Cartoons. Original Art. 13. Suffrage Artifacts: U.S. & U.K. (81). 14. Photographs, U.S. & U.K. Women of Achievement (83). 15. Artifacts, Political Pins, Badges, Ribbons, Lapel Pins (460). First Wave: 1840-1960. Second Wave: Feminist Movement - 1960-1990s. Third Wave: Liberation Movement - 1990-to present. 16. Ephemera, Printed material, etc (114). 17. U.S. & U.K.
    [Show full text]
  • Nevada Club Women and Suffrage
    NO POLITICS ALLOWED: NEVADA CLUB WOMEN AND SUFFRAGE ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University Dominguez Hills ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Humanities ____________ by Gail Duwe Summer 2018 This study is dedicated to the Club women in Reno, Nevada’s early Twentieth Century Club. Whether suffragists or antis, you stood out as strong-minded, articulate advocates for your cause. Diminished by history, it is time to recognize the indelible mark that members of early women’s Clubs left on the fabric of feminism. Early Twentieth Century Club member Miss Echo L. Loder left the following memorable note attached to the Club’s minutes from June 7, 1894 to April 30, 1897. This is a valuable book to preserve for future years when members have forgotten the history and want to look into the past. Mrs. Anna Wardin took care of the book for many years and handed it to me before she died. I feel that it will be safer to be kept in the steel locker in the basement of the Club house. Please keep it there? There always comes a time when people want to know the origins of organizations. A very much interested member, (Miss) Echo L. Loder ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the extremely helpful staff of the Matthewson--IGT Knowledge Center, University of Nevada, Reno; University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library; the California Historical Society; and, in particular, Karalea Clough and staff at the Nevada Historical Society. The assistance of these professionals was indispensable.
    [Show full text]
  • Family and Friends Portraits
    MUSEUM LEARNING: PLANS & RESOURCES Family and Friends Portraits Capturing people’s likenesses has been a prominent Standards subject matter in art for thousands of years. This VA:Cr2.1.6a Demonstrate openness in trying new activity will explore the connection between artist ideas, materials, methods, and approaches in making Mary Cassatt and Louisine Havemeyer, the mother of works of art and design. our founder, Electra Havemeyer Webb, and provide some tools for creating portraits of people important Resources to you. n Shelburne Museum exhibition catalog. Goals Mathews, N.M., Cassatt, M., & Cantor, J.E. (2008). Mary Cassatt: Friends and family. n learn about a special portrait by an important Shelburne Museum. artist in Shelburne Museum’s collection n Biography of Mary Cassatt, marycassat.org, n learn to create a portrait using proper proportions https://bit.ly/Cassatt-SM n create a portrait that is meaningful to you n Talking about and Looking at Portraits, The J. Paul Getty Museum, https://bit.ly/Getty3-SM Vocabulary n Art Term: Portrait, The Tate, https://bit.ly/Tate-SM Composition–the placement and arrangement of the elements of work on the canvas. n Mary Cassatt, Smithsonian American Art Museum, https://bit.ly/SAAM-SM Pastel–similar to a crayon. They are made of com- pressed oil or chalk pigments. n Mary Cassatt, Google Arts & Culture, https://bit.ly/Go Portrait–a representation of a person that often depicts an individual’s head and shoulders. Portraits can be created in any media. Mary Cassatt (American, 1844 1926), Louisine Havemeyer and Her Daughter Electra (detail), 1895.
    [Show full text]
  • AFD Ep 376 Links and Notes
    AFD Ep 376 Links and Notes - The Refined Sugar Trust (1887-1921) [Bill/Rachel/Kelley] - Recording May 23 ● Intro / political influence of the industry: Cane sugar is an ancient food product from southeast Asia. By the late 1400s, before Columbus’s expedition, it had become a popular and expensive luxury good in Europe, with cultivation beginning in the Atlantic islands belonging to Spain and Portugal. Columbus immediately expanded this into the Caribbean after his first voyage there, and both the Spanish and Portuguese made sugar one of the centerpieces of their colonial policies. The French and English followed suit with their own colonial activities in the Caribbean and North America, as well as in India and southeast Asia, where it had originated. Control of lucrative sugar production and also its refining became one of the major motivating forces in foreign policy and colonial policy for several centuries, from the European wars for control of Caribbean sugar hubs to the American imperialist policies for control of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Hawaiian sugar plantations in the late 19th century. Raw sugar production in the modern age was generally closely associated with some of the most brutal slavery in the world. By the time of the industrial revolution, European consumers of all classes had come to expect cheap, plentiful sugar that was no longer a luxury. Americans did too, and due to the mercantilist policies that resulted in the Triangle Trade, they had found themselves the major hub of sugar refining – the process of turning raw cane sugar into higher-value trade goods and consumer goods like table sugar, molasses, and rum.
    [Show full text]
  • View Pdfs of the Exhibit
    1920 - 2020 Women’s VOTE Centennial “Forward, out of error, Leave behind the night, Forward through the darkness, Forward into light!” - Inez Milholland Celebrating the anniversary of the 19th Amendment and working toward a future of equity, respect, and justice for all. 1920 - 2020 Women’s Suffrage in the Champlain Valley he legacy of women’s rights and the fight for suffrage in the Champlain TValley is a complex story. It is a tale of countless known and unknown women and men who fought for fairness and equality, while sometimes falling into the traps of injustice themselves. Women’s suffrage is not a story of linear progress that ended when women received the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. It is a cycle of progress and pitfalls that continues to this day. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Lake Champlain was a transportation corridor for the international exchange of goods, news, and ideas among New York, Vermont, and Québec. Each place had unique experiences with suffrage that were shaped by their local cultures, politics, and society. Major events in New York State—including the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention— often receive the most attention, but the hills and towns of New York’s North Country also played important roles in the movement. Across the lake, Vermont in the 19th century was both a bastion of progressive social and religious thought, and a sheltered and traditionalist corner of New England. Even more conservative was Québec, which kept women from voting in provincial elections until 1940. The suffrage movement was deeply linked to other progressive movements.
    [Show full text]
  • Art Collecting and Shaping Publics Around the Turn of the Twentieth Century: a Philadelphia Story
    ART COLLECTING AND SHAPING PUBLICS AROUND THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: A PHILADELPHIA STORY A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Brian Seymour December 2017 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Tracy Cooper, Advisory Chair, Art History Dr. Gerald Silk, Art History Dr. Erin Pauwels, Art History Dr. Philip Glahn, Painting, Tyler School of Art ABSTRACT My dissertation traces the rhetoric of two Philadelphians, attorney John G. Johnson and Dr. Albert C. Barnes, as they collected art with a specific public in mind, namely working Philadelphians around the turn of the twentieth century. The individual bequests and resulting legacy institutions of Johnson and Barnes serve as rich case studies to assess the efforts of collectors to control the reception of their respective collections by the public. These particular histories, exceptional in their own ways, are juxtaposed to offer an objective view onto previously understudied challenges to the status quo, mounted by a few collectors by way of unique discursive practices and the establishment of distinctive single collection institutions, in the formative period for American art museums around the turn of the twentieth century in Philadelphia. The focus is on the two men’s often shared, but eventually divergent, ideas pertaining to art and the public, which can be tracked to relevant discourses that informed those views. At stake in this investigation is the relative tension between the agency of the collectors and the repurposing of their individual collections by future publics. More plainly, the goal is to study the interrelated narratives of collectors, Johnson and Barnes, as they unfolded over the course of the long twentieth century with an eye to what is gained or lost from the unraveling of the deliberate plans left by the collectors, which in both of these cases, included relocating the art work from the original site, leading to coincident shifts in the manner of display and targeted audience.
    [Show full text]
  • Reclaiming Our Voice Levin G
    Women at NJ Women's Party headquarters in Newark doing both suffrage and war work. When the United States entered World War I, suffragists and anti-suffragists worked with the Red Cross in relief work, organized women to sew, knit, and prepare surgical dressings for the military, and, like the women in this photo, raise money in Liberty Loan drives. Suffragists believed their active loyalty and support would make woman suffrage inevitable. Reclaiming Our Voice | Carol Simon Levin | www.GardenStateLegacy.com GSL 47 March 2020 n March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams was minding farm, family, and Ofinances in Massachusetts when she wrote a letter to her husband John, a delegate at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia: I long to hear that you have declared independence—and by the way in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation . Abigail Adams (1744-1818) Two weeks later, on April 14, 1776, her husband replied that she was by Crina Magalio “so saucy” and he could not “but laugh” at her “extraordinary code of laws.” After commenting that freed northern slaves, apprentices, and the poor were demanding equal rights, he worried “Another tribe Abigail Adams and the other drawings of women's rights [women], more numerous and powerful than all the rest,” would also be activists are the work of some of the talented artists arguing for equality.
    [Show full text]