Additional Examples – Mount Holyoke Votes

Florence Tuttle’s Sash and Louise Dunbar’s Dress

A mannequin angled slightly to the right wears an ecru cotton dress and a “Votes For Women” sash. The dress has a high square neck and elbow-length sleeves, both trimmed with lace. This lace continues vertically down the bodice with pintucking along the sides and narrows at a high waist with two lace rosettes. The lace is continued down the skirt with two decorative strips attached at the waist; they end above the knee in decorative tassels. The white sash is pinned diagonally at the right shoulder and left hip with black paper letters spelling “Votes For Women.” The letters are hand-cut and obviously imperfect. The sash is slightly creased between “For” and “Women” and the paper ‘W’ is beginning to pull up from the sash in some places where it was folded. — ^{_{Sash of Florence Tuttle, Class of 1916, and dress of Louise Dunbar, Class of 1916}}

Handmade Votes for Women Sash, 1916

This sash belonged to Florence Tuttle, Class of 1916, an active member of the National College Equal Suffrage League serving in multiple leadership roles. She and two classmates handcrafted their sashes for Suffrage Day and marched in a band. Florence (left in band photo) and her sash are clearly visible because of the unique hand-cut letters.

Dress of Louise Dunbar, Class of 1916, ca. 1912

This cotton batiste dress belonged to Louise Dunbar, President of the Equal Suffrage League. It was likely worn for a high school graduation before her time at Mount Holyoke, though it would have been similar to dresses she wore for special occasions at college.

Florence Tuttle wearing her sash, ca. 1916

Three students wear triangular paper hats, sweaters over white dresses, and “Votes For Women” sashes pinned across their chests. Florence Tuttle stands at the left playing the bugle.

Louise Dunbar wearing her dress, 1912

Louise Dunbar wearing the dress circa. 1912. Her hair is loosely pulled back and seems to be tied with a very large white bow. In addition to the dress, she wears a pair of white slippers, white stockings, elbow-length white gloves, and a bracelet on her left wrist. In her gloved hands she holds either end of a closed hand fan below her waist. A long satin ribbon trails from the end of the fan to the ankle-length hem of her dress. The dress is evidently the same as the one on the mannequin, albeit in better condition.

Louise Dunbar wearing the dress circa. 1912. The dress is evidently the same as the one on the mannequin, albeit in better condition.

Why Women Should Vote, Alice Stone Blackwell, 1904

Black typewritten text on brown paper — ^{_{Why Women Should Vote, Alice Stone Blackwell, 1904. Click on the image to read the entire document.}}

Alice Stone Blackwell was a prominent feminist, suffragist, and journalist during her lifetime. In this pamphlet published by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Blackwell outlines 16 reasons why women should be granted the right to vote. Many of her arguments focus on how women’s suffrage would improve women’s lives as well as other areas of society.

Pro-Suffrage Flyers, 1906

Distributed by the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1916, these flyers, originally sized 5” x 7”, were created to spread awareness for the cause in a convenient handheld size. They contained information about the main tenets of the suffrage movement, the states in which women had full or partial suffrage, and rebuttals against anti-suffrage arguments.

Votes for Women Valentine, 1916

An illustration of a cherubic little girl dressed in a blue dress with red polka dots looks up from under her lashes. She holds the wooden handle of a cube-shaped sign in two chubby fists and braces it against her left shoulder. On the sign’s two visible panels is written “Votes for Women” and “Vote for me for a Valentine” in red text, with a heart below the latter. Her large white bonnet tied with a yellow ribbon masks the lower portion of the sign. Her torso is angled slightly toward the viewer but her feet, in black Mary Jane shoes and white socks, point left, as if she is in the midst of marching.

Suffragists used valentines and other holidays to spread their message to as many men as they could, since men would ultimately be the ones to write and pass a voting rights amendment. February 14th would later become a significant day for suffragists because the League of Women Voters was founded on that day in 1920.

Students Dressed as Political Candidates, ca. 1916

Before 1920, Mount Holyoke students held mock campaigns and elections in which they dressed up as the presidential candidates of that election year. These photos show students dressed as various figures from the 1916 national election including Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes, as well as a donkey and an elephant to represent the Democrat and Republican parties.