Albany and Anti-Suffrage Labels

Exhibition Labels for Spotlight: Albany & Anti-Suffrage
MAIN PANEL
Spotlight: Albany and Anti-Suffrage
Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution granted all
American women the right to vote. But at the same time as they worked towards this goal
nationally, the women of the suffrage movement also waged a state-by-state campaign, and in
1917, New York became the twelfth state to give women full voting rights.
Today it may seem difficult to imagine a world where American women didnt have the right to
vote. However, a century ago, not every American woman wanted the right to vote. The years
leading up to 1917 were fraught with difficulty both political and personal for women on both
sides of this argument. And, ironically, while it was one of the earliest states to grant women
voting rights, New York was also in the forefront of the anti-suffrage movement, and Albany in
particular was considered a stronghold of anti-suffrage activity and leadership.
This exhibition tells the story of the women who first met in 1894 before the New York
Constitutional Convention convened, organized the Albany branch of the New York State
Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, lobbied to make their views heard in 1915, and
ultimately lost the fight in 1917.
The history of the Albany Institute of History and Art (known at the time as the Albany
Historical and Art Society) intersects with the anti-suffrage movement. In 1911 the annual
meeting of the association was held in this building. The husbands of many of the women
opposed to suffrage were officers of the museum. The Rice House wing of todays Albany
Institute facility, was during this period the home of Harriet Langdon Pruyn Rice, who hosted
politicians for lunch and dinner in order to persuade them to vote against suffrage. Her mother,
Anna Parker Pruyn, was the first president of the anti-suffrage association. The story of the anti-
suffrage movement in Albany can be told using the materials donated to the collection by
Harriet and her sister Huybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin.
SECTIONAL PANELS
The Albany Anti-Suffragists: Who, Why and How?
The Albany anti-suffragists (antis) were primarily conservative, educated, charitable women
who had the financial means, time and motivation to tackle one of the burning questions of
their day suffrage for women. They were single, widowed and married. They were college
students and they were matrons. If married, their husbands were often involved in business,
politics or were civil servants. They were often members of social clubs. These women relied on
1
the men in their lives to represent them outside of their sphere the home. They politely
lobbied the men to vote against suffrage on their behalf. Above all else they were sincere in
their concern for the preservation of what they considered to be traditional family values,
something they felt that suffrage for women would destroy. This exhibition highlights a few of
Albanys anti-suffragists.
In the Spring of 1894, a Constitutional Convention met in Albany to revise and amend the state
constitution. Article II pertained to suffrage and Section 1 began Every male citizen of the age
of twenty-one years, who shall have been a citizen for ninety daysshall be entitled to vote
Those with an interest in extending suffrage to women began lobbying to delete the word
male from the constitution. Consequently, anti-suffragist women formed protest committees
in Albany, New York City, and Brooklyn. On April 28, 1894, a group gathered at the home of
Anna Parker Pruyn at 13 Elk Street in Albany to outline a plan to let members of the convention
know that they were against striking out the word male. The convention adjourned on
September 29, 1894 and the revised constitution was submitted for ratification at the state
election later that year. The anti-suffragists were successful in persuading the male delegates
and the word male remained. After the convention, the protest committee disbanded, but
within a few months the suffragists were back in Albany with an amendment in the form of a
resolution to extend voting rights to women of New York. Unlike the antis, suffragists had been
vocal and organized since 1848. Albanys antis quickly regrouped to form the Albany Anti-
Suffrage Association with Mrs. Pruyn as the president and her home as headquarters. From
1895 until October 1909, the activities of the Albany antis overshadowed the doings of the
downstate antis.
Both sides in the suffrage debate used a variety of tools of persuasion to explain, promote and
defend their positions. In addition to meetings, rallies, and speeches, the print medium was
very important to communicate their messages in forms including pamphlets, books, postcards,
newspaper articles and columns, political cartoons and advertising materials such as trolley
cards.
Rose, Black and White

In 1912, anti-suffragists adopted the American Beauty rose as their emblem and the colors:
rose, black and white. Variations of rose and pink with black and white were used by the antis
as a recognizable symbol to promote their cause. Pink paper was used for letter writing
campaigns and handbills were often printed on pink paper.
Each rose on this wall represents one of the 8,000 women of the Capital Region over the age of
21 that signed a document, presented to the New York State Constitutional Convention on June
12, 1894, which protested against striking the word male from the state constitution. We do
not know the names of all 8,000 anti-suffragists, but we can identify 240 who were officers of
their organization in 1905.
2
Trolley Car Advertisement Sign

Unknown printer
Ink on cardboard, 1917
Albany Institute of History & Art, World War I Poster and Graphic Collection, gift of Cuyler
Reynolds, HW 81-20
The Albany Anti-Suffrage Association sponsored the printing of this card that would have been
placed in a trolley between two parallel horizontal rails slightly above eye level and just above
the windows. Each trolley held approximately thirty cards. By the first decade of the twentieth
century, a person could ride electric trolleys between Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga
and then transfer to local trolleys in those cities.
Anti-Suffrage Postcards
Dunston-Weiler Lithograph Company, New York
Lithograph on cardstock, 1909
Collection of Stuart W. Lehman
In the late nineteenth century, the picture postcard was an easy and affordable way to
communicate. Commercial publishers created postcard sets that illustrated both sides of the
suffrage controversy. These anti-suffrage postcards were part of a twelve card set featuring
cartoons of men performing what were then considered womens roles in the home while the
women were out on the town. They also featured cartoons of overbearing suffragists wearing
exaggerated fashions. The illustrations emphasized how a traditional household would be
endangered if women were allowed to vote.
Anti-Suffrage: Ten Good Reasons

Grace Duffield Goodwin (1869-1926)
New York: Duffield and Company, 1912
Albany Institute of History & Art, SpC324.623 GOO ANT 1912
At the time this book was published it sold for fifty cents and was advertised as: A brief but
authoritative statement of the position taken by anti-suffragists and the chief arguments with
which they fortify it. The best single-volume summary available at present. Author Grace
Duffield Goodwin, the wife of a Congregational minister, was interested in missionary work for
emigrants and young girls. She was President of the District of Columbia Anti-Suffrage
Association.
In the introduction, Goodwin acknowledges some merit to limited female suffrage, and that
women do endure injustices due to their lack of a right to vote (poor industrial working
conditions for women, and paying taxes and owning property with no voice in government).
However, she does not believe that these wrongs are serious enough to change the
3
government so drastically as to grant women voting rights. Suffrage is not an urgent issue to
her, and as such should not be pursued.
Her reasons include:

It would effectively double voting numbers, increasing corrupt voting
It is not a right of women, and would not improve government efficiency
The majority of women do not want it
Since women cant enforce the law (cannot serve on juries or military), they would be
irresponsible voters
Womens advancements have been made without the right to vote, so it is unnecessary
for further progress
Womens home and community duties would be inhibited by voting
To read the complete text of the book scan here:

QR code
I have no faith in the cause of suffragists.
William Croswell Doane in his library at 29 Elk Street, Albany

Gustave Lorey (1868-1937)
Reproduction
Courtesy of St. Andrews Episcopal Church
William Croswell Doane (1832-1913) was the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, a
position he held from 1869 until his death in 1913. During his forty years of service, he
worshipped, influenced, dined and traveled with Albany society. Among his most devoted
followers was the Pruyn family, notably Anna Parker Pruyn who also lived on the same block of
Elk Street. Even though Doane founded St. Agnes School for the education of girls in 1870, he
was opposed to suffrage for women. In 1895, The New York Times stated that he was one of the
prominent anti-womens rights men of the era. He carried his message through the halls of
the New York State Capitol, influencing lawmakers and to the graduating classes of St. Agnes
School. One of his commencement addresses is in the case below.
On December 30, 1912, the New York Press reported on the arrival of suffrage leader Rosalie
Jones and her marching army in Albany. The paper quoted Doane in the article: I have no
faith in the cause of the suffragists. The women are not as ill-behaved as their sisters in
England, but they are directed by the same impulsesThe suffragists who made the pilgrimage
from New York to Albany are a band of silly, excited and exaggerated women. Their sole aim in
4
making this pilgrimage, as they are wont to call it, was the attraction of attention. This
demonstration will not help their cause.
The female members of the bishops household shared his views on suffrage. His wife was a
member of the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, as was his granddaughter Margaret Doane
Gardiner who was an outspoken anti-suffragist.
The Womans Bible, Part I

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
New York: European Publishing Company, 1895
Albany Institute of History & Art, Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin Papers, gift of Huybertie Pruyn
Hamlin, AF121, Box 25, Folder 1
The Womans Bible was a controversial book by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a native of Johnstown,
New York and one of the founders of the womens rights movement. The book was Stantons
response to a Revised Version of the Bible published by the Church of England. She assembled a
committee to help her address biblical interpretation she felt was biased against women and to
bring attention to the parts of the Bible that discussed women. The first part was published in
1895 and covered the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible).
During her tenure as the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association
(NAWSA), Stanton used The Womans Bible to refute Bible interpretations demeaning to
women, while introducing her own radical ideas. One of these ideas was that the Holy Trinity
included a Holy Mother, to whom prayers should be directed. The Womans Bible was an
immediate commercial success, and became a best-seller, but it was also widely denounced
and attacked. The clergy called it a work of Satan, while religious women within Stantons
own movement were shocked at its nontraditional and sacrilegious assertions. Even Susan B.
Anthony expressed her disappointment in the book, asserting that it was a harmful distraction
from the movements goal. Stanton and the book were publicly condemned at a NAWSA
convention, and a resolution followed which formally dissociated it from the group. This
effectively ended Stantons influence as a womens rights activist, and for decades left her
pioneering and founding efforts in the movement forgotten. As progressive as it was The
Womans Bible, succeeded mostly in being divisive and counterproductive within the womens
rights movement and in the end helped the anti-suffrage movement.
To read The Womans Bible scan:

QR code
The Womans Bible (Pair of Leaflets)

Mrs. William G. Wallace and Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell
Published by the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, c.1895
5
Reactions to the publication of The Womans Bible were instantaneous and the anti-suffragists
wanted people to know how they felt so they published leaflets like these and circulated them
far and wide. The last line of one said that more copies could be obtained by writing to the Anti-
Suffrage Association, at 13 Elk Street, Albany. That was the home of Anna Parker Pruyn, the
Associations president.
To read one of these leaflets scan

QR code
a distinct foe of woman suffrage
Mary Magrane Glynn (1878-1948)

Samantha Littlefield Huntley (1864-1948)
Oil on canvas, 1909
Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase, 1987.19
Anti-suffragist Mary Magrane Glynn was the wife of Martin H. Glynn, who was New Yorks 40 th
governor, from 1913-14. Both children of Irish Catholic immigrants, they held opposing views
on suffrage. A resident of Albany for almost four decades, Mary Glynns life mirrored that of
other privileged women who had free time and financial means to assist in charity work. Among
her many roles the most interesting is that of a Vice President of the Womens Anti-Suffrage
Association of the Third Judicial District of the State of New York (Albany and Vicinity). She also
chaired the Supply Committee for the Albany County Red Cross Chapter during World War I.
Her nephew remembered his aunt as a most intelligent woman who read a great deal, was
interested in world affairs, politics and Albany.
In 1914, Governor and Mrs. Glynn visited Chicago. Their visit was covered by The New York
Times under the headline "Glynn Guest of Harrison" and subheadline "Mrs. Glynn Assails
Woman Suffrage."
On June 26, it was reported that:
Mrs. Glynn, in an interview, declared herself a distinct foe of woman suffrage.
"I don't think women should ever vote," she said. "The vote will never do them any good that I
can see. One result of it would be to lower them in men's estimation. Homes today are already
too complicated, without bringing in politics. Why, you would have women competing with me!
6
Think what the effect of that would be.
Women are not mentally equipped to cooperate or compete with men. I have seen very few
women that could survive such a test. Mind, I do not try to influence my husband along this
line. He is inclined toward suffrage. That is his belief. I am opposed to it; that is mine. If the
question of a suffrage bill comes up in our State I shall not try to defeat it. That would be
politics, and I don't believe in mixing in politics."
13 Elk Street, Albany, New York

Unknown photographer
Albumen photographic print, c.1900
Albany Institute of History & Art, gift of Harriet Pruyn Rice, MPC, Series 40, Box 2, #107
One of the most architecturally elegant and socially active homes in Albany, this Gothic Revival
rowhouse served as the headquarters of the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association and was the
home of its first president Anna Parker Pruyn. The first meeting of the group was held here in
1894. Thousands of pieces of anti-suffrage propaganda were distributed from this house.
Annas daughter Huybertie recalled in her memoir, An Albany Girlhood that on a large table in
our playroom were piled the many pamphlets and that often late at night Mother would walk
down the two flights from the library to the playroom, carrying her glass-shaded candlestick,
and pick out the articles needed. She would get them off in large envelopes in the late mail that
was collected soon after ten oclock by a mail man in a one-horse cart with two wheels.
In Memoriam
Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, 1909
Upon the death of Anna Pruyn in 1909, the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association offered their
condolence in the form of this statement that praised all she had done to further their cause.
the most potent and vigorous apostle the anti-suffrage cause has ever had
Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn (ne Anna Fenn Parker) (1840-1909)

Felix Stone Moscheles (1833-1917)
Oil on canvas, 1885
Albany Institute of History & Art, gift of Mrs. William Gorham Rice, x1940.649.1
7
Anna Parker Pruyn was the eldest of five children born to Albany judge Amasa J. Parker and his
wife Harriet Langdon Roberts. In 1865, Anna married widower John Van Schaick Lansing (J.V.L.)
Pruyn (1811-1877), who was twenty-nine years her senior. J.V.L.s political and civic
associations, along with his successful business dealings with the New York Central railroad,
established the couple as leading members of Albany society. Anna had been raised to believe
that her place in society was at her husbands side managing their home. J.V.L. died four years
after the birth of their second daughter leaving her a widow at the age of thirty-seven. She
never married again, but devoted the rest of her life to her children, church and charitable
organizations. In 1894, she became the president of the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association and
her home functioned as the headquarters. Anna remained president of the association until
1900 when she stepped down because of poor health, but she continued to provide the
principal financial support the group needed.
Special Anti-Suffrage Page

Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, c.1897
Reproduction
Courtesy of the Ann Lewis Womens Suffrage Collection
This special newspaper is a compilation of articles written on the subject of anti-suffrage and
includes the resolutions put before the New York State constitutional convention by Anna
Pruyn, the president of the Albany association.
Case with Pruyn materials
1
Harriet Langdon Pruyn (1868-1939) and Huybertie Lansing Pruyn (1873-1964)
Notman Photographic Company
Platinum photographic print, c.1893
Albany Institute of History & Art, Harriet Pruyn Rice Collection, gift of Harriet Pruyn Rice,
MPC, 40-32
Harriet and Huybertie Pruyn were the daughters of Anna Parker Pruyn and her husband John
Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn. Their parents were esteemed and wealthy citizens of Albany who
moved in prominent political and social circles. The two sisters followed their mothers lead and
opposed womens suffrage, and both remained anti-suffragists after their marriages. Harriet
moved out of the family home in 1892 when she married William Gorham Rice. Huybertie
moved away from Albany in 1898 when she married Charles S. Hamlin.
Like their mother, the Pruyn sisters were also prolific writers. No longer living in the same city
after they married, the sisters wrote many letters to each other, often noting events, activities
8
or people relevant to the anti-suffrage point of view. The Albany Institute is fortunate to own
much of the correspondence between Bertie (Huybertie) and her older sister Hattie
(Harriet) and their diaries.
2
Is Woman Suffrage Pro-German?
Issued by the Massachusetts Public Interests League of Anti-Suffragists
October 1918
As World War I played out in Europe, and Germanys determination to become a superpower
became known, an anti-German sentiment prevailed over America. Anti-suffragists believed
that pro-German, Socialist beliefs influenced the suffrage movement and thereby weakened
the United States. This flyer attempts to justify their point of view. It poses questions like:
Shall we women at home permit the cause for which they are laying down their lives to be
undermined by Germanys Socialist-suffragist-pacifist propaganda while they are gone?
Therefore it is not a surprise that Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin notes in her diary that the suffrage
amendment was passed and then adds The Pro-Germans at work no doubt.
3
Diary kept by Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin (1873-1964)
October 1917 January 1918
Tuesday Nov 6th. Election day & very

different from the intense excitement of
last year.
next page:
Charlie telephoned
from N.Y. about 9 that Mayor Mitchell (sic)
was defeated & the suffrage amendment
passed! What a miserable mess.
The Pro-Germans at work no doubt
A few weeks earlier on October 20, Huybertie recorded a visit to Beechwood, the Vanderlip
estate in Scarborough, New York. She noted that her hostess Mrs. Franklin Vanderlip (ne
Narcissa Cox) was very energetic & a great suffragist who hopes the Amendment will be
carried on Election Day. The next day she described the Vanderlip house and commented: no
9
room is homelike. To me it is another argument against suffrage. and added Mrs. V. has been
on the stump all over the state & apparently the house & children get along as they can with
the aid of a very valuable butler who seems to fill in the gaps.
4
Resolution offered by Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn to the Constitutional Convention of the State of New
York
Published by the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, 1894
In 1894, Anna Pruyn drew up a resolution to present to the members of the constitutional
convention listing the eight reasons which compel us to urge our earnest request that the
proposal to strike out the word male, in the constitutional qualifications of voters in the State
of New York, may not prevail. She was representing the newly organized anti-suffrage
association. The resolution included the signatures of 8,000 women, all gathered in one month.
5.
A Word of Appreciation to Mrs. Pruyn
Published by the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, April 1, 1901
In 1900, Anna Pruyn resigned from her position as president of the because of her health. The
association outlined Annas accomplishments in this leaflet that served as a public display of
gratitude to her.
6.
Harriet Langdon Pruyn Rice to her sister Huybertie Lansing Pruyn Hamlin
Albany, April 22, 1914
In the spring of 1914, the year he graduated from Harvard, Harriets son William Gorham Rice,
Jr. visited his Aunt Huybertie and his cousin Anna in Washington, D.C. William did not share the
same opinions as his mother or aunt. After receiving Huyberties report about the visit, Harriet
wrote this letter: It is kind of you to set up a young peoples dinner. He (William) ought to
enjoy these events. He does really, although his mind seems set on the intricacies of suffrage &
Socialism & Peace!
10
7.
Harriet Langdon Pruyn Rice (1868-1939) and her son William Gorham Rice, Jr. (1892-1979)
Platinum photographic print, 1917
Albany Institute of History & Art, Harriet Pruyn Rice Collection, gift of Harriet Pruyn Rice,
MPC, 40-58
Harriet Rice and her only child, William, chose to be photographed in the library of their home
at 135 Washington Avenue, Albany before William returned to France as a member of the
American Ambulance Service. (Today, the house is part of the Albany Institute of History & Art),
like her mother, Anna Parker Pruyn, Harriet was also an anti-suffragist. She lobbied for the
cause in her home, where she hosted lunches and dinner for men who could influence other
men to vote against suffrage. Her son, William, however, seemed to be in favor of suffrage,
despite his mothers position.
New York State Capitol

Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932)
Oil on canvas, 1907
Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase, 1989.29
Between 1894 and 1917, scores of women crowded the halls and chambers of the New York
State Capitol building to influence the men voting on their behalf about a topic that divided
them. Newspapers covered their activities. On March 9, 1910, The New York Times ran the
headline: Women Invade Albany. Suffragist Hosts and Antis Drawn There by Hearing To-day.
The following day, the Times ran the story Albany Besieged by Suffragists and Anti-Suffragists
and noted that: Albany was full of women, and there seemed to be an amiable, masculine
disregard for them in the atmosphere. A policeman, who helped the suffrage party just landed
from the train across the street, put it in words: Whats this? Votes for women? Sorry, but Im
not with you. In February 1915, the suffragists took possession of the Senate chamber,
while the antis were in the Assembly chamber, and scouts ran between the two chambers
before and after the meetings began carrying information of the doings of the opposing
forces.
When the women marched up the State Street hill, they would have seen the Capitol building
as it looks in this painting by Walter Launt Palmer, whose mother was an anti-suffragist.
11
Case
The Anti-Suffragist
Published by the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association
March 1911 and September 1911
Albany Institute of History and Art, Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin Papers, gift of Huybertie Pruyn
In July 1908, the Albany antis published the first issue of their quarterly magazine, The Anti-
Suffragist. Under the masthead, they printed their mission: Devoted to placing before the
public the reasons why it is inexpedient to extend the ballot to women. The magazine included
brief articles about anti-suffrage activities locally, nationally and internationally. It also
reprinted addresses delivered at legislative hearings by antis and offered rebuttals to suffrage
ideas. Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell served as the editor and Margaret Doane Gardiner served as
associate editor. The magazine was only published until Spring 1912 because Crannell was
traveling extensively in western states on behalf of anti-suffrage and couldnt devote time to it.
The Editor
Elizabeth Keller Shaule Crannell (Mrs. William Winslow Crannell) (1847-1936)
For the duration of The Anti-Suffragist magazine, Elizabeth Crannell served as the major
contributor and editor. She had already spent more than a decade working on behalf of anti-
suffrage as part of the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association. In 1896, the Albany antis reached out
to the antis in Boston, New York and Brooklyn and asked them to each send a representative to
the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. They didnt, but instead sent money to
help cover the cost of sending Crannell to both conventions to speak on their behalf. Her
speeches were reprinted and distributed by the Albany antis. Unlike the suffragists, the antis
did not have a pool of public speakers they could rely on so Crannell became a spokeswoman
for the group. In 1898, she spent three months in South Dakota and then Washington State to
help organize committees of antis. Two years later she debated suffrage leader Carrie Chapman
Catt at the Nineteenth Century Club in New York. For the next decade she was the most
traveled member of the Albany antis. In 1910, she gave the principal address at the annual
meeting of the Buffalo Association Opposed to Women Suffrage. She was born in Sharon
Springs, New York.
The Associate Editor

Margaret Doane Gardiner (1883-1958)
Image courtesy of the Aylward Family
12
One of the most outspoken anti-suffragists of the day was Albany native, poet and author
Margaret Doane Gardiner. Margaret graduated from St. Agnes School for Girls, moved to New
York City for a few years and returned to Albany after the death of her grandmother in 1907 to
keep house for her grandfather, Bishop William Croswell Doane, until his death in 1913. During
these years, Margaret became a well-known spokeswoman against womens suffrage through
speaking engagements and by the poems and letters she wrote to the editor of The New York
Times. Between December 1908 and February 1912, Margaret wrote at least 32 letters to the
Times. These letters were often responses to letters written and published in the newspaper by
leading suffragists like Alice Stone Blackwell who was for 35 years the editor of the Womans
Journal, the nations leading womans rights newspaper.
Margarets name was known around the country. On August 11, 1912, the Cincinnati Enquirer
published the following biographical sketch of her:
Miss Margaret Doane Gardiner, of Albany, a granddaughter of Bishop

Doane, aside from her literary work and her devotion to her distinguished
Grandfather, finds time to do her full share of public work. She is a member
of the board of the Society for the Co-operation of Charities, of the Childs
Hospital of Albany, St. Margarets Baby Hospital, and is identified with the
management of various other hospitals, and an earnest and active member of
the Consumers League. As a resident of Albany Miss Gardiner has been
holding the fort for the antis for many years, and addresses the Legislature at
the suffrage hearing each year.
In 1915, Margaret married Charles S. Fayerweather and started a family that included five
children.
This case features materials produced by anti-suffrage associations.
With financial support from Anna Parker Pruyn, the Albany antis produced a vast amount of
literature expressing their opinion. Printed pieces were sent to members of the press, clergy,
legislators and individuals. These were often excerpts of speeches given by antis or reprints of
letters written by them. Mrs. Pruyn had sets of leaflets bound together and distributed to local
libraries. She also kept statistics documenting her efforts:
In 1896, 4,000 letters and 15,000 leaflets were sent from Albany
In 1897, 3,395 letters were sent from Albany
In 1898, at least 20,000 leaflets were sent from Albany
13
Envelope with Vote No on Woman Suffrage Sticker

1915
Collection of the New York State Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Albany, New
York, New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage Collection, SC13339
Albany Anti-Suffrage Society Card

c.1910
Anti Suffrage Calendar

1915
Calendars offered another propaganda vehicle used by both antis and suffragists.
Mrs. John Clinton Gray, an anti, sent a calendar to Alva E. Belmont, president of the Political
Equality Association, with a note saying After you have read this for 365 days perhaps you will
change your mind. Belmont returned it, saying It is strange that the antis will give us 365 days
in which to be converted why we suffragists can take a prejudiced anti and make a convert in
a single meeting.
The antis calendars often pictured a single rose on their covers. Satire, derision and coded
references that reinforced their opposition to suffrage were often used in the poems that
appear in the calendars distributed by the antis, such as this example from 1915.
January
When man becomes the nursemaid every day,

And wifies marching with her flag unfurled,
Theres just one thought to chase his gloom away,
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!
M.K.V.W.
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world is the refrain to a popular William Ross Wallace
poem of the same name, which praises mothers and their duties as influential in the world. It is
quoted mockingly in the verse in the calendar, meant as sarcastic consolation to a sad man
performing domestic duties while his wife is marching with her flag unfurled.
14
February
Heres to the woman of days gone by

May we meet her like above!
The woman for whom a man would die,
The woman who rules by love,
Who doesnt parade, who doesnt harangue,
In whose home it is sweet to dwell,
Who believes in raising children, and not in raising hl!
March
Hammer and tongs, hammer and tongs

When a Suffragette marries shell right no more
wrongs;
Shell sit by the fireside, where she belongs,
And instead of parading shell sing cradle songs.
For the married career she secretly longs,
And, if given a chance, will drop hammer and tongs.
April
THE YELLOW PERIL.

Five and four good Senators,
Seated in a row;
Along came the Suffragists
And said that they must go.
Well make a little black-list,
And unseat them in a trice;
The fact that theyre our ablest men
With us will cut no ice.
The constitution to amend
These men have dared refuse;
They think each State should have the say,
But that dont suit OUR views.
M.K.V.W.
The Yellow Peril is originally a racist phrase used to demonize East Asian people to the
Western world (similar to the Red Scare but more racist). In this poems title the phrase has
been appropriated by the antis to refer to the color yellow used by the suffragists.
15
May
Lily smashed the royal gems,

And drowned the keeper in the Thames.
What does this girlish prank denote?
Oh! just that Lily wants a vote.
Lily Smashed the Royal Gems and Drowned the Keeper in the Thames is a popular quoted
poem from the Brooklyn Eagle that originally included a cartoon of a woman doing just that.
Smashing royal gems and drowning keeper in the Thames may also refer to the role toffee
hammers played in the womens suffrage movement in the United Kingdom, where the
Womens Social and Political Union adopted a policy of smashing the windows in government
and commercial buildings to communicate their message without human injury.
June
Twixt justice and chivalry, girls, we must choose.

We are now the equals of men. Here is news!
Once mans superiors, now but the same
Unexciting dead level is all we can claim;
While to pay for this sacrifice, which we deplore,
We get votes and political duties galore.
July
The sex-antagonized militant maid

Is frightened and finds that her plans are stayed,
For the panic that follows the cannons loud bang
Brings her down from the soap box and stops her
harangue.
Tis a pity she let herself get so hoarse
Proclaiming the ballot is not backed by force.
If obliged the franchise with man to share
On its duty and hardships shed call it unfair.
M.B.F.
August
Think a moment and you will see

That men must vote as their wives decree.
16
When women have the vote

If a man refuses to vote that way
His vote will be negatived. Plain as day;
His wife has got his goat!
September
SUFF.
Dear friends, let me tell you what women have done
In those States where the Suffragists cause has been
won!
There are no more flies in the West! And I claim
When we vote in the East it will here be the same!
ANTI.
Why not invite men to vote flies away?
They would do it with pleasure, tis needless to say;
And also import Californias clime
To give the poor working girl more summer time.
October
CHANGING FASHION
Said the Suffragist starting for town,
I want neither pearls nor a gown,
No plumed hat or fur coat,
I need only a vote,
To adorn me and bring me renown.
The lady returned with a gown,

Which she bought at a mark-down in town;
For I see, so she said,
That the vote craze is dead,
While the passion for dress will not down.
November
I do not like you, Christabel,

The reason whyI know full well
Where you and Ma and Sylvia dwell,
17
That spot seems very much like h--ll.

M.K.V.W.
Christabel Ma and Sylvia are references to Christabel Pankhurst, a notable British

suffragist who moved to the United States in 192, her sister Sylvia, and their mother Emmeline
Pankhurst, a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement.
December
A MASSACHUSETTS MELODY
Oh! let us sing a chanty
To the inconsistent anti,
Who votes for school committees
And does other hateful duties!
The inconsistent Suffragette
Who fails to vote is stranger yet!
In all scarce 3 per cent, they say,
Get to the polls on voting day.
REFRAIN
Inconsistencys a virtue
That is absolutely sure to
Improve the situation
When its ruling oer the nation.
Albany Institute of History and Art Scrapbook

1913-1921
Albany Institute of History & Art Archives, Box 9.1.14
The Albany Institutes history is documented in scrapbooks kept by the organization. Tickets
and event programs are pasted alongside exhibition checklists, newspaper clippings and
ephemera. Husbands of anti-suffragists served on the board of the Albany Institute. Scattered
throughout the pages are newspaper articles like the ones seen here about the suffrage debate.
Extracts from the Addresses of The Rt. Rev. Wm. Croswell Doane, D.D.
Published by the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association, 1895
18
In 1895, the Albany anti-suffragists decided to print this leaflet featuring extracts of the
addresses Bishop Doane gave to the graduating classes of St. Agnes School in 1894 and 1895.
This leaflet was undoubtedly funded by Anna Parker Pruyn who some felt was under the
influence of her spiritual advisor, Bishop Doane, and whose daughters graduated from the
school. In both speeches, Doanes opposition to womans rights and the roles assigned to
women versus men is elaborated on and validated in his opinion by Christian beliefs. His choice
of topic was a direct response to the question put forth to the 1894 New York State
Constitution Convention. In the 1895 address, Doane preached: I believe that God will yet save
this State and Nation from the aggragated miseries of an enlarged, unqualified suffrage, which,
in its universality of male voters, is our most threatening danger to-day. These extracts were
also reprinted in The New York Times.
To read the first page of each address scan:
Vote No on Woman Suffrage Button

Bastian Brothers Company, Rochester, New York
Celluloid, metal, paper, c.1915
Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase, 2005.2.1
Result of Womans Suffrage in School Elections in the State of Connecticut

1895
Extracts from an Address by Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell

1908
I am one of many thousands of women card

1915
This card was signed by Alice Foote MacDougall (1867-1945), the coffee merchant and
restaurateur who served as chair of the hospitality committee of the New York State
19
Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Albanys anti-suffragists frequently made trips to

New York City and could have attended one of the informal teas Alice hosted on Thursday
afternoons featuring anti-suffrage speakers.
Pamphlets Printed and Distributed by the Womens Anti-Suffrage Association of the Third
Judicial District of the State of New York
1905
Stamped in gold on cover: Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn
Albany Public Library
In 1905, the Albany anti-suffragists assembled selections of the leaflets they printed, had them
bound and distributed them to public and college libraries around the state. The volume
displayed here was Anna Pruyns personal copy and bears her initials on the cover. It contains
over eighty distinct pieces of literature that include addresses given to legislative bodies,
reprints of newspaper articles, reports of the Albany Anti-Suffrage Association and notes about
meetings. Selections written by Anna Pruyn are credited to her as both Mrs. J.V. L. Pruyn and
A.P.P. Other pieces are sometimes only signed with initials. In this volume, Pruyn identified a
few of those authors in pencil under their initials.
Case with Cherry Hill materials
Emily Watkinson Rankin (1889-1963)
Emily Rankin of Albanys Cherry Hill was born into an affluent family that traced its roots back to
the Van Rensselaer family. Her ancestry included Albanys early mayors, patriots of the
American Revolution, and military heroes. Emily was the youngest of three children born to
Catherine Bogart Putnam and attorney Edward Rankin.
She attended Smith College from 1907 to 1911, during the years when the suffrage debate
raged in New York State and the nation. At Smith, Emily and her sisters were exposed to both
sides of the issue. Jane Addams, the famous suffragist and social reformer, spoke at the college
while Emily was there; so did Lyman Abbott, the prominent theologian and anti-suffragist.
After college, Emily became active in the anti-suffrage movement. In 1915 she was Recording
Secretary for the Albany chapter of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman
Suffrage, and in October 1917 she reported to her mother in a letter that she placarded the
Schenectady road with anti-suffrage posters.
Emilys Smith College roommate, Dorothy (Dorry) Scribner, was shocked by Emilys views. On
October 14, 1915, Dorry wrote to Emily,
20
There are so many words rushing to my pen that I simply cant write fast enough. I have just
been reading your letter over and am taken aback to see what I had taken for Suffrage
Society is Anti-Suffrage SocietyOh Emily how could you? How could you go 4 years through
Smith, and take psychology and sociology courses galore, and be my room-mate for a year,
and then turn around and go and be recording secretary for the Anti Suffrage Society? Im
sprised at you! Dont you know that woman has so far had limitations in her conduct & view
point not because she was feminine but because she (was) humanand very much more
handicapped than manTake any baby boy and shut him up in the house and keep him there
and tell him hes not expected to work just be pretty and then marry him to somebody and still
keep him in the house and you will find he has all the limitations in conduct and view point that
have been so far termed feminine, but which in reality are merely human. Now does that
convince you?
Dorry did not convert Emily to the suffrage cause. Although she never married, Emily devoted
herself to domestic life, traditional values, and the preservation of her ancestral home, Cherry
Hill. After 1917, she voted in every election.
1.
Emily Watkinson Rankin (1889-1963)
1911 (Smith College Senior Picture)
Collection of Historic Cherry Hill
2.
Petition Postcard Against Woman Suffrage Federal Amendment
c.1915
3.
Cherry Hill
Unidentified photographer
1911
4.
Smith College Pin
Unidentified maker
1911
21
In 1912, after Emily had graduated, she loaned her Smith College pin to Dorry, who was still a
student. Dorry wrote,
Emily, you were a sweetheart to let me wear your pin and I cannot thank you enough. I
enjoyed it immensely and particularly because it was yours.
5.
Dorothy (Dorry) Scribner
Unidentified photographer
1918
Dorry enclosed this photograph in a letter to Emily dated February 12, 1918.
22

Albany and Anti-Suffrage Labels

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Albany and Anti-Suffrage Labels

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Exhibition Labels for Spotlight: Albany & Anti-Suffrage

The Albany Anti-Suffragists: Who, Why and How?

Rose, Black and White

Trolley Car Advertisement Sign

Anti-Suffrage: Ten Good Reasons

Her reasons include:

To read the complete text of the book scan here:

I have no faith in the cause of suffragists.

William Croswell Doane in his library at 29 Elk Street, Albany

The Womans Bible, Part I

To read The Womans Bible scan:

The Womans Bible (Pair of Leaflets)

To read one of these leaflets scan

a distinct foe of woman suffrage

Mary Magrane Glynn (1878-1948)

On June 26, it was reported that:

Mrs. Glynn, in an interview, declared herself a distinct foe of woman suffrage.

Think what the effect of that would be.

13 Elk Street, Albany, New York

Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn (ne Anna Fenn Parker) (1840-1909)

Special Anti-Suffrage Page

Case with Pruyn materials

Tuesday Nov 6th. Election day & very

New York State Capitol

The Associate Editor

Miss Margaret Doane Gardiner, of Albany, a granddaughter of Bishop

This case features materials produced by anti-suffrage associations.

Envelope with Vote No on Woman Suffrage Sticker

Albany Anti-Suffrage Society Card

Anti Suffrage Calendar

When man becomes the nursemaid every day,

Heres to the woman of days gone by

Hammer and tongs, hammer and tongs

THE YELLOW PERIL.

Lily smashed the royal gems,

Twixt justice and chivalry, girls, we must choose.

The sex-antagonized militant maid

Think a moment and you will see

When women have the vote

The lady returned with a gown,

I do not like you, Christabel,

That spot seems very much like h--ll.

Christabel Ma and Sylvia are references to Christabel Pankhurst, a notable British

Albany Institute of History and Art Scrapbook

To read the first page of each address scan:

Vote No on Woman Suffrage Button

Result of Womans Suffrage in School Elections in the State of Connecticut

Extracts from an Address by Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell

I am one of many thousands of women card

Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Albanys anti-suffragists frequently made trips to

Case with Cherry Hill materials

Emily Watkinson Rankin (1889-1963)

You might also like