Suffrage Buttons

Woman Suffrage Buttons

One of the more popular forms of suffrage artifacts was the button or badge.  Most of the larger and many of the smaller organizations produced buttons of some sort, generally emblazoned with their official colors.  While some of these buttons were generic, they often were manufactured for a particular campaign such as the 1911 campaign in California or the Empire State Campaign in New York.  There are period references to the fact that many suffragists collected them and advertised for varieties that they did not have. Moreover, many suffrage buttons embody interesting stories about their creation, theirslogans, and their general use.  Here are a few examples.

The Ballots for Both button was the winning entry in a contest sponsored by the National American Woman Suffrage Association.  Dr. Eleanor M. Hiestand-Moore of Philadelphia coined the phrase when she was campaigning in her home city in 1915.  She had confronted an angry Italian immigrant, who, misinterpreting the cry of “Votes for Women,” assumed that the suffragists were attempting to deny him the vote because he was a man.  Her response to avoid such confusion in the future was to promote this substitute slogan. Although NAWSA printed the slogan into the form of a pin, it never really caught on as a major campaign theme.

 

The idea behind the slogan I am a Voter came from Jeanette Rankin of Montana, who was the first female elected to Congress.  Rankin believed that the button might have special resonance at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 if worn by women from those Western States where women had the right to vote. The idea was “to make the visitors from the conservative Eastern States realize, though visual aid, there are thousands and thousands of well-groomed, happy, sensible women who actually vote.”

 

The Clarion button pictured here was the product of the Women’s Political Union, formed by Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  It employs the purple, green, and white colors of Emmeline Pankhurst’s English organization, the Women’s Social and Political Union, and adapts the “Bugler Girl” design created by Caroline Watts for the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies. The button’s colorful nature and its militant figure reflect the more activist approach to suffrage on the part of the WPU as opposed to that of its more conservative counterpart, the National American Woman Suffrage Association. This pin comes in two varieties, one with a twelve starred flag and the other with thirteen, indicating the number of suffrage states at the time. Earlier, the WPU used a design that was closer to Watt’s original, consisting of four distinct varieties, one with five stars, one with six, one with eleven, and a smaller pin where the tag line of “Votes for Women”was replaced by that of “Equal Suffrage” and which contained ten stars on the suffrage flag.

This oval shaped button that proclaims Suffrage First was distributed by the Woman Suffrage Party of New York.  The slogan was promoted by Carrie Chapman Catt, who criticized those who would ask of women to take up other tasks before suffrage.  At a meeting at the Hotel Astor in New York, she pointed to the badge that she was wearing and exhorted the crowd: “Let us take this little button and make its slogan our own: ‘Suffrage First’.”

 

The Suffrage Plank button was produced by the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, of which Katharine Hepburn’s mother was President for a time.  It was probably distributed at a rally in New Haven on September 19, 1916, the date of the Democratic State Convention in that city. The national Republican, Democratic, Progressive, Socialist, and Prohibition Parties had in that year all adopted platforms or “planks” endorsing suffrage, and local activists were attempting to get similar pledges from State organizations.  The CWSA also held an earlier rally in the city on September 5, prior to the Republican Convention, but it contained less pageantry and spectacle and no counterpart button was manufactured.

The May 2 Button, manufactured by Lopez Brothers of School Street in Boston, has caused some confusion among collectors who have questioned its meaning. It was issued for National Suffrage Day in 1914, an event organized by Alice Paul, then of the Congressional Union. The idea was to bring women from across the country to participate in a coordinated set of suffrage rallies and parades, followed up by another rally in Washington, D.C the following week to present a petition in support of a Federal Amendment.  This pin was issued for the Boston rally, one of the largest of the demonstrations that day in the country and the first suffrage parade ever held in Massachusetts. An estimated 9000-15,000 marchers took part in front of 200,000-300,000 spectators. Among the politicians reviewing and observing the event were Governor Walsh, Lt. Governor Barry, former Mayor “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, John F. Kennedy’s grandfather, and Mayor James Michael Curley.

The two 1 1/4″ celluloid buttons pictured on the left were issued by the Women’s Political Union of New Jersey, which was originally established as the Equality League for Self-Supporting Women by Mina C. Winkle, a friend of Harriot Stanton Blatch.  Winkle modified the name and color scheme of

Blatch’s Women”s Political Union for her own group and issued a variety of colorful and iconographic memorabilia, including stamps, letter sheets, and posters.  The WPUNJ was in existence from 1912-1916, when it merged with the larger New Jersey Woman’s Suffrage Association. The green button was also a WPUNJ issue.  There are no identifying marks or back papers to identify the organization behind the other two New Jersey pins, but their colors suggest that they may have been produced by the New Jersey Women’s Suffrage Association.

 

The celluloid novelty distributed by Alva Belmont’s Political Equality Association pictured here is the only known pocket mirror produced for the campaign.  During the early part of the 20th century, celluloid mirrors were an extremely popular form of giveaway among merchants and advertisers but for some reason never caught on among the suffragists.  The dark blue color of this piece is reflective of the official color of the Association, which Alva Belmont, the assertive founder and President of the Association, refused to wear during marches.  The design of the winged herald also appears on a 1 1/4″ celluloid button. The six stars on the herald’s flag indicated that this mirror was made after California became in 1911 the sixth state to grant full voting rights to for women.  The mirror was made from the same papers that were used in the production of a badge issued by the Association. When the button was made, the white border to the design that you can see on the mirror, was cut away. Belmont was a Newport, R.I. socialite, whose money helped to fund many pro-suffrage causes.  However, what was perceived by some to be an imperious attitude, alienated many in the suffrage movement. It was through her financial assistance that the National American Woman Suffrage Association was able to move its headquarters from Warren, Ohio to New York City.

 

The Wage Earner’s Suffrage League was founded in San Francisco in 1908 by Louise LaRue, head of Waitresses Local #48, when working women felt that the middle class women involved in the suffrage campaign neither understood or appreciated their situation.  She was assisted in her efforts by Minna O’Donnell, who was able to tie-in the vigorous support of labor to the suffrage movement.  The two were later joined by Maud Younger, who helped heal the division between middle class and working class women. The League’s efforts undoubtedly helped the pro-suffrage forces win a thin majority in the working class neighborhoods of San Francisco in the successful statewide franchise referendum in 1911.  The issue appeared on the ballot among various other initiatives as “Amendment 8,” and a small celluloid pin was issued to alert voters. The gold color of this small pin probably was influenced by the official yellow (or gold) color that was associated with the National American Woman Suffrage Association. There is at least one other pin similar in design that was used to promote another one of the amendments up for voters’ approval that year.

 

One of the First Suffrage Buttons  Around 1896, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) adopted a new logo, that of a sunflower with the date of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 printed in the center.  It appeared on stationary, literature and handbooks, and on this stickpin. The pin may be the earliest known American button or badge apart from another stickpin featuring the scales of justice and equality, probably issued in the 1880’s in South Dakota.  The sunflower design was adapted from the 1867 Kansas campaign where local supporters wore yellow ribbons in commemoration of both suffrage and the state flower. What is interesting about the pin here is that the center is ruby red, not the yellow of either the sunflower or of what was by now the official color of NAWSA. Several decades later, NAWSA distributed a commemorative celluloid button seen above that once again featured this 1848 sunflower design.

 

Illinois Equal Suffrage Association Most suffrage buttons were small in size, ranging from approximately 5/8″ in diameter to 1 1/4″.  These badges, both  from Illinois, measuring 2 1/4″, are clearly  exceptions. Most celluloid buttons of the period, whether they were issued for political campaigns, advertising, or for a cause, tended to be small, unlike the  3 1/2″ designs that stand out today. Both badges probably were issued for a State convention or for local rallies rather than for everyday wear. Their yellow color was reflective of the official colors of the mainstream suffrage organizations rather than the purple, green, and white that some of the more militant organizations adopted from the English Women’s Social and Political Union.  Illinois women produced several other pins with variant slogans and colors, all with a design of nine or ten stars each, the first number symbolizing those states that had granted women equal voting rights at the time of issue, the second, the hopes of Illinois women that their state would be next. These small pins were sold at ten cents per dozen.  In addition to these star items, Illinois suffragists issued a blue flag pin with a yellow background that once again came in versions with both nine and ten stars.  Illinois Women were given the right to vote by an act passed by both houses of the State Legislature in 1913, partly as the result of the hard work done by suffragist Grace Wilbur Trout. Women could now vote for Presidential electors and for all local offices not specifically named in the Illinois Constitution.  In addition, they could not vote for state representative, congressman or governor; and they still had to use separate ballots and ballot boxes (see section on this site about ballot boxes). But by virtue of this law, Illinois had become the first state east of the Mississippi to grant women the right to vote for President.

 

Emmeline Pankhurst  The English were far less reticent than their American counterparts about picturing their current leaders on suffrage memorabilia, and they sold buttons and post cards with their images affixed thereon at suffrage shops throughout the country.  American suffragists did adapt photographs of such activists as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Anna Howard Shaw for buttons and badges, but these were generally memorial pieces or convention items that were not distributed to the public.  The first of the two buttons here picturing Emmeline Pankhurst, the founder of the WSPU, was part of a set of three that included her daughter Christabel and journal editor Emmeline Pethick Lawrence. They were sold for one penny each. The more elaborate button with ribbons, also picturing Mrs. Pankhurst, sold for 5 d. There were no Christabel or Pethick Lawrence versions of this more expensive badge.  In addition, the WSPU sold a number of various postcards picturing Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia. Most of the WSPU badges were manufactured by Toye and Company or by the Merchants’ Portrait Company, which touted itself as “Makers of the WSPU badge.”

 

Carrie Chapman Catt NYWSA Convention Ribbon  For the most part, American suffrage organizations refrained from celebrating their leaders by posting images of them on post cards and buttons except for memorial items.  One group that was an exception to this convention was the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, and their elaborate Convention badges pictured such luminaries as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna Howard Shaw, Emma Willard, and Carrie Chapman Catt.  Some of these badges were memorial, others celebratory.  There is no evidence, however, that any of these badges were distributed to anyone other than convention delegates, and even with NYWSA the focus of the campaign was on ideology and not personality.

 

Maine “Dirigo” Convention Badge  In general, suffrage organizations produced ribbons not buttons for attendees at their conventions.  Occasionally, some groups such as the NYWSA above did distribute buttons  attached to ribbons for a more spectacular effect.  In the item to the left, manufactured for an unknown convention, the paper that was used in a smaller celluloid pin in Maine was also utilized for this rare badge.  “Dirigo” is the State motto of Maine and means “I Direct” or “I Guide.”

 

 

Harlem Equal Rights League    The Harlem Equal Rights League was organized in January of 1905 by Maud Malone, who served as its recording secretary with Martha Williams as its president.  The League was known to be one of the more militant of the suffrage organizations, with Malone herself known for her aggressive activities.  In 1905, she urged women to follow Susan B. Anthony’s example and vote illegally in whatever precinct they resided in.  She also interrupted speeches by politicians including that of Theodore Roosevelt demanding to know their position on Votes for Women. At the time of the League’s inception, Harlem was largely a “white” community with the substantial African American migration yet to come.

 

Chain Link Pins The Chain Link design so associated by American collectors with a 1 1/4″ celluloid pin issued by the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association is actually based upon an English design, originally used by Emmeline Pankhurst’s Women’s Social and Political Union.  The WSPU version comes in three variants with green, purple, and violet alternating as the dominant color on the outside circle of the badge.  Other organizations borrowed the design as well, including the Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement, a militant group founded in 1910 by Victor Duval as the male counterpart in England to the WSPU, and the Just Government League of Maryland.  The CWSA, the MPUWE, and the JGL all borrowed the purple, white, and green of the WSPU to use for their own official colors.

 

Deeds Not Words    When Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, returned from England in 1902, she joined several groups involved in elevating the status of women, forming her own organization the Equality League of Self Supporting Women in 1907, which became the Women’s Political Union in 1910 and later merged with Alice Paul’s Congressional Union to form the National Woman’s Party.  The WPU borrowed much from Emmeline Pankhurst’s English group, the Women’s Social and Political Union, including its name and its official colors of purple, green, and white. The WPU pin here consciously recalls  Pankhurst’s famous iteration of the phrase, “Deeds Not Words.”

 

National Woman’s Party    Alice Paul’s National Woman’s Party (1917) was the outgrowth of several earlier organizations, which she had helped form, the Congressional Union (1914) and the Woman’s Party (1916).  Paul had been a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association where she headed up their Congressional Committee, but she parted ways with the parent organization after an acrimonious relationship.  The official colors of both the Union and the Woman’s Party were purple, yellow, and white, a modification of the colors of the English militant group, the Women’s Social and Political Union. So known were the colors of the NWP, that the Party often issued sashes, ribbons, and banners entirely purple, yellow, and white without any wording at all, so certain was Paul that they would be recognized.  President Woodrow Wilson was reported to be tired of viewing the “purple” of the NWP the first thing in the morning outside the White House.  Paul, who was described as a non-violentmilitant, was known for her aggressive methods that included picketing the White House (the”Silent Sentinels”) and massive marches before marches became de rigueur as a tactic. Despite her focus on visual rhetoric, street theatre and colorful display to accompany reasoned discourse, her various organizations produced little in the way of buttons and badges. The silver pin at the top left was given out to those women who participated as “Silent Sentinels” outside the White House gates, holding up banners in support of woman suffrage, some of  whom were imprisoned and even force fed. The two enamel pins show that while the name of Paul’s group was undergoing expansion and change, the official colors were a constant.  Paul’s groups did issue a few celluloid pins in addition to their enamels.

 

 

Suffrage Clicker     This suffrage clicker was issued by the Woman Suffrage Party of New York, probably in connection with the campaign in that State in either 1915 or 1917,  The WSP issued a variety of celluloid items, most of which were in their official colors of yellow and black and contained their initials.  A clicker is essentially the same piece as is a button, except that the pin in back is replaced by a simple metal device as seen above that “clicks” when pressed with much the same sound of that of a ball point pen.  Clickers were used in political campaigns also, with some varieties having both a pin back and clicker counterparts. They were not all that popular because, obviously, the most important thing about a button is its visibility, and clickers had to be carried, not worn.  The piece shown here is the only suffrage clicker known, and it was not widely distributed.

 

The Official Colors of the Equal Franchise Society   Most of the large and many of the smaller suffrage societies had official colors.  In America, the best known were the yellow (and black) of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the purple, green, and white of the Women’s Political Union, and the purple, yellow, and white of Alice Paul’s National Woman’s Party. The official color of the Equal Franchise Society was blue, which its members wore as part of a large march up 5th Avenue in New York on May 4, 1912. Of the two similar buttons here, one is in blue, as it should be, the other in green and gold. It is unknown why the two versions, but perhaps someone ordered the buttons not paying attention to colors, and, realizing the mistake when the order arrived, the Society reordered them in the proper color.  The small enamel piece shown here is cast in the correct color. The Society was founded on December 21, 1908 to, among other goals, “promote the welfare of women, [and] to secure the National, State, and local franchise for women.”  Mrs. Howard Mansfield served as the group’s president. Even though the EFS produced at least three different buttons or badges as well as other ephemera, all of its artifacts are difficult to find today, indicating that they were all issued in very limited quantities.

 

Cooper Union Badges    While there were several suffrage meetings held at Cooper Union, these two badges were probably made for the gathering there on November 4, 1915, two days after the suffrage amendment in New York State had been defeated by

 

 

 

 

 

voters.  The purpose of the meeting was to plan for the next referendum two years’ hence and to get pledges of $100,000 to achieve that goal.  The badges appear to have been made to honor workers as the phrase “awarded to . . ” appears on the back of both the silver and gold pieces.

 

She Could Not Marry Her Opponent     Some states, while not allowing women to participate in state and national elections, did allow them the right to both vote in municipal elections and also run for local offices, generally that of school board. Bertha E.H. Berbert was nominated by the Republican Party of Hastings, New York on October 14, 1899 for School Commissioner, but not before she had to promise not to marry her Democratic opponent.  Joseph See, on of the delegates at that convention noted that the first woman in the county ever to run for office fell in love with her Democratic opponent and lost the election.  Berbert’s promise was irrelevant anyway, since her opponent was both elderly and already married.  She won the election, however, and held office for six years until the Republican machine, with which she had a series of disagreements, refused to endorse her again in 1905. Even though celluloid buttons were inexpensive to produce, Berbert, obviously, took her campaigns seriously, as they ordinarily were not issued for offices lower than Mayor or Alderman.

 

Some Additional English Badges   In general the English were not quite as prolific in their manufacture of pins and badges as they were with suffrage postcards.  Still, they did manage to produce an impressive array, some of which are pictured below.  Most English badges were designed in the colors of the group that made them, thus purple, white, and green for the Women’s Social and Political Union, green, gold, and white, for the Women’s Freedom League, and red, green, and white for the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies.

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For more information about these and other American and English suffrage buttons and badges, consult my book from McFarland Press, Women’s Suffrage Memorabilia: An Illustrated Historical Study. See author page on this site for further details.

 

47 thoughts on “Suffrage Buttons

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    • I agree that there is much to be learned about the nature of any cause, past or present, from the buttons and other memorabilia that a movement produces. Good luck with your project.

    • Marguerite–Thank you for your kind comments. Coming from you, a person who has enthusiastically devoted much of her time spreading news about both the suffrage movement as well as women’s issues in general, I am very flattered. For those of you who are reading this and are not familiar with Marguerite’s wonderfully informative suffrage website, the Woman Suffrage News Channel, I urge you to click on the link found at the bottom of the homepage of this site. You may also wish to subscribe to her frequent news updates and announcements at “The Suffrage Wagon.” For more information, please consult her site.

    • This is not a suffrage piece. The initials “WSS” do not stand for any recognized suffrage organization, and, while there are exceptions, suffragists generally did not use a flag motif in their marches and demonstrations. “WSS” can stand for a number of other things, but most likely your piece is related to the War Savings Stamps program initiated by the Government to help pay debts during WWI and WII. There are a number of WSS items still circulating including small white on blue buttons that are sometimes confused with suffrage pieces by sellers on eBay. That these initials, in your case, appear on a flag suggests a patriotic theme that is supportive of the nation’s war efforts. There may be some value of your flag to WWI and WII collectors, but probably not much. Hand made items generally, although not always, do not bring all that much money from collectors of any type of memorabilia because, among other reasons, they are too easily faked..

  2. Hello, I have a Women’s Suffrage button that I was hoping you might give me some information on. The style is almost identicial to your Clarion button but it has 1 large star and 9 small stars. It has Votes For Women on it and not Equal Suffrage as your 10 star version has. It has Women’s Political Union on the back and an address of 46 E. 29th St. N.Y. City There is also some very fine print that I believe says Trade Council as well as some other writing that I cannot determine. The size is 1 and 3/8 inches. Thank you for any information you can share.

    • The WPU was founded in 1910 by Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It grew out of her earlier Equality League of Self-Supporting Women,formed in 1907. All told, the WPU issued 6 different pins in the Clarion design that you ask about, the small 1 1/16″ inch “Equal Suffrage” version, and five more “Votes for Women” pins in the larger 1 1/4″ (which some people measure as 1 3/8″) size, one of which you have. These larger pins come in two different designs of the Clarion figure, the first resembles the smaller pin, and the second a much larger, redesigned figure that is noticeably different from the first. These larger designed pins are much more difficult to find.
      The number of stars pictured on these pins can be either 5, 6, 10, 11, or 12, depending on how many states had granted women the right to Presidential suffrage at the time of issue.
      The Clarion figure was borrowed from a design by an English woman, Caroline Watts, and was originally referred to as “The Bugler Girl.” She created it for a 1908 procession of the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies. The design, whether on poster or badge, is considered to be one of the most attractive of all suffrage images.

  3. Hello Kenneth
    I wonder if you can help me. I have a ladies purple enamel ring with 1913 on it that I understand was worn to celebrate advances made by the movement in England in that year. Have you come accross this before? Many Thanks.

    • John
      I have seen a copy of the ring that you describe on eBay, and I, while I never say never, I am extremely skeptical that it has any connection whatsoever to the suffrage movement for the following reasons:
      (1) While events and advances were made in 1913, as they were during any year of the period, it was not, necessarily a watershed year for suffrage activists. The movement was divided, with the Pethick-Lawrences having been expelled from the WSPU, and war was on the horizon. I have never seen any discussion that would suggest that 1913 was a year especially memorable to the suffragists, one that would have been celebrated during especially troubling times.
      (2) Around this time, most suffragist organizations, including the WSPU, were cutting back significantly on their production of memorabilia, focussing more on the printing of literature. In 1914, many suffragists (albeit not all) ceased their movement activities to support the country in time of war.
      (3) The official colors of the W.S.P.U. were purple, green, and white, not purple alone. It is highly unlikely that they would have produced a piece in only one of those colors. Moreover, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, who was the guiding force behind much of the sale of WSPU memorabilia, was no longer a member of that organization. His new group, the Votes for Women Fellowship, did not borrow from the WSPU color scheme.
      For these reasons, among others, I would say that this ring is not a suffrage piece.

  4. Hi,
    I have a piece of jewellery made by Fattorini (of Bradford) with a five digit on the back.
    On the front, is an enamelled Union Jack with a central logo of WP. I am told this is a piece for the Womens Social & Political Union, made prior to the main Suffragete movement.
    Would you know more and would you or anyone be interested in acquiring it from me?
    Regards
    Simon in England

    • Simon–I doubt that this piece is at all related to the suffrage movement. The WSPU did lengthen their name a bit after the split with the WFL to NWSPU, but they never shortened it. I have no idea what “WP” stands for. Because of the appearance of the Union Jack on this item, it probably is a Patriotic piece of some sort. Particularly prior to WWI, the Union Jack was not part of the iconography of the suffrage movement.

  5. I have recently acquired a sterling silver suffrage ring, with a woman’s face in repousse. The ring is dated 1913. It also reads, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
    I have done a little research but I have been unable to find any information about this ring. I am hopeful that someone may have information.
    Thank you,
    Ann

    • While I have not seen the ring that you describe, I doubt very much that it has any connection with suffrage. Except for Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and that generally in a memorial context, suffragists seldom honored individual women. Using “United States of America” instead of the phrase “Votes for Women” is another tip-off. Your image may not be of anyone. Early buttons, tip trays, etc. often pictured “pretty women” as a design.

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  7. Thanks so much for this! Your site is enlightening and, sadly, incredibly relevant still today. Thank you for the work you put in.

  8. I have a sterling pin,shows gate a small chain with a heart shaped padlock. No markings on back other than sterling?Think it might be a suffrage pin ?

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    • Alas, I do not know of any Utah suffrage memorabilia. As you know, Utah women were given the right to vote in 1870–that was rescinded and not restored to 1896. Still, even that last date precedes the general use of memorabilia to the suffrage campaign. There is a poster stamp, issued in the early 1900’s, that celebrates Utah as one of the 4 suffrage states at that time. There are some postcards also that acknowledge Utah’s status as a suffrage state, but there is nothing that I know of that was produced for an actual campaign. This does not meant that there is nothing, it just means I don’t know of anything.

      Ken

      • Hello, I have just recently uncovered a load of suffrage memorabilia and two of the items, actually happen to be Utah for Suffrage silk ribbons. They are red. They belonged to Dr. Charlotte Baker, a leader in the suffrage movement from San Diego California.

        • Your Utah ribbon is one that I would like to have. It’s not really from Utah, though, it’s from a set of four honoring those states that in 1909 had given women full voting rights.

  10. Hello
    I found in the back of a drawer yesterday a stick pin – ruby red center with 1848 and sunflower shape, I think on the back it is stamped Caldwell silver.
    It is identical to the pin on your site. I was trying to find out more about it and determine which of my relatives possibly owned it as some came from Kansas, some from Minnesota.
    Thank you
    Kristie

    • Kristie
      I don’t think that I can tell you much more than what is on the site. The design appears to have been first used around 1896 and was the official logo for several years, appearing not only on this stick pin but also on stationery, literature, and other venues. It is based upon the Kansas sunflower. Suffragists from the East saw the use of yellow ribbons worn by Kansas suffragists when they went out to help them in the referendum in that state in 1867. While they brought back the idea of a yellow ribbon, the image of the sunflower came later. But while the idea for the logo comes from Kansas, I don’t think that fact can help you with your quest of attempting to identify your ancestor who owned the pin originally. It was a national pin and could have come from any State no matter what the origin of the logo was. Your stickpin, by the way, does have collector value, and you should take care to preserve it for financial as well as personal reasons.

  11. Hello! I purchased your book and am finding it very informative (I am a novice in this field). I have a pin I was wondering if you could help me identify. It is about 5/8 inch in size and uses a design that I often see associated with British material – a 5 petaled flower (purple petals) separated by green leaves. This pin is American, as it contains an American shield (stars above, vertical stripes below – using purple, green, and white). The bottom two petals each have an initial – W and C. On the reverse it has an old c-type clasp (oriented vertically) and is marked as made by Whitehead and Hoag. This is a well-made pin, not the typical mass-produced penny button. It strikes me that this is a vintage item. What organization (WC?) is this pin celebrating?

    • Hi, did you ever find out anything more about this pin? I believe this pin and a variation of it might be remembrance pins for the Seneca Falls convention in NY but I need to find a reference for them.

      I believe the one you are describing is identical in design to this pin but it does not have the “SF” letters on top? I wrote to the seller of this variation pin and she was very nice and wrote me back but unfortunately did not keep have reference she found for the pin. If I find out anything more I’ll let you know.

      https://www.etsy.com/listing/667759536/suffragette-pin-antique-womens-rights?show_sold_out_detail=1&frs=1

      • I apologize for not being definitive enough in my last response to you. This pin is definitely NOT a suffrage item for all of the reasons that I outlined in my last response. The colors are off, even though they slightly resemble those of some of the lesser known American suffrage groups. There is no suffrage organization with the initials “WC.” The pin has no obvious suffrage message. There is no reference to it in any suffrage periodical of the era, etc. If you want to do further research, try newspapers.com, but again, this is not a suffrage piece.

  12. Hello,

    I have a button with a white background and the words ‘WILL YOU MEET THE NEED’ in red curved across the bottom half with an image of a woman in a bonnet in blue centered. On her left collar is a red leaf shape with an S in the middle of it. It is Manufactured by St. Louis Button Co. Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,

    ~M~

    • I really don’t know what this button is for. It definitely is not suffrage. The slogan, the colors, and possibly even the image are wrong. Good luck on finding the origin.

  13. Good morning! My name is Dale Rose, and I am the director of the Corona Museum of Frontier Life. This week I turfed out a drawer and found what I think might be a suffrage button. I would like to know more about the woman depicted, but I cannot find her image anywhere else. Can you help me?

    I tried to copy a photo here, but it isn’t working. So let see. The button is in sepia tones, with a woman fully facing the camera. Her hair is dark and curly and parted above a high forehead then pulled back over the top of her ears. Her eyes are deep, her nose appears to be straight. Her unsmiling mouth is beautifully shaped; overall she is lovely. She wears a high-collared blouse gathered from the collar, with what looks like a jacket with wide lapels and slightly puffed shoulders.

    She is set against a background of cumulus clouds.

    Any chance you could help us? Many thanks!

    • The button that you mention is, in all probability, not a suffrage item. Suffragists were not particularly fond of producing pins celebrating minor figures in the movement. Even giants such as Anthony and Stanton were honored primarily through memorial pins. My guess (and it is a guess) is that your woman is not someone famous at all but simply someone’s relative. During the first quarter of the twentieth century or so, photographers often fashioned family pictures into celluloid buttons. Obviously, I haven’t seen the button in question so there may be another explanation, but, again, I doubt that this is suffrage.

  14. I have a rusted small pin. Both the back and front of the pin are in rough shape.
    It has a picture of a young Susan B Anthony with the words failure is impossible. Have you heard of something similar during the suffrage movement?

    • While I have not seen your example, I doubt strongly that it was issued during the time of the suffrage movement. No pin that you describe is known by me to have been issued at that time. There were a few of that design, however, that have been issued since. If the button is in the condition that you describe, it is not really worth anything. Sorry, but thanks for your query.

  15. Pingback: Nevertheless, She Persisted - Public Seminar

    • Love the plug! Thank you. Delighted to see also that suffrage memorabilia made it into this series as a legitimate subject for academic inquiry. Your point that most of the early suffrage pins were small is a valid one, although a few pieces were manufactured in a 1 1/4″ size. There are a number of articles in both English and American suffrage papers that urge women to wear buttons to publicize the movement. I agree that for many women this was a courageous gesture.

  16. Hi — fascinating details about the suffrage buttons! I’m curious about the dates above around the sunflower button. In the sentence “Several decades later, NAWSA distributed a commemorative celluloid button seen above that once again featured this 1848 sunflower design.” Do you mean decades after the Kansas design? Or do you mean decades after 1896? I’m trying to determine if suffrage buttons were made in 1896.

    • I apologize if my original post was unclear. Celluloid buttons were first produced in 1896 for both political and advertising clients, but were not utilized or produced by the suffrage campaign itself until about 1908 or 1909. The button that you ask about was probably manufactured in the period 1909-1915. Prior to that, the design itself made an appearance on suffrage stationery around 1896 even though the button was not manufactured until later.

  17. Hi, thank you for this interesting information! I was wondering if you knew which buttons would have been worn/made around 1906 (or during the years closely preceding and following) in New York City. Thank you!

    • You ask a very good and difficult question. Buttons did not really come into major play in the suffrage movement until several years after the period that you are asking about, even though the technology was there to produce them. In England, the first suffrage buttons came about in late 1908-early 1909. The National American Woman Suffrage Association did produce a hatpin and a metal badge around 1896, but not a true button in the modern sense of the word. Suffrage ribbons were available going back to the 19th century, but most of these were convention related. In other words, suffrage buttons, even if they had existed in 1906, would have been exceedingly rare. If you are doing some sort of documentary (written or visual), it might be prudent to avoid a depiction of buttons.

  18. Hi Ken, thank you so much for sharing your collection! I’ve spent so much time looking through your website and published books both. I work at a library and I wanted to put together a children’s program for March history month, could I use five images of your postcards and buttons with permission? And, if possible, do you have this picture:

    https://www.alamy.com/yellow-brown-and-cream-suffrage-pin-with-the-year-1848-commemorating-the-date-of-the-seneca-falls-convention-inscribed-to-the-center-of-a-kansas-sunflower-and-the-text-national-american-woman-suffrage-association-manufactured-for-the-american-market-by-the-national-american-woman-suffrage-association-1896-photography-by-emilia-van-beugen-image220937338.html

    of the memorial Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 button without the watermark? If you’d like to discuss how the material will be used in detail, I’d be happy to explain! Once again, thank you so much for sharing these amazing pieces!

    • Thank you for your kind comments. Of course you can use images of five postcards for your childrens’ program. Lager today, I will send you a copy of the button file that you requested

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