Metal suffrage bluebird, 1915

Photo by Kevin Grady/Radcliffe Institute

This cheerful tin sign is one of an estimated 100,000 posted on trees, posts, and telephone poles on “Suffrage Blue Bird Day,” July 9, 1915, by supporters and members of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association (MWSA). That November, Massachusetts men voted against expanding suffrage by a nearly two-to-one margin. The MWSA’s 55,000 members, along with their symbolic bluebird, continued to march, petition, and lobby until the adoption in 1920 of the 19th Amendment, allowing women to vote.

Grace Johnson Papers in the Woman’s Rights Collection, Schlesinger Library

Catalog record:

http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/002866015/catalog

Learn more:

Learn more about women’s suffrage with this research guide highlighting the Schlesinger Library’s archival collections along with periodicals, photographs, posters, and memorabilia. Some materials may also be available in digital format, and links are included where available.

Explore the Papers of Maud Wood Park in the Woman’s Rights Collection.