“All Join Me in Much Love—Very, Very Much”

Press accounts of the suffrage prisoners’ mistreatment alarmed the families of imprisoned women, who had difficulty learning of their loved one’s situation. Imprisoned since mid-October 1917, art student Kate Heffelfinger began a hunger strike in mid-November and emerged from incarceration on November 27, weakened and requiring assistance. It is unclear if she ever received this loving letter from her father, but her family’s support likely strengthened her resolve. She continued to protest and was arrested again in 1918 and 1919.