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Exhibition Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote

Suffrage Fund Coffee, ca. 1916–1917. Advertisement. NAWSA Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (078.00.00)
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“Every Drop You Drink, Kind Friend, Will Help Undo a Wrong”

Although fund-raising “suffrage teas” may have been more common, coffee drinkers also supported suffrage coffee houses and attended coffee socials. Both beverage products were packaged with suffrage labels and sold in stores and “distributing centers.” In 1916, Florence Livingston Lent (1873–1917) of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association began advertising Suffrage Fund Coffee in issues of the Woman’s Journal. Distribution quickly extended to other states, including Rhode Island where prominent suffragist Sara M. Algeo became the product’s principal agent.