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Exhibition Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote

Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote

Stockbrokers Collect Suffrage Swag

“Keep Cool!” Fan with wooden handle. New York State Woman Suffrage Association, 1915. League of Women Voters Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (082.00.00)
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“Keep Cool!” Fan with wooden handle. New York State Woman Suffrage Association, 1915. On loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Initially from the NAWSA Records, Library of Congress (082.01.00 and 082.01.01)
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“Keep Cool!” Fan with wooden handle. New York State Woman Suffrage Association, 1915. On loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Initially from the NAWSA Records, Library of Congress (082.01.00 and 082.01.01)
Enlarge

Stockbrokers Collect Suffrage Swag

Some suffrage novelties, like this fan from the Empire State Campaign of 1915, were intended as free souvenirs for parade watchers, petition signers, or passersby pausing for a street lecture. Although defeated at the polls in November, New York suffragists had gamely distributed more than twenty tons of leaflets, a million buttons, 200,000 matchbooks, and 35,000 “Keep Cool” fans, five hundred of which were eagerly snatched up by bankers and brokers during “Wall Street Day” demonstrations on September 15.