Tag Archives: Votes for Women

September 22, 2015 · 2:27 pm

The Women in Black, 25+ years of peaceful vigils move toward a centennial observance!

This feature is part of a continuing series of articles highlighting women’s history of Woodstock, NY that was reinforced by a resolution of the town board in August 2015. Woodstock became the first community in New York State to officially honor its women’s history in support of the upcoming 2017 state suffrage centennial and the nation’s 2020 suffrage centennial. Woodstock’s Women in Black parallels the dramatic visual rhetoric of the American suffrage movement as their peaceful vigil heads in the direction of a centennial observance in the future. Olivia Twine’s articles and photographs about women’s history appear in local, regional, and New York State publications.

by Olivia Twine

Their numbers vary, but a contingent of the international movement for peace, Women in Black, have been demonstrating on the Woodstock, New York village green almost every Sunday afternoon since the first Iraq war began in 1991. For the first few years, and even on the coldest of winter days, the women (and occasionally a man or two) stood, mostly alone, holding their signs. As Woodstock’s popularity as a tourist destination revived in recent years, the stalwart group became part of a scene as busy as a Bruegel painting and only slightly less sensual. When controversies sharpen with crises in the Middle East, the women are occasionally confronted by (mostly men) demonstrating in support of war.

“WE STAND UP IN SILENCE,” EXPLAINS RENEE ENGLANDER

The women activists are well-versed in political history, and they don’t pontificate. “We stand up in silence,” said Renee Englander, a participant in the Woodstock group since the beginning. “We are silent because words cannot express the tragedy of war and hatred. The message of peace is not difficult to understand.”

Although they don’t engage in political discussion, literature is available to explain the positions and the history of Women in Black. The movement originated in Jerusalem in January 1988 when a group of Israeli women courageously stood together at a busy intersection to protest the occupation of Palestine. They drew inspiration for a public vigil from the mothers of Argentina who circled the main square carrying pictures of their missing loved ones and for wearing black from the South African Black Sash movement in opposition to apartheid.

OCCUPANTS OF THE WOODSTOCK VILLAGE GREEN REPRESENT PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE

“Solidarity vigils” sprang up in other countries. By 1990, the Women in Black had gained a reputation as a movement of women of conscience of all nationalities and denominations who advocate for justice, civil society, and peaceful co-existence. They stand against policies that kill, destroy cities, force migration, and annihilate human relations. “We oppose all forms of local and global violence: war, terrorism, inter-ethnic conflict, militarism the arms industry, nuclear weapons, racism, neo-Nazism, violence against women, and violence in neighborhoods,” the literature states.

One recent weekend, Englander was among several women demonstrating adjacent to Grandpa Woodstock, a living symbol of the post-Woodstock Festival era now available for photo ops. The weekly drum circle was getting started. An informal procession of young folks pranced to the beat on their way to the bus stop. The crowd of weekend visitors waiting for transport back to New York City gathered across the street, a built-in audience for activities on the Green. A photographer focused on Grandpa Woodstock as I angled to photograph the Women In Black. (It’s difficult to get a shot without backing into traffic or standing across the street and including cars in the frame.)

OTHER ADVOCATES TAKE UP POSITION TO PRESENT A FUTURE VISION

A photo of Grandpa Woodstock appeared a few days later in the New York Times, accompanied a September 4 article by Corey Kilgannon highlighting the irony of the Woodstock Nation era which represented the mutual sharing of resources now marketed to promote commercial success for the town.

Grandpa Woodstock expresses those humanitarian values to anyone who wants to listen. Does that idea attract visitors, or is it the accompanying suggestion of life as a timeless party? It’s all good as long as activists like Women In Black, who share a commitment to justice and a world free of violence, are able to share their vision of peace, compassion, and justice. On Saturdays, their place is taken by a Mennonite group known as Families for Peace. On balance, the Woodstock Village Green is a peaceful place which represents the town, standing side by side with commercialism.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event. And don’t forget to pass on women’s suffrage storytelling to the next generation. Suffrage Centennial videos on Vimeo.

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Tagged as 2017 suffrage centennial, 2020 suffrage centennial, peace, suffrage movement, Votes for Women, womens suffrage, Woodstock, Woodstock women

September 18, 2015 · 1:52 pm

New Zealand women’s suffrage movement petition in a digital wheelbarrow

September 19th is Women’s Suffrage Day in New Zealand because it became the first nation in the world for its women to win the right to vote in 1893 after a long and difficult campaign. A large roll of names on the suffrage petition is now preserved at Archives New Zealand. The international significance of this document has been recognized by its inclusion on the UNESCO Memory of the World register of documentary heritage. The Ministry of Culture and Heritage Manatū Taonga worked with Archives New Zealand and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to make the petition available online.

Members of the public can help preserve and contribute to New Zealand’s rich history by accessing the database which contains information on more than 24,000 New Zealand women, an added incentive for those searching for the names of relatives on the petition. For more information. New Zealand’s ministry for women has released the following statistics in order the demonstrate the work needed in the present and future:

64% Around two-thirds of university graduates are women. 35% More than one third of women work part-time. 14.75% The percentage of women directors on the NZX top 100 listed companies. 41.7% The percentage of women on state sector boards and committees. Up to $5.3 billion The estimated annual cost to New Zealand of family violence. $1.2 billion The estimated annual cost to New Zealand of sexual violence. 25% The lifetime prevalence of sexual violence experienced by women (2009). 13th New Zealand’s ranking out of 142 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2014. For more information about New Zealand.

SUFFRAGE NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER: “That Bloody Woman” is a rock opera that opened in NZ about the country’s insistent suffrage activist, Kate Sheppard. Link.

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September 13, 2015 · 2:56 pm

Book for young people about Silent Sentinels & White House pickets: 2017 centennial & December publication

In order to celebrate women’s suffrage centennials, we need an appreciative audience. This is best accomplished with an informed and educated public. But not until relatively recently has the history of all the people, not just military and political figures, been the focus of history instruction.

Jason Nord, a teacher in Nebraska who has taken on this challenge, is close to the end of a Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication of a book for young people ages 9-12 years about the women who picketed the White House in 1917.

Nord says that he loves to teach American history in such a way that excites his students, and this happened when he told them about the National Woman’s Party, a group of suffragists that protested outside of the gates of the White House in 1917.

For the most part, he says the struggle for votes for women has been taught in the following way: There was a problem with equal rights. It was fixed with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920 that guaranteed American women voting rights. Case closed, and now we don’t have to think about it anymore.

“I enjoy digging into history in a way that’s not normally told,” Jason Nord said. “It can be odd, controversial, and it gets kids thinking in a wide direction. When I told them about the White House protest, the students were spellbound. They wanted to do research and take action. I was frustrated over the lack of resources for young people to learn.” When he presents the real story, Nord said students are fascinated. And thus the Silent Sentinels book, the first of a series of a press he founded, Equality Press, that will tell stories of equality and justice for a young audience.

An extra perk for the book is the story of 12-year-old Serena Kearns, the youngest Silent Sentinel on the picket lines in 1917. Her story will be told by Jason Nord at book signings and events promoting the book although Serena’s participation didn’t come to Jason’s attention until after the Silent Sentinels book was well into production. A narrative about a young person who picketed the White House will make the book immediate and relevant for young people, Nord believes. The story of Serena Kearns and her family in the movement for votes for women is being told on the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage storytelling series (SuffrageWagon.org).

The year 2017, the centennial of the picketing of the White House, means that now isn’t too soon to be planning for this observance. Says Nord, “Equality Press was founded on the idea that education can help us to create a more just and peaceful world.” The Silent Sentinels book is scheduled for distribution in December 2015.

TO ORDER & FOR KICKSTARTER INFORMATION.

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August 17, 2015 · 11:34 am

Part I: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, one of Woodstock’s wild women who wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Editors’ Note:

Wendy Bird, M.P.P., is an advocate for social justice and equality of opportunity and a strategic consultant for non-profits, government, and philanthropy. This is the first part of Wendy’s two-part article about Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a well-known suffrage movement writer and literary figure who had roots in Woodstock, NY. She spent two summers in retreat writing at Byrdcliffe. In August 2015, the Woodstock town board passed a resolution honoring its women in history and expressing support for the state’s 2017 upcoming women’s suffrage centennial celebration.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Raising Eyebrows & Revolutionizing Women’s Health Care in the 1800s

Part I by Wendy Bird

Celebrated suffragist Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) raised eyebrows and helped revolutionize women’s health care with her provocative and innovative short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” published in 1892 in The New England Magazine. The story chronicles the injustices and inadequacies of the 19^th century “rest cure” for women, which isolated patients from family and friends and confined them to bed rest for extended periods of time. Gilman also used to the story to courageously challenge the popular notion at the time that, as doctors and husbands, men know best about women’s health and wellbeing.

In the story, an unnamed woman moves into a summer home with her husband John, a doctor, to help address her “nervous troubles” through the “rest cure.” Having recently given birth, the woman’s condition is today interpreted as a form of postpartum depression. At the time, however, there was little understanding of the condition or effective treatments. Alone and rendered completely inactive, the woman begins to see visions in the yellow wallpaper of her room and ultimately goes insane.

Gilman based “The Yellow Wallpaper” on her own negative experiences with neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell, who treated Gilman (then Charlotte Stetson) with the “rest cure” in 1887, following the birth of Gilman’s daughter Katharine (Thraikill, 2002). While a work of fiction, the real-life Weir is a looming threat in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” As the unnamed woman in the story describes, “John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don’t want to go there at all.”

A PHYSICIAN ADVISED GILMAN TO GIVE UP WRITING AND TEND TO HER FAMILY

After “treating” Gilman, Mitchell advised her to give up writing, her passion, and concentrate exclusively on being a wife and mother as a way to maintain good health (Science Museum). Instead, Gilman went on to write “The Yellow Wallpaper” to dramatically illustrate the deficiencies of the “rest cure, as well as the influential non-fiction book Women and Economics (1898), which advocated for women’s economic independence and was translated into seven languages.

Dismantling the “Rest Cure”: In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman outlines how the “rest cure” systematically disenfranchises, isolates, and controls an unnamed woman in need of quality health care, resulting in her ultimate insanity.

Disenfranchisement: Throughout the story, the woman asserts her ideas that writing and companionship would greatly improve her health, but is dismissed. In one example, she says, “I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.” However, her husband advises her to “check the tendency.” When the woman asks for the room downstairs that “opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window,” her husband refuses, choosing the nursery with barred windows upstairs instead. When the woman complains of the ripped up wallpaper in the room, her husband refuses to fix it, saying he doesn’t want to “give way” to her “fancies” or spend money renovating a rental. When the woman says the “treatment” isn’t helping and asks to leave, her husband again refuses, citing the lease agreement: “I told him that I really was not gaining here, and that I wished he would take me away. ‘Why darling!’ said he, ‘our lease will be up in three weeks, and I can’t see how to leave before.'”

FIREWORKS IN HER PILLOWCASE

Isolation: Despite allegedly good intentions, John’s actions increasingly isolate the woman in the story. Twice, he prevents her from having the company of sought-after cousins Henry and Julia. The first time, the woman says, John “would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now.” The second time, the woman says, “I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there.” Meanwhile, John is away a good deal of the time on medical cases (“John is away all day, and even some nights”), a clear juxtaposition — and contributing factor — to the woman’s increasing isolation.
Control: Finally, as the summer goes by, John’s behavior becomes increasingly controlling, and the woman begins to question his true intentions. According to the woman, he “hardly lets me stir without special direction.” The woman is forced to lie down alone for increasing periods of time. As she describes, “I lie down ever so much now. John says it is good for me, and to sleep all I can. Indeed he started the habit by making me lie down for an hour after each meal. It is a very bad habit I am convinced.” As her condition worsens, the woman says, “I believe John is beginning to notice. I don’t like the look in his eyes.” As the summer draws to a close, the woman believes John is only “pretending” to be loving and kind. Eventually, these questions turn to cold fear: “The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John.”

COMING SOON: PART II OF ARTICLE BY WENDY BIRD. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is available online to read or to listen to an audio reading. A one-woman show of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is perfect for suffrage events and celebrations. Check out the Woodstock town board resolution honoring suffrage centennials and women in local history.

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July 10, 2015 · 1:11 pm

New York State could blow its 2017 suffrage centennial celebration or it can lead the way to 2020!

Goal of 200 storytelling videos about women’s suffrage movement makes learning American history easy for young people on Vimeo.

Just because New York State has an opportunity to market its unique position as the “Cradle” of the women’s rights movement in the United States doesn’t mean it will be successful. All the pieces are in place for New York to walk into the sunset with the entire nation and the world paying attention. This requires a correct balance of circumstances and attitude. If New York State believes it can bus people in from China and Australia and have them leave excited, it’s possible. And it’s more likely that the intentions will be good but there won’t be the necessary followup and input and grassroots support to make it work. The key is in bringing the right balance of excitement and connection together, to link the past and present and redefine the “Spirit of 1776” for a new time and place and set of conditions in this contemporary world.

WE COULD BLOW THIS OPPORTUNITY, OR ALL THE PIECES COULD COME TOGETHER!

Today the internet is exploding with stories of suffrage activists. Sometimes they’re called suffragettes. Other times they’re referred to as suffragists. In the past, some women preferred one term over the other which is why we here on SuffrageCentennials.com refer to votes for women advocates as suffrage activists. It’s important to not leave anyone out. Many different types of people were involved in shaking up the status quo during this time in history, including men and those who opposed the idea of women voting altogether.

Women vote in high numbers today. More than at any other time in history, there’s a fascination with storytelling about the votes for women movement. We even find descendants of the anti-suffragists lamenting the day women won the right to vote. It’s essential the entire story of the suffrage movement be told: the warts, the compromises, the courage, especially the parts revealing the movement’s weaknesses and prejudices.

LET’S TELL THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT…!

Women of the 20th century didn’t invent racism, classism, and sexism. They inherited it. We’re all born into this social and economic system where discrimination and prejudice is profitable, which is why women’s suffrage storytelling can bring us together as we peel back the layers. The storytelling about this remarkable social movement of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, other family members and ancestors has the potential of completing the unfinished American Revolution, hopefully in our lifetimes.

There are so many stories to tell. Women’s suffrage storytelling was featured on Suffrage Wagon Cafe on July 8, 2015. Storytelling features the women of the past reaching out through time to meet us where we are today. Transferring the messages and spirit and content into upcoming women’s suffrage events and celebrations is up to us. Let’s get together to celebrate suffrage centennial celebrations, whether in New York State in 2017 or the national observance of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 2020!

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June 13, 2015 · 10:11 pm

June 19th is a big day for Iceland’s suffrage centennial celebrants!

Highlights of Suffrage Centennials: From now to 2020, go where the action is for votes for women! on Vimeo.

Move over United States and let Iceland move into position as a trailblazer and one of the best nations in the world for women. This year Iceland celebrates its suffrage centennial of women voting for the past 100 years. But it’s more than the date. The buzz is about what Iceland has been able to accomplish since 1915 when women partially won the right to vote, and then in 1920 all Icelandic women stood in line before the ballot box.

For the past five years the World Economic Forum has applauded Iceland for having the smallest wage gender gap. An equal number of men and women are involved in government. And the nation elected its first woman president in 1980. In this year of Iceland’s suffrage observances, the Reykjavík City Council’s Presidential Committee is coordinating 100 activities, planned and produced by a wide variety of organizations. These events include art exhibits, rallies, issue campaigns, panel discussions, classes, festivals, and many special programs. June 19th is Women’s Rights Day in Iceland. On October 24th, women in Iceland go on strike to bring about an even better standing for wages. They’ve been doing this for the past 40 years.

The exhibition “Visions of Women” from Iceland is based on photographs and documents from the years 1910 to 1920 when women in Iceland organized for the right to vote. The aim of the exhibition is to honor the women, their lives and times. A part of the exhibition is Guðrún Sigríður Haraldsdóttir´s multimedia installation “kven:vera.” The installation uses materials and methods the artist developed in her art practice in recent years. Tryggvagata 15, 1st floor. Entry free.

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June 2, 2015 · 2:45 pm

Suffrage centennial planning is taking off in New York State

New York is getting ready for its 2017 suffrage centennial on Vimeo.

New York State is humming with women’s suffrage centennial planning activity. There’s the recent bill establishing a state suffrage centennial commission that’s now on its way to the NYS Assembly. New York City is buzzing with suffrage centennial planners active, organizations looking ahead, and citizens involved with their share of the action.

There’s considerable activity underway in NYC to celebrate the victories of the women’s suffrage movement across lines of race and class, with national landmarks (the Statue of Liberty, Fifth Avenue, Union Square) as a background for political theater and celebrations.

A fall gala in 2017 will honor NYC suffragists and feature their descendants. Sponsored by the Gotham Center for New York History, Suzanne Wasserman and Louise Bernikow are enthusiastic organizers. If you’re a descendant of a NYC suffragist, an invitation will be sent your way if you get in touch. Find out about the Suffrage Soapbox and a Facebook page, Votesforwomenny, for NYC suffrage centennial events and celebrations. Louise Bernikow (louisebernikow@gmail.com), 212-6626307, can be contacted for more information. Louise’s book, Milliners & Millionaires: New York City Women and the Fight for the Vote, will be published in 2017.

The New York State Museum will feature a special exhibit in 2017: “Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial” that’s scheduled to open in the fall of 2017. The state museum has acquired a series of 1917 Franklin County women’s suffrage petitions from Jean Kubaryk, a teacher at North Warren Central School District. The “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon will also be on exhibit at the state museum in 2017. The state Council for the Humanities has held workshops about funding for 2017 centennial programming and taken an active role in planning for the centennial observance.

After a year and a half of work, the NYC Parks Commissioner has approved the Central Park women’s statue project proposed to honor Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. All the details, including the location, can be found on the website www.centralparkwherearethewomen.org. Next steps include the design phase and approval by the city Public Design Commission.

The NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) is celebrating the state’s 2017 women’s suffrage centennial by launching activities and programs from 2015 to 2020 to bring attention to New York City’s under-recognized female activists of the past and present, as well as inspiring activism. DORIS is hosting an exhibition through June 30, 2015 entitled “Women Make History: A March Through the Archives” at 31 Chambers Street in New York City. Group tours are welcome. Contact visitorcenter@records.nyc.gov for more information. There’s an evening of music, performance, art, and oratory on November 12, 2015 honoring Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 200th birthday at Cooper Union in NYC. Tickets will go on sale in the fall. Visit the NYC link at www.WomensActivism.NYC. Follow on Twitter and Facebook. Contact Tracy Penn Sweet – tsweet@records.nyc.gov for more information.

The Central Park suffrage statue activists will be shifting into a fundraising phase to pay all costs for the proposed statue and its endowment fund. Even though the Statue Fund is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization, fundraising is challenging. So Pam Elam, President of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund, Inc., sends out the reminder: “A thanks, again, to everyone who has already endorsed the statue campaign and/or made a pledge/donation. Please help us spread the word and gain new endorsers and donors. Your help would be greatly appreciated.”

If you have specific plans for celebrations in 2017 and 2020, let us know and we’ll highlight upcoming events. We’re also gearing up for the 2020 Votes for Women national suffrage centennial. Follow Suffrage Centennials for trends, news, and views.

PLUS SUFFRAGE NEWS FROM UPSTATE NEW YORK:

On July 22, 2015, join historian and singer Tisha Dolton as she leads a discussion and sing-a-long of some of the songs that helped shape the 72-year struggle for the enfranchisement of women in the US. It’s part of the Adult Summer Reading program at Rensselaer (NY) Public Library. Tisha has a new Facebook page that highlights her activities and programs.

We’ve been collecting suffrage centennial news from New York State–a sampling from our archive : #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 Stanton related events

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May 27, 2015 · 4:45 pm

VOTE IN NYS SENATE: Bill to create a NYS 2017 suffrage centennial commission!

At 3 p.m. EST today, May 27, 2015, it’s possible to find out what NYS Senate representatives are saying about the proposed bill to establish a 2017 state suffrage centennial planning commission. It’s Senate bill 2388. If you haven’t made your voice heard, now’s the time to contact your representative. The NYS legislative session is close to an end. Use the Twitter hashtag, #NY4suffrage, for updates today and your comments!

YOU CAN TAKE ACTION BY CONTACTING YOUR STATE SENATOR, STAYING IN TOUCH WITH #NY4SUFFRAGE TWITTER HASHTAG, AND WATCHING NYS SENATE VIDEO OF PROCEEDINGS AT 3 P.M. EST!

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May 12, 2015 · 1:47 pm

Suffrage movement photographs help prepare us for the centennial of all suffrage centennials: 2020

Women’s Suffrage Movement Photographs from the Library of Congress enrich Suffrage Centennial Celebrations on Vimeo.

Okay, let’s say you’re open to the idea of celebrating suffrage centennials and you might even plan travel in the future. But what’s a good place to start? By checking in with the suffrage activists themselves, on the streets and in parades and at rallies and special events. They were a creative group. This is a conclusion that comes after getting to know these activists who put themselves on the line from 1848 to 1920. And as we all know, the struggle for equality continues.

If you’d been around to ask some suffrage activists why they focused only on the ballot, a puzzled expression would have spread over their faces. They’d explain that equality has always been the goal and the franchise turned out to be such a hard nut to crack, it took several generations of women to put it out of the way. The woman’s suffrage photo collection at the Library of Congress is fascinating and this is by no means the entire collection. Consider it a beginning or a refresher. And keep your eye on the prize: suffrage movement events and celebrations from now through 2020, the nation’s big celebration, the centennial of all centennials.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Link for Library of Congress photo and prints collection. Terrific suffrage collections and educational programs are available from “American Memory,” under Women’s History, including: An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera; Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division’s First 100 Years; Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921; Miller NAWSA Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911; and American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States.

Thanks for this information roundup to Robert P.J. Cooney Jr., historian and author of “Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement” an illustrated reference book that can inspire your pilgrimage or journey to historic sites, suffrage events and centennial celebrations.

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May 1, 2015 · 10:42 am

Plan a trip for August 26th inspired by suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker

by Olivia Twine

The story of Isabella Beecher Hooker and her times has me fired up. See article I wrote about book by Susan Campbell. Now it’s time to hit the road and visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford Connecticut. https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org and the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, http://www.cwhf.org/contact-us. The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame office is located on the bottom floor of Schwartz Hall on the Southern Connecticut State University Campus. Call (203) 392-9007 to arrange for parking and building access.

The Stowe Center has a large collection of Isabella Beecher Hooker items, including letters, diaries and photographs. Most of these are not currently on exhibit, according to collections assistant Anastasia Thibeault, but special research appointments can be scheduled.

The Stowe Center features the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and is near the Mark Twain House and Museum https://wwwmarktwainhouse.org, located on the site of the former Nook Farm, a community of intellectuals where John and Isabella Beecher Hooker resided. Although the Hooker’s house no longer stands, their granddaughter Katharine Seymour Day helped save the Twain and Stowe houses and preserved part of Nook Farm, all of which have become national landmarks. The Day house serves as the Stowe Center library and administrative office.

Nook Farm was conceived in 1853, when Isabella’s husband John Hooker, a descendant of Hartford founder Thomas Hooker, and his brother-in-law Francis Gillette purchased 140 acres of pasture and woodland at the western edge of Hartford. Over the years Hooker and Gillette sold parcels to relatives and friends, including Mark Twain. Noted architects were engaged to design their homes in a wide range of styles.

The Connecticut History website http://connecticuthistory.org/?=nook+farm also provides information about Nook Farm and its famous residents. “..Just as its individual personalities were unique, so, too, was the Nook Farm neighborhood. Its grand Victorian homes were open and accessible to each other on pathways winding through the broad estate. The residents would often dine together and enjoy fireside discussions until early hours of the morning. An evening may have starred one of the Clemens girls giving a piano recital or an informal concert by Susan Lee Warner, a superb pianist who helped start the Hartford Philharmonic Orchestra. A ‘Friday Evening Club’ pulled neighborhood pool players to the Twain’s billiards room…”

Visitors included President Ulysses S. Grant, Sarah Orne Jewett, Bret Harte, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Matthew Arnold, and William Dean Howells. The community dwindled after 1891, when financial problems forced Twain to close his house and move to Europe. Stowe died five years later.

Now I’m ready to explore the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, the Mark Twain House and Museum, and the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame with new appreciation for the contributions of Isabella Beecher Hooker and the Hooker branch of the famous Beecher family.

Follow SuffrageCentennials.com on Facebook page, Twitter, email subscription, and the Quarterly Newsletter. Sign up for email on this web page. Stay up to date with postings, audio podcasts, and videos. Plan for your suffrage centennial event and start planning for the 2020 suffrage centennial.

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