Exhibits
Meet Maine Here.
The Maine Story
Sharing the Burden with Men
R. H Porteus, artist, Edwards and Deutsch Litho. Co., Chicago, 1917 (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Collection
September 1, 1917 (Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine]
This issue of The Woman Citizen, a national publication of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, focused on the September 10, 1917 Maine constitutional amendment referendum. With its World War I-themed cover cartoon by Maine native Lou Rogers, it also reflects the overarching presence of the war in all aspects of life at the time.
The magazine’s inside pages included a rare photograph of the suffrage headquarters in Bangor. Another article describes the efforts of Bar Harbor resident, Mrs. Ernest Fabbri, who supported the Maine referendum by paying for her car and chauffeur to transport suffrage workers for a “suffrage poster posting tour.”
Maine State Museum (69.129 Scrapbook 1, Maine Women’s Suffrage Association)
The Maine State Suffrage Campaign Committee, with advice from the National American Woman Suffrage Association, produced numerous materials for the 1917 referendum campaign. The small flyers were likely distributed broadly and posted in windows and other venues.
A number of the posters referred to World War I – then known as the Great War – and why the war effort would benefit from women being able to vote. Others detailed benefits to society and families of women voting.
Next: They Persisted
