The Story of a Sub-Pioneer.
Providence, Rhode Island: Snow and Farnham, 1925. First edition. One of only a thousand copies, “the first two hundred of which will be reserved by the Author for her fellow Suffragists.”. With frontisportrait of the author, nearly seventy full-page and half-page photo reproductions and political cartoons. The photo reproductions include numerous portraits of suffragists, plus suffrage rallies and meetings and groups of suffragists campaigning in the streets. Also with title-page device representing Rhode Island suffragists. Back cover lightly soiled. Foxing to fore-edge; however, very clean and fresh throughout. A very good, tight copy inscribed by the author (September 20, 1937). Publisher’s light green cloth with gilt title. Octavo. [xvi], 318 pp. Item #16954
The “Sub-Pioneers,” in the words of Sarah MacCormack Algeo (1876 – 1953), were suffragists like herself who “came into the great game of ‘Votes for Women’ at the Eleventh Hour,” but nevertheless “played a not inglorious part.” Algeo writes: “I am a feminist first, last and all the time,” (p. 13). She draws on her experiences as the chair Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association and the first president of the Rhode Island League of Women Voters to construct this history of the later years of the fight for women’s suffrage in New England. The present work recounts suffrage milestones like the Rhode Island State Senate hearing a suffragist speech for the first time (p. 187), the 1914 Votes for Women Week, and the visit of Emmeline Pankhurst to New England (p. 169).
Algeo also highlights the work and words of many suffrage leaders, including Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt, as well as the contributions of women’s organizations like the Rhode Island Union of Colored Women’s Clubs, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and the YWCA. In the present work, she preserves lectures and essays by suffragists including Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the third president of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association, and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, the President of the Equal Suffrage League. Algeo takes a particular interest in the histories of topics like the role of small newspapers in rural suffrage efforts (p. 129) and the fight for the voting rights of working-class women (p. 201).
Price: $250.00