Beschreibung:

Archive of 7 items associated with Mary Stuart Andrews, a suffragist from Warren, Ohio. The archive begins with the 1892 Commencement Program of Warren High School, 5.5 x 6.5 in., which that year graduated a total of eleven students, including Mary Stuart Andrews, who is shown to have delivered a recitation entitled "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" during the commencement. In the years that followed, Miss Mary Andrews became very active in the women's suffrage movement that was headquartered in downtown Warren, Ohio, and staffed by equally enthusiastic and committed young ladies and older women. At some point before the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, she sent a photograph of her small entourage to New York City pioneer suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947). On December 27th, 1920, Mary received a response from Carrie Chapman Catt, handwritten on stationery featuring a vignette of Fleet Street in Brooklyn, addressed on reverse side of letter to "Miss Mary Andrews / Warren, Ohio / Suffrage Headquarters," 6 x 10 in. Catt writes to "My dear Miss Andrews": I thank the camera friend most cordially, for the glimpse of the familiar figures of Headquarters, and all put up in such neat and attractive style. I like best the two views of the three girls, all smiling, as though they liked each other and liked the work, and liked the big, big world too. Long may they continue to smile - and to work...Yours Cordially, Carrie Chapman Catt. Although not one of the gifted pictures to which Catt refers in her letter, this archive includes a 2.5 x 4.25 in. photograph of Mary (third from right) and her fellow Ohio suffragettes posing in front of the Warren suffrage headquarters, which was taken at the same time and retained by her as an accompaniment to the treasured keepsake letter. The archive also features a fanciful, petite ensemble that Mary Andrews would have worn to formal suffrage parades and events, comprised of a fitted long-sleeve lace blouse with ruffled front and matching jacket with expanded full bell sleeves, as well as two colorful silk sashes adorned with fringe, one red sash embroidered with "Justice" in white, and one white sash embroidered with "Morality" in blue. Each 26.5 in. long, with "Baldwin Regalia Co., St. Louis, MO" manufacturer's tag on reverse of white sash. These "Justice" and "Morality" sashes were originally part of a three-piece set - "Intelligence" being the third, likely done on blue - and would have been worn by three individual ladies marching or demonstrating in tandem. The three words represented a tribute and respectful nod to pioneer women's rights and suffrage activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, per her quote: "If intelligence, justice, and morality are to have precedence in the Government, let the question of the woman be brought up first..." An exceptional collection identified to a young suffragette from Northeastern Ohio. Condition: Few light spots visible on white sash. Some slight separation of fibers in red silk sash. Otherwise sashes and blouse and vest in very fine condition. Light folds in Catt letter, with slight separation along few folds, but inked note and signature strong and legible. Photograph near exc. condition. Program with some light soiling on covers.