Women’s Suffrage “Bluebird” Tin Sign, 1915

 

Rare Women’s Suffrage “Bluebird” Tin Sign, 1915

Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association issued this symbolic lithograph tin blue bird sign as a show of support for a 1915 referendum to give Massachusetts’s women the right to vote. On July 19, 1915 MWSA declared “Suffrage Blue Bird Day” where roughly 100,00 “VOTES FOR WOMEN NOV. 2” blue bird signs were perched in windows and pinned up on porches, lamp -posts, telephone poles and many other visible locations throughout the state.

Although they did not achieve the vote in 1915 women had a strong message to deliver, and membership in the MWSA increased from 25,000 in 1912 to 250,000 in 1915. Women would not be denied this entitlement for much longer as the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote passed by the US Congress on June 4, 1919 and became federal law just over a year later. Reversing its vote in 1915 Massachusetts was the 8th state to ratify the 19th Amendment on June 25 1919 and when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify it on August 1920 it became law.

Description
Lithographed silhouette of a blue bird made of tin and produced in NYC by Amalgamate Lithographers of America- a labor union formed in 1915 to serve workers in the printing trade. It is stamped with the Union Bug seal in the lower left hand corner of the bird’s tail, and printed along the right side of the blue bird’s tail are the names of Gertrude H. Leonard chairman of the State Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Woman Association from 1912-1917 and Theresa A. Crowley who served until 1917.

Condition
The sign is in very good condition; however, has slight fading, a crease at the top of the tail, and some water staining. This iconic “Blue Bird” has two distinct hole marks which are located top and lower left side on the blue wing suggesting this sign was used for the reason it was created and likely hung outside for all to see, making it all the more desirable for the discerning collector.
Size: 12” x 4”

The 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was passed by the United States Congress on 4 June 1919 and became federal law just over a year later. Reversing its vote in 1915, Massachusetts was the eighth state to ratify the 19th Amendment on 25 June 1919, and when Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify it on 18 August 1920, it became law.

Both of these distinguished women were greatly responsible for organizing the work lobbying in the state legislature in favor of a suffrage bill, and will be remembered as leading orators of the suffrage movement.

Email: jtfrancis.com@gmail.com

Item: 19-5-12