SI Museum Celebrates Centennial Of Women's Suffrage With New Exhibition

This March, to coincide with Women's History Month, the Staten Island Museum marks the centennial of the 19th Constitutional Amendment with a new exhibition, Women of the Nation Arise! Staten Islanders in the Fight for Women's Right to Vote. The exhibition will present the remarkable stories of local suffragists acting on the grassroots level to create the momentum necessary for regional and national change and the bold tactics they employed to win the vote.

The public is invited to explore this new exhibition featuring stories of Staten Island's unique place in the history of the suffrage movement beginning with an opening reception on Saturday, March 7, 2020, 2pm - 4pm. On opening day, visitors can view the exhibition, register to vote, snap a photo in the photo booth, and get creative with a Family Art Workshop: Voting Rocks!

"Women of the Nation Arise! is the result of four years of primary research in the Staten Island Museum's collection of suffrage periodicals collected by Museum co-founder, Arthur Hollick. Staten Island suffragists made a significant difference through their bold actions and added Staten Island's voice to the national conversation about women's suffrage. We are excited to finally be able to share these stories with the public that pay tribute to their struggle to earn the right to vote," said Janice Monger, Staten Island Museum President & CEO.

The exhibition will connect visitors to the challenging history of securing women's right to vote and its relevance to present-day considerations of civic engagement and voter participation. Staten Island's role in the fight for women's political equality was both innovative on a national level and uniquely suited to the community from which it came. From lectures to street meetings to high-flying spectacles, suffragists employed a broad range of tactics to bring attention to and garner support for the movement. In 1913, Rosalie Gardiner Jones became the first suffragist to fly for the cause when she dropped 'votes for women' leaflets from a bi-plane over Staten Island.

Women of the Nation Arise! has been in development for nearly four years with research and curation spearheaded by the Museum's Archives Manager Gabriella Leone. On view will be historical photos, suffrage periodicals, artifacts and a period dress from the Staten Island Museum collection; pennants, sashes buttons and letters on loan from Historic Richmond Town; and signature suffrage items such as fans and decks of cards from private collections.

The Staten Island Museum has also engaged local filmmaker Rachel Caccese to interview women representatives in government about the importance of voting, public service, and civic engagement. Interviewees include United States Senator for New York Kirsten Gillibrand, Lieutenant Governor of New York Kathy Hochul, Attorney General of New York Letitia James, New York State Senator Diane J. Savino, New York Supreme Court Judge Judith N. McMahon, New York State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Public Administrator Edwina Frances Martin, esq., and Richmond County Board of Elections Commissioner Patricia Anne Taylor.

A 30 foot sculpture created by SI Makerspace in collaboration with the women led staff of the Staten Island Museum will artistically represent a historic flight by Rosalie Gardiner Jones, the first suffragist in the nation to fly for the cause in 1913. The sculptural biplane will be displayed outside of the Staten Island Museum on the grounds of Snug Harbor beginning March 6.

Featured Suffragists

Elizabeth Neall Gay - a staunch abolitionist also devoted to women's rights.

Elizabeth Burrill Curtis - a parish community leader and vocal advocate for voting rights and civic education for women.

Mary Otis Willcox - the indefatigable (as described by her peers) officer in the Political Equality Club, Chair of the Staten Island Woman Suffrage Party, and the first woman to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Staten Island Museum.

Florence Spearing Randolph - reverend in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and co-founder of the New Jersey Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.

Linda French - local teacher and suffragist, who marched in parades for Woman Suffrage and attended suffrage meetings through New York City.

Alberta Hill - a press magnet who rode in the Washington D.C. suffrage parade on horseback.

Dorothy Day - a radical activist who protested for peace, and immigrants', workers', and women's rights.

Mary Lawton Metcalf - a columnist for the Staten Island World who wrote under the name Electra Sparks in favor of woman suffrage and social reforms.

Drusilla Poole - a community leader, founder of the Women's Civic and Political Union, and active member of the National Association of Colored Women, Urban League, and Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs.

Mary Grey Brewer - the first woman to run for office on Staten Island on a major party ticket.

The Woman Voter and The Suffragist - the suffrage periodicals in the Staten Island Museum's collection that inspired the exhibition have been digitized and made publicly available online: https://archive.org/details/statenislandmuseum.

The Staten Island Museum is a co-founder of the Women's Suffrage NYC Centennial Consortium with the New York Historical Society which represents a collaboration of cultural organizations citywide to make connections between related exhibitions and programs that offer a fuller picture of the women's suffrage movement and its lasting impacts. Participating organizations include the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Philharmonic, the New York Public Library, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Museum. For more, visit www.WomensSuffrageNYC.org.

Exhibition Advisors Panel -- Funded through a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, key scholars contributed their expertise to the exhibition:

Susan Goodier is a Lecturer of History at SUNY Oneonta and specializes in U.S. Public Policy History, International Gender and Culture, and Black Women's History. She is the author of No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement and co-author with Karen Pastorello of Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State.

Catherine Gray is Co-President of the League of Women Voters of the City of New York since 2016 after being a member for more than a decade. She is retired from her job as a librarian with Brooklyn Public Library for over thirty years.

Sarah Litvin is Director of the Reher Center for Immigrant History and Culture, a new museum and center for civic engagement in Kingston, New York. Sarah was formerly on the curatorial team of the New-York Historical Society's Center for Women's History. She completed her PhD in U.S. women's history in 2019 with a dissertation focused on how women used the upright parlor piano to pursue their far-flung ambitions and expand women's roles at the turn of the twentieth century.

Margaret Middleton is a designer and developer of exhibitions and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She is passionate about the intersection of museum work and social justice movements. She has received a number of awards for excellence and diversity.

Debbie-Ann Paige is a public historian specializing in African American history, co-president of the newly chartered Richard B. Dickenson Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAGHS) and professional genealogist.

Opening Weekend and Related Programing

Public Opening Reception

Saturday, March 7, 2pm - 4pm

Free with Museum Admission

Family Art Workshop: Voting Rocks

Saturday, March 7, 1pm - 3pm

Free with Museum Admission

International Women's Day

Sunday, March 8, Free Admission 11am - 5pm

10am: Bird Walk with the Feminist Bird Club and Move Forward Staten Island - meet on museum steps

11am: Guided Tour with Exhibition Curator Gabriella Leone

Panel Discussion: Perspectives on the Suffrage Centennial

Sunday, March 22, 2pm - 3:30pm

Hear firsthand, the conclusions reached by the panel of scholars and experts who advised the development of the exhibition. This program is funded by a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.