Featured Finds Thread

THey're actually black, but..who knows. I have to retest the dark ones.

 

On October 10, 1911, California became the sixth state where women could vote equally with men, nine years before the 19th Amendment enfranchised women nationally.


I won this auction today, knowing there are many original Women’s Suffrage pinbacks available and many reproductions too. Searching found a slew of better condition buttons that sold in the $150 to $200 range. This one looked good to my eye and not a “run of the mill”.

“To publicize their Cause as widely as possible, suffragists produced pin-back buttons, pennants and posters. They created post cards, playing cards and shopping bags. They used electric signs, 8-foot tall billboards and lantern slides at night to flash their message. They distributed over three million pieces of literature and over 90,000 Votes for Women buttons in southern California alone.”
https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/celebrating-womens-suffrage/california-women-suffrage-centennial

I also liked that image and text searching did not find this one. I would have thought that the word captain would pull something out of the web, but no. Finally I found a mention to captain after I won it.

“Each precinct of the city was to have its “captainess,” whose sole duty was to organize the precinct and to attend to house-to-house canvassing. The Association also planned a rainbow shower of literature, consisting of multi-colored pamphlets containing arguments for suffrage.”
https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1977/october/suffrage/

Obviously not one of the 90,000 buttons.

I think that as a leadership button it translates to a higher value.

If anyone can share some more info about it, I'd love to know.

 

I really enjoyed the Ms. article about the Oct 10 election day. Yellow was the theme for all the banners. Women were out all day, handing out flyers, holding signs, and trying to convince men to allow their vote. So this button, on this captain, would have been worn all day while she organized.

"Cars flying “Votes for Women” pennants were kept busy all day carrying sympathetic voters–all men, of course–to the polls. They rode past many blocks on which there was almost a solid yellow line of suffrage banners hung from houses, telegraph and telephone poles, and anything else to which they could be nailed or tied."

Then the papers said they lost. They immediately began organizing for the next election.

"Said one suffrage spokesperson, Mrs. H.F. Henshaw, to the Chronicle:

I don’t consider we are beaten because the vote does not seem to tally our way. It is really only the result of our first effort. We are not going to start over again, because we have never stopped. We are just always moving towards victory. I, for one, am delighted with the fine campaign we have made. It was a splendid piece of work, and if it has not brought victory today it is the brilliant beginning of another campaign which will surely bring victory at the next election, and that election will not be so far away."

So this captain would have gotten straight back into it and planning, until she got the call that after all votes were counted, they had actually won. Even though San Fran voted 62% against.

What an amazing piece of history you've picked up. I'm quite jealous!

 

I figure the Captain badge was included in the 90 grand total..... but indeed not 90 thou of this button were made..
How many precincts....in San Fran is a good question..

Nice find Roaring.......