More than transportation, horses also provided iconic stature and presence in visual displays and parades that advanced the cause of Women’s Suffrage. Traditionally, horses had been chiefly the instruments of men for military and civilian power and sport.
In the decades following the Civil War, increasing numbers of primarily white middle- as well as upper-class women took up riding and carriage driving in and around cities, while more and more rural women helped manage horses on farms out of necessity as well as recreation. For women to appear in public on horseback, especially astride, or driving a carriage was a potent gesture of strength and independence.
In the case:
Each object in the cases is marked with a corresponding number unless otherwise noted.
61. Horseshoe
Marra Collection
62. Annual convention ribbon, Iowa Equal Suffrage Association
63. Suffrage Ribbon, Y.P.S.C.E. (Young People’s Society for Christian Endeavour)
64. Suffrage Ribbon, unity65 “Votes for Women” ribbon, medallion, and pin
66. Iowa Equal Suffrage Association convention program, 1919
67. Assorted Suffrage buttons
Iowa Suffrage Memorial Commission Records, Iowa Women’s Archives