“In Relation to the Rights of Suffrage”: The 1911 Amendment for Women’s Voting Rights in California

In the years following the passage of the 1911 state suffrage amendment, supporters continued to advocate for the federal enfranchisement of women across the country. Suffragists created and distributed ephemera to publicize their cause and gain support for the movement, including literature, pennants, posters, shopping bags, playing cards, postcards, and pin-back buttons, such as this “Votes for Women!” postcard and ribbon with a “Votes for Women” pin from 1912.

On the opposite side, those opposing women's suffrage created their own ephemera to spread their message, like this postcard from 1913 depicting a woman standing on a soap box declaring, “De suffragette upon her box darns der men, but not der sox.” This postcard evidenced that although women may have won the vote in California, there were still strong anti-suffragette sentiments circulating in the United States in the years following 1911.