So Much More Than a Purse
Susan B. Anthony’s “purse” has gotten a lot of press. Sometimes, people are referring to her famous quote about a woman’s financial independence:
Woman must have a purse of her own, & how can this be, so long as the wife is denied the right to her individual and joint earnings. Reflections like these, caused me to see and really feel that there was no true freedom for woman without the possession of all her property rights. . .This demand must be made by Petitions to the Legislature. . .
Susan B. Anthony, Diary, November, 1853
Susan B. Anthony worked passionately to raise awareness about the ways in which women were denied financial opportunity, and worked to change the laws in New York state.
At other times, people are referring to the “alligator purse” that became a symbol for the woman and for the voting rights she championed. We have that purse here at the Anthony Museum. It certainly wasn’t a fashion item! It looks more like a doctor’s satchel (the style was called a “club bag”), and it probably served more like a sturdy briefcase than a fashion accessory.
“Vote!” Said the Lady with the Alligator Purse
You may recognize this children’s jump-rope rhyme that was recorded by the press when Anthony was campaigning for suffrage in California:
Miss Lulu had a baby, she called him tiny Tim.
She put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water! He ate up all the soap!
He tried to swallow the bathtub, but it wouldn’t go down his throat!!
Call for the doctor!
Call for the nurse!
Call for the lady with the alligator purse!
“Mumps!” said the doctor. “Measles!” said the nurse.
“Vote!!” said the lady with the alligator purse!!
We may have added to some confusion about Susan B. Anthony’s “purse” when we featured her quote about a woman’s independence on the contemporary “alligator purse” that we sell in our Museum Shop.