Tag: History
“Thank you, Susan B Anthony!” Online Exhibit Launched
Rochester, NY – The National Susan B Anthony Museum & House is proud to announce the launch of a new online exhibit, “Thank you, Susan B Anthony!”, in partnership with Google Cultural Institute.
Through this virtual exhibition, users are able to view artifacts, documents, and other items from the Museum’s permanent collection that bring to light new aspects of one of the world’s greatest social reformers. Viewers will encounter a young Susan B through the cross-stitch sampler she created as a preteen, images of her as a young woman, and letters penned in her own hand.
“We are excited to share these images, some of them never before published, with the world,” said Deborah L. Hughes, president and CEO of the National Susan B Anthony Museum & House. “Telling Susan B Anthony’s story through this innovative platform will help us inspire and challenge people around the world in a new way.”
“Thank you, Susan B Anthony!” is a part of the Google Arts & Culture’s American Democracy collection, which brings together over sixty online exhibits and more than 2500 individual artifacts from forty-four institutions dedicated to the preservation of U.S. political history and the practice of American democracy. The exhibition is accessible at g.co/AmericanDemocracy or through the Google Arts & Culture mobile app for iOS and Android.
Highlights of the “Thank you, Susan B Anthony!” exhibit include:
- A letter from Susan B Anthony to her aunt and uncle, pondering her future as a champion of equal rights
- A letter by Daniel Anthony, Susan B’s father, to his brother, endorsing Frederick Douglass and his newspaper, the North Star
- A pamphlet transcription of Henry R. Selden’s remarks on behalf of Anthony at her 1873 trial for voting
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Google Arts & Culture is a product of the Google Cultural Institute and its partners designed to put the world’s cultural treasures at the fingertips of internet users and to assist the cultural sector in sharing more of its diverse heritage online. The Google Cultural Institute has partnered with more than 1100 institutions, providing the Arts & Culture platform to over 400 thousand artworks and a total of 5 million photos, videos, manuscripts, and other documents of art, culture, and history. The exhibitions on Google Arts & Culture are open for all online, for free, on the web and through their mobile app.
The National Susan B Anthony Museum & House interprets the legacy of the great reformer to inspire and challenge individuals to make a positive difference in their lives and communities. We preserve and share the National Historic Landmark that was her home and headquarters, collect and exhibit artifacts related to her life and work, and offer tours and interpretive programs to share her story with the world.
The National Susan B Anthony Museum & House is supported primarily through the contributions of its members and donors. It is not affiliated with other organizations bearing her name.
US Treasury Announces Addition of Women to $5, $10, & $20
Rochester, NY – Last summer, the United States Treasury announced plans to redesign the ten dollar bill, incorporating the theme of “democracy” and the portrait of woman for the first time in over a century. The Treasury launched a social media campaign, using #TheNew10, and solicited public nominations on which woman to feature.
Now, almost a year of robust and thought-provoking discussions later, Secretary Jack Lew has announced plans to redesign not only the ten dollar bill, but also the five and twenty dollar bills. The announcement, made on April 20, also revealed plans to incorporate several women on all three bills.
Most notably, Harriet Tubman will be featured on the face of the twenty dollar bill. Alexander Hamilton, originally slated to be removed from the face of the ten dollar bill, will now remain, joined by images, on the reverse, of celebrated women’s rights advocates: Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and our own, Susan B Anthony. President Abraham Lincoln will remain on the face of the five dollar bill, while the reverse will feature a collage of images honoring the historic events, which took place at the Lincoln Memorial in DC.
“We are very pleased with the selection of Harriet Tubman,” said Anthony Museum president and CEO, Deborah L. Hughes. “Tubman gave her entire life and sacrificed much in the fight for equal rights.” Harriet Tubman was mentioned by several attendees at a town hall meeting held at the Anthony Museum last July.
The U.S. Treasury expects to unveil the new designs by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote. More information can be found at their website: https://modernmoney.treasury.gov/
Anthony Museum Announces Annual Family Tea Event
Reservations are now open for our annual Family Tea intergenerational event on
Saturday, April 23
2pm – 4pm
$35.00
(includes admission for 1 adult/1 child)
Whether you are a grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle, or a friend, you and your special little one will enjoy an inspiring afternoon at the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House!
Tour the Anthony House and learn all about the ways people communicated in the 19th century
Enjoy an informal “tea” with hot beverages and yummy light refreshments
Create hand-crafted notecards
Have your photo taken with “Susan B. Anthony”
This event is strictly limited. Advance reservations are required and may be made online or by calling our administrative office at 585/279-7490 x 10.
United, Women Can Accomplish Much
After Mary S. Anthony’s death in 1907, the house at 17 Madison Street served as both a single family home and a boarding house. In 1944, the Rochester Federation of Women’s Clubs placed a simple marker to commemorate that this was once the home of the Great Reformer, Susan B. Anthony, and her sister, a reformer in her own right, Mary S. Anthony. The placement of this marker fueled conversations about a more permanent memorial and led, one year later, to the purchase of 17 Madison Street with funds raised by the Rochester Federation of Women’s Clubs.
The Federation was recently featured in the Genesee Valley Penny Saver. To read the full article, please visit their website.
Anthony Museum Closed on Sunday, March 27
Happy Spring!
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House will be closed on Sunday, March 27.
Our administrative offices will also be closed on Monday, March 28.
The Anthony Museum & offices will reopen at 11:00 am on Tuesday, March 29.
Museum remembers the passing of an icon
On March 13, 1906, at forty minutes past midnight, Susan B. Anthony died at the age of 86 in her own bed on the second floor of the house on Madison Street, her home of 40 years.
At her request, much of the ceremonial mourning of the day was not observed: no shades were drawn, no black crepe hung. Only a simple wreath of violets was placed on the front door. For two days, close friends and family came to call. Then on March 15, the world said good-bye at an immense funeral held in Central Presbyterian Church (now the Hochstein School of Music). Amid a raging blizzard, thousands of mourners filled the church and over ten thousand more passed by her flag-draped coffin that was flanked by an honor guard of women students from the University of Rochester—the school she’d finally opened up to them in 1901. Next to the coffin was a silk suffrage flag with four gold stars, representing the only states where women then could vote; pinned on her breast was a jeweled flag pin with four diamond stars, a gift from women of Wyoming, the first in our nation to win the vote, thanks to all of her efforts on their behalf.
The Rochester newspaper of the day reported: “Rochester made no secret of its personal grief. There must have been people of every creed, political party, nationality, and plane of life in those long lines that kept filing through the aisles of Central Church. The young and the aged of the land were represented. Every type was there to bow in reverence, respect and grief. Professional men, working men, financiers came to offer homage. Women brought little children to see the face of her who had aimed at being the emancipator of her sex, but whose work had ended just as victory seemed within reach. Priests, ministers…, rabbis …, came to look upon her who had more than once given them inspiration in dark moments.”
The service in the church lasted an hour and a half. It took another 2 or more hours for the thousands of mourners to file past the coffin. Finally, in late afternoon, with the snowstorm still raging, Susan B’s most intimate friends and relatives accompanied her to her final resting place in Mt. Hope Cemetery. There, beneath a simple white stone engraved only with her name and dates, she was laid to rest. The final words were spoken by her dear friend, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who in tender and reverent voice, pronounced these solemn words: “Dear friend, thou hast tarried with us long; thou has now gone to thy well-earned rest. We beseech the Infinite Spirit who has upheld thee to make us worthy to follow in thy steps and carry on the work. Hail and farewell.”
Some years earlier, during a family reunion at her birthplace in Adams, Massachusetts, Susan B. Anthony had written her own epitaph. As the family gathered out in the yard on a glorious summer day, amid the horse-drawn carriages of all those who had come to call, someone remarked that the scene looked like a funeral. Anthony immediately replied:
“When it is a funeral, remember that I want there should be no tears.
Pass on, and go on with the work.”
Please join us for a memorial wreath ceremony on Sunday, March 13, at 11:00 am. The short ceremony will be followed at 12:30 pm by A Conversation with the CEO in our Carriage House. Anthony Museum president & CEO, Deborah L. Hughes, will provide an update and lead a discussion of future plans for the Museum. Both events are free and open to the public.
All general public tours will be available at the student rate of $5.00 that day only (members are always complimentary).
Sold Out Crowd for 2016 Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon
Rochester, NY – Billie Jean King and Susan B. Anthony have proved a winning combination! Thanks to an overwhelming and enthusiastic response, the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House is pleased to announce that the 2016 Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon is officially sold out. This milestone, ten days before the event, is the earliest ever for this annual luncheon.
The Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon is held each year in mid-February to celebrate Susan B. Anthony’s February 15th birthday, to honor contemporary women who continue her legacy, and to raise awareness of the educational and inspirational programs offered by the Museum.
This year’s event will be held on February 10th at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center at noon.
Questions related to this event may be directed to luncheon@susanbanthonyhouse.org.
Media inquiries may be directed to Sarah Murphy Abbamonte, Director of Communications, at 585/279-7490 x 15 or sarah.abbamonte@susanbanthonyhouse.org.
From our president & CEO…
This past year has been one of triumph and challenge. In so many ways, Susan B. Anthony’s life and work seem more relevant than ever as we head into 2016.
The Anthony Museum began 2015 with an exciting Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon focused on the accomplishments of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Lynn Sherr addressed a sold out crowd of more than 1,000 guests who were moved and inspired by the life story of Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space. Our theme, “Thanks to Susan B., We Can Reach For the Stars”, inspired many to contribute their own video messages of thanks.
In March, the United States commemorated the March on Selma fifty years earlier, but as the year unfolded, we were confronted with many ways in which racism is a part of our present world, not just a subject to be learned from our history books.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer. Susan B. Anthony envisioned a day when no one would face the barriers or injustice of prejudice; however, recent court challenges and new legislation in some states continue to demonstrate what she knew to be true: the vote is so powerful that there are those who will contrive to control it for their own ends.
Thanks to the release of the feature film, Suffragette, this fall, we experienced a surge of international interest in women’s history. The Friends of the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House hosted a sold-out screening of the film, which was followed by a panel discussion of the history behind its powerful story.
Just this past month, we celebrated the empowerment of women in Saudi Arabia as they cast their ballots and ran for local office for the first time. This despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is still an absolute monarchy that limits many basic rights and freedoms for both men and women. We are reminded of those women in the United States who were enfranchised at the local or state level, but waited another three decades or more before they would have a vote in their national government.
A reporter once asked Susan B. Anthony how she endured the decades of work for woman suffrage with mostly losses to show for her efforts. She responded, “Defeats? There have been none. We are always progressing.”
In that spirit, THANK YOU for helping us keep Susan B. Anthony’s vision alive. The world still needs her message of equality, freedom, and justice for all.
~Deborah L. Hughes, president & CEO
Billie Jean King to deliver keynote address
Rochester, NY – The National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House is proud to announce that the keynote speaker for the 2016 Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon is Billie Jean King, sports icon, humanitarian, and champion of equal rights.
The annual luncheon will be held Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center.
A native of Southern California, Billie Jean King has won thirty-nine Grand Slam singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles during her tennis career. She famously defeated Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match. King is the founder of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, which seeks to address inclusion and diversity issues in the workplace, and the Women’s Sports Foundation. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, and, in 2010, was appointed to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.
King’s accomplishments, both on and off the court, make her the perfect candidate to speak on the 2016 luncheon theme, Making History, a celebration of the many ways in which women leave their mark and inspire today’s women.
“When Billie Jean King entered the national tennis scene, it was commonly believed that women were inferior as athletes and competitors,” noted Anthony Museum president & CEO, Deborah L. Hughes. “She has been making history and fighting for equal rights for half a century. We are thrilled to bring her to Rochester, to honor her, and to challenge and inspire our audience.”
The Susan B. Anthony Birthday Luncheon is held each year in mid-February to celebrate Susan B. Anthony’s February 15th birthday, to honor contemporary women who continue her legacy, and to raise awareness of the educational and inspirational programs offered by the Museum.
Questions related to this event may be directed to luncheon@susanbanthonyhouse.org.
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UPDATE 2/1/16: Tickets for this event have SOLD OUT! Thank you for your enthusiastic support!