Votes for Women a Success. The Map Proves It. Printed handbill. New York: Empire State Campaign Committee, [National Woman Suffrage] Publishing Co., circa 1914-1915. 4 7/8 x 7 in.

As the fight for women's suffrage was waged from the mid-19th century until the ratification of the 19th Amendment, generations of women suffragists worked several avenues to achieve their aims. In the early 20th century, some supporters advocated for a constitutional amendment, while others championed a state-by-state approach. 

The handbill here aims to show the efficacy of the latter approach, issued in the campaign in 1915 for women's suffrage in the state of New York. Led by Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947), the Empire State Campaign Committee was a coalition of several women's suffrage groups, including the Women's Suffrage Party, the Women's Suffrage Association, and the Women's Political Union. Although the measure failed initially, it successfully passed in 1917. 

Several printing iterations of the map are known. A nearly identical copy is held at the University of Delaware (MSS 0477 - Woman Suffrage collection) but lacks the attribution to the Empire State Campaign Committee as well as the exhortations to "GIVE THIS TO A FRIEND AND ASK HIM TO VOTE FOR IT." A large color map was printed by the National American Woman Suffrage Association (Library of Congress) and another iteration was used in the second 1917 campaign (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, (AGS) 800 C-1917).

VERY RARE. OCLC locates only 1 copy of this printing. 

[Women, Women’s History, Suffragettes, Women’s Movement, Suffrage] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers] 

Old creases, minor evening toning. Very minor tears at edges.