Carol Fisher-Linn
Carol Crossed is a woman of many talents and many accomplishments with a Quaker background, a Native American background, a Harvard background, an activist, lobbyist background, and more. In April, we will benefit from her immense knowledge of suffrage, abolition, and activism causes through her immense collection of penny post cards from the late 1800’s through about 1920.
Crossed will be a guest speaker at the Ellicottville Memorial Library, Wednesday, April 3 at 7pm.
Fittingly, the first penny postcards in the US were printed in 1873 by the Springfield Massachusetts envelope company. People collected the more decorative ones as a hobby, keeping their precious postcards in an album on the parlor table. Women, especially those in rural communities loved the postcards and used them much as we use texts, or tweets, today.
I am a postcard collector, but, alas, I am not as intentional as was Carol Crossed when she collected them over twenty-five years or more, everywhere she found herself. Her book, Vintage Tweets, upon which her talk is based, is filled with 100-year-old suffrage era postcards, or as she calls them, “the social media of the late 19th, early 20th centuries.”
Crossed’s presentation is a slideshow which she entertainingly narrates. Her staff informs us that she brings to the table her expertise on the meanings behind the illustrations which represent both domestic and political views of the women’s vote. Her book and therefore, her presentation, tells of the struggle of both sides of the women’s movement. Yes, there were two sides, even among women, just as today there are two sides of the abortion issue among women. Vintage Tweets, a coffee-table sized collection of 400 postcards from the author’s personal collection is indeed a tribute to one of the most radical eras in the United States where issues of suffrage, abolition and temperance were front and center.
In a way, her presentation is filled with small, postcard sized sketches that propose big, brave, bold changes in women’s lifestyles. Some are cute, funny, subtle, or subtle as a sledgehammer, sarcastic, finger-pointing, lovely, or controversial. Looking at the postcards, a viewer will be transported to another era when domestic, social, economic, legal, and societal factors ruled women’s lives. Imagine, not being able to vote, show your ankles, divorce, wear pants, keep your maiden name, join the military, smoke in public, own property or have their own passport if you are married, shop without an escort, work fair hours and get paid equal to men’s wages, serve on a jury, compete in many women’s sports in the Olympics, ad nauseum.
This visit from Ms. Crossed is timely considering the political climate we are all wading through during this pre-election year. It is good for women to be reminded of the courage and stamina and determination it took by those who came before us to wear pants, show our ankles and, most importantly, to vote. To vote! Imagine! Women went to jail, women went on starvation diets, women were beaten and dragged as they made one step forward and three steps back. They stood up again and again, went right back into the fray and fought it out until 1920 when the 19th amendment was finally passed giving women (oops, not all women – not if you were black – you waited another 40 years) the precious right to vote. Perhaps if more women are reminded of the battles fought for them, they might appreciate the work and sacrifices of these predecessors and honor them by getting to the polls and working to get others registered. Is it too much to ask?
A little background on Carol Crossed: She is recipient of the 1996 Susan B Anthony Award, Peaceful Solutions in Non-violence Award, Women’s Wall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY, the Gaudete Medal, and 2018 Catherine McAuley Award, given by the Sisters of Mercy. In 2006, the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace went up for auction. It was a hot mess and needed lots of TLC. Crossed purchased the building and set to renovating it with her own funds augmented by monies from fundraisers. The museum was opened to the public in 2010. She has acted as Founder and President of the Board of Directors since. Crossed published her personal collection of suffrage postcards in 2019, just in time to commemorate the 2020 Suffrage Centennial. Since its release, she has presented to over 50 historical societies, libraries, and Museums across the Northeast. Oh yes, Carol is also a founder of the Harriet Tubman Museum in Southern New Jersey. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend presentation on April 3.