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Soldier's Wife (New York: Charles Magnus, n.d.; Broadside Song Sheets). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

The solemn plight of the soldier's wife is depicted in this illustrated Civil War song sheet, representative of a genre that peaked in popularity during the war years. Wives, mothers, and sweethearts left behind were often the subjects of these sentimental and patriotic ballads.

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John Norman. "Child birth." Engraving. From William Smellie, An Abridgement of the Practice of Midwifery (Boston: Printed and sold by J. Norman, 1786; RG93.S63 Toner), plates 23-24. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

William Smellie (1697-1763) introduced innovative obstetrical procedures into the practice of midwifery that greatly increased the chances of live birth. His 1754 London treatise outlining safe rules for the use of forceps in child delivery was widely reprinted in the United States, beginning with this 1786 Boston edition. As male doctors took over a formerly female ritual, the practice of midwifery began to decline.

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Thackara & Vallance. Frontispiece engraving, with title page. From The Lady's Magazine; and Repository of Entertaining Knowledge (Philadelphia, 1792; AP2.A2 L2). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

In this frontispiece illustration, the "Genius of the Ladies Magazine" presents Liberty with a copy of Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman, thus linking the great English feminist with this first effort to provide a magazine of literary selections to inspire and amuse American women. Wollstonecraft's Vindication, which argues that equal educational opportunities for women will confirm their equal mental abilities, is reviewed here in the first issue.

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-Miscellaneous advertisements. From Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine (February 1893; AP2.G56). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

This single page of advertisements offers a glimpse of the variety of products from personal care to recreation that were available for "growing girls" as well as for mature women on the eve of the twentieth century.

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Hand-colored woodcut frontispiece and title page. From An Affecting Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Mrs. Mary Smith (Providence, R.I., [1815]; E87.S663). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Typical of the captivity narratives created to arouse anti-Indian hostility, this extremely rare fictitious account describes the 1814 capture of Mary Smith in West Florida, where, after witnessing the excruciating torture of her daughters by savage "monsters of barbarity," she manages to kill her sleeping captor and is eventually rescued through "kind Providence," by Tennessee troops.

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Fredrikke S. Palmer. "The Anti and the Snowball--Then and Now." From Agnes E. Ryan, The Torch Bearer (Boston: Woman's Journal and Suffrage News, 1916; JK1881.N357 sec. 7:1, no. 20 NAWSA). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

This clever cartoon graphically depicts the changing attitudes of the opposition toward the suffrage movement. In the early years the woman's cause was belittled as being inconsequential and inappropriate. As it gained strength and support, in part through the efforts of the Woman's Journal, the movement's opponents, sometimes known as "Anti's," finally realized that it was only a matter of time until they would be silenced by a suffrage victory.

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"Men's League for Woman Suffrage." Miller Scrapbook (Geneva, New York, 1910-11; JK1881.N357, sec. 16:9 NAWSA), pp. 82-83. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

In their suffrage scrapbooks from the years 1910 and 1911, Elizabeth and Anne Miller tried to capture all aspects of the movement. Here they recognize the importance of men's efforts in "Winning Freedom for Your Daughters," particularly documenting the work of their friends Max Eastman and Nathaniel Schmidt, professor at Cornell University, in organizing the Men's League for Woman Suffrage of the State of New York. George Foster Peabody, William Dean Howells, and John Dewey were among other prominent charter members.

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"Emma Goldman." Frontispiece illustration and title page. From Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays (New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1910; HX844.G6 1910 Avrich). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Considered by some as "the most dangerous woman in America," Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was a controversial crusader for the rights of women and workers. Believing that woman suffrage would not solve all women's problems, she strongly advocated sexual independence and was jailed for distributing birth control literature. Goldman's published writings and correspondence are well represented in the division's various radical literature collections.

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The First Gymnacyclidium for Ladies and Gentlemen. Illustrated advertising leaflet with engraving by Clarry & Reilley Inc. (New York, 1869; Port 341 :18 Pr Eph). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

The Pearsall Brothers introduced their "peerless" ladies' two-wheeled velocipede as "proper and practical" and "requiring no change of dress." At their fashionable New York City resort for bicycle exercise, special hours were set aside for ladies to exercise, but no ladies could take lessons unless accompanied by a member of their family.

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A Terrible Blot on American Civilization (front) and Vote against Those Who Voted to Protect the Lynching Industry (back). Illustrated flyer (Washington: District of Columbia Anti-Lynching Committee North Eastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, [1922]; Port. 208:36 Pr Eph). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Once women's suffrage was finally achieved, women's organizations encouraged women to use their new political tool. This North Eastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs flyer shows women joining men to make a stand against lynching by exercising their right to petition and to vote.

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R. Major. "The Press Feeder." Engraving from Life in New York, In Doors and Out of Doors (New York: Bunce & Brother, 1851; HD6096.N6 B8). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Press-feeder was one of several jobs in the printing industry here considered appropriate for young women in mid-nineteenth-century New York. In Life in New York, teachers and nurses were praised, but corset-makers were chided for bringing misery to other women.

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Claire Van Vliet. "Lady Freedom." Cover design for Rita Dove, Lady Freedom among Us (West Burke, Vt.: Janus Press, 1993; PS3554.O884L33 1994 Janus Pr). Rare Book and Special Collections Division. With permission of the artist, Claire Van Vliet.

Bound in the folds of this three-dimensional representation of "Lady Freedom" designed by Claire Van Vliet is the text of the poem Lady Freedom among Us, written by United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove on the occasion of the return of the statue of Freedom to the dome of the United States Capitol on October 23, 1993.

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Sarah Wyman Whitman. Signed trade binding for Sarah Orne Jewett, The Queen's Twin (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1899; PS2132.Q4 Holmes). Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

The stylized simplicity of Boston artist Sarah Wyman Whitman's cover designs changed the direction of trade binding design during the 1890s. Whitman was a respected adviser to publisher George Mifflin and produced memorable cover designs for many Houghton Mifflin literary authors, including Margaret Deland, Celia Thaxter, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.