View source for New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage

{{Short description|Historical anti-suffrage organization based in New York}}
[[File:The_Red_Behind_the_Yellow.png|thumb|1915 poster circulated by the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage.]]
The '''New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage''' (NYSAOWS) was an American [[Anti-suffragism|anti-suffrage]] organization in [[New York (state)|New York]]. The group was made up of prominent women who fought against the cause of women's suffrage by giving speeches, handing out materials and pamphlets and also publishing a journal. There were several auxiliaries of the group throughout New York and it was considered one of the most active anti-suffrage groups in the state.
== History ==
The New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NYSAOWS) was one of the most active women's [[Anti-suffragism|anti-suffrage]] groups in the state of [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schaffer|first=Ronald|date=1962|title=The New York City Woman Suffrage Party, 1909-1919|jstor=23153512|journal=New York History|volume=43|issue=3|pages=269–287}}</ref> The group was first known as the New York State Association Opposed to the Extension of the Suffrage to Women and was formed in April 1895.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19808590/|title=Active Campaign to Oppose the Granting of Suffrage to Women|date=1 March 1896|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The name was changed sometime between October 27, 1908 and November 4, 1908.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc13339.htm|title=NYSA Opposed to Woman Suffrage Collection: Manuscripts and Special Collections: New York State Library|date=25 September 2017|website=New York State Library|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503174814/http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc13339.htm|archive-date=3 May 2018|access-date=2018-05-03}}</ref> The group had many "prominent" women from New York as members.{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=59}} There were several auxiliary organizations in different parts of the state, including in [[Albany, New York|Albany]], [[Brooklyn]] and [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19810176/|title=Against Woman Suffrage|date=22 May 1896|work=New-York Tribune|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19808635/|title=Opposed to Woman Suffrage|date=28 April 1896|work=New-York Tribune|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19808761/|title=Anti-Woman Suffragists|date=8 May 1900|work=Buffalo Morning Express|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Dues were taken from each member, starting at $3 per person.<ref name=":0" />
The president of the organization would bring together the executive committee every year, either in December or April.{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=44}} Officers would be elected and reports on their previous years' activities would be shared.{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=44}} The report would also include information about [[women's suffrage]] efforts across the country.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19807881/|title=State Anti-Suffragists Report Work for Year|date=6 January 1908|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The group met at the home of  Mrs. George Phillips (Mary E. Phillips)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19810841/|title=Mrs. Mary E. Phillips|date=14 February 1919|work=The Sun|publication-place=New York|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> for many years, but in October 1908 opened an office in the [[Engineering Societies' Building]].{{Sfn|New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage|1908|p=4-5}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19807993/|title=N.Y. 'Antis' Open Headquarters|date=1 November 1908|work=New-York Tribune|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In July 1908, NYSAOWS started a quarterly journal called ''The Anti-Suffragist'' which was published through April 1912.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=upLgBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22New+York+State+Association+Opposed+to+Woman+Suffrage%22&pg=RA1-PA17|title=Women's Rights in the United States: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People|last=Wayne|first=Tiffany K.|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2015|isbn=9781610692151|location=Santa Barbara, California|pages=17|language=en}}</ref>
NYSAOWS members believed that women participating in politics would be "disruptive of everything pertaining to home life."{{Sfn|New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage|1908|p=11}} They also felt that women's roles as mothers and caregivers meant they did not have to do "further service" as citizens.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, the members believed that more people were on their side and all they had to do was help "women to recognize the vital need for 'a division of the world's work between men and women.'"{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=44}} In 1896, NYSAOWS believed that only 10% of women actually wanted the vote.<ref name=":0" /> NYSAOWS also used tactics such as associating women's suffrage with "support for [[Socialism|socialist]] causes."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://suffrageandthemedia.org/source/anti-suffrage-poster-red-behind-yellow-1915/|title=Anti-suffrage Poster: The Red Behind the Yellow, 1915 - Women's Suffrage and the Media|work=Women's Suffrage and the Media|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en-US}}</ref>
The group would receive requests for information, advice or assistance from women in other states.{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=45}} They also sent petitions to the [[New York State Assembly]], asking them not to grant suffrage to women.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19810346/|title=Evidently woman suffrage is not very|date=26 January 1898|work=The Salt Lake Herald|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The association drew large crowds, like the one at Glens Falls City Hall in February 1915, when NYSAOWS president, Alice Hill Chittenden, spoke.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19810544/|title=Glens Falls Suffragists Claimed Victory 75 Years Ago|last=Daley|first=Fred|date=20 August 1995|work=The Post-Star|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
[[File:Petition_from_Women_Voters_Anti-Suffrage_Party.png|thumb|Petition from Women Voters Anti-Suffrage Party of New York to the Senate, 1917]]
After women in New York won the right to vote in 1917, NYSAOWS reorganized to work towards the repeal of women's suffrage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/nyregion/new-york-today-a-century-of-women-voting.html|title=New York Today: A Century of Women Voting|last=Levine|first=Alexandra S.|date=2017-11-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19810940/|title=Anti-Suffrage Party Plans to Reorganize|date=3 April 1918|work=The Pittsburgh Post|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> They also decided to fight against a country-wide granting of women's suffrage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19812218/|title=Anti-Suffrage Meeting|date=3 April 1918|work=The Evening Record|publication-place=Greenville, PA|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> After the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|19th Amendment]] passed, the Brooklyn Auxiliary of the NYSAOWS met in the home of Carolyn Putnam (Mrs. W.A Putnam) to discuss working against the federal amendment.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19912345/|title=Anti-Suffragilsts Meet|date=17 January 1919|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=2018-05-08|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> NYSAOWS eventually decided to transition into a new organization, the Women Voters' Anti-Suffrage Party.{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=13}}
== Presidents ==
Several women served as presidents of the group. Abby Hamlin Abbot filled in for Scott and Dodge left to lead the [[National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS)|National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage]].{{Sfn|Goodier|2013|p=44}}
* Lucy Parkman Scott (1895-1910)
* Abby Hamlin Abbott parts of 1902 and 1907
* [[Josephine Jewell Dodge]] (1910)
* Carolyn Putnam (1911-1912)
* Alice Hill Chittenden (1913-1917)
* [[Mary Kilbreth|Mary Guthrie Kilbreth]] (beginning in 1919)<ref>{{Cite web |last=LaFollette Culpepper |first=Madeleine |date=April 7, 2021 |title=After the Nineteenth: Mary Kilbreth, The Woman Patriot, and the Legacy of Female Anti-Suffrage |url=https://history.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Madeleine%20Culpepper%20Final%20History%20Thesis-21.pdf |website=}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Anti-suffragism]]
* [[Women's suffrage in the United States]]
* [[National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS)|The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage]]
== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}
=== Sources ===
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6hx17zZVU4C&dq=putnam&pg=PA44|title=No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement|last=Goodier|first=Susan|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2013|isbn=9780252094675|location=Urbana, Illinois}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/rbcmiller001237/|title=New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage: Thirteenth Annual Report|last=New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage|date=December 1908|location=New York|via=Library of Congress}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc13339.htm New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage Collection]
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<!--- Categories --->
[[Category:1895 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Anti-suffragist organizations]]
[[Category:Women's organizations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Criticism of feminism]]
[[Category:Women in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Conservative organizations in the United States]]