For those of you who followed our four part series on the Woman’s Column and checked out the digital exhibit we published about the Column, the Woman’s Journal, and the remarkable family who published it–we have just acquired another exciting and related item: a mammoth volume of the Woman Citizen.
The Woman Citizen in the Special Collections Reading Room at Bryn Mawr College
After the Column folded in 1904, the Journal stuck around for another decade and more, but survival was becoming increasingly difficult for niche papers that specifically focused on suffrage. Ironically, this was a symptom of positive changes: the papers were struggling to attract subscribers because suffrage was receiving more favorable attention and consistent cover in the mainstream media. As the topic took on personal import to an increasing number of citizens in the twentieth century, suffrage was no longer a “niche” issue and the papers dedicated solely to its advancement began to dwindle. In 1917, the Journal moved to New York and consolidated with two other papers to form the Woman Citizen, which was published until the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and subsequently folded.
“SEEKING EDUCATION–THE TROUBLESOME NEW VOTER”
The Citizen, subtitled “A Weekly Chronicle of Progress,” features much of the content that made publications like the Column and the Journal popular: it aimed to sum up the state of suffrage across the nation by profiling its progress in various ethnic and geographical demographics, and also provided anecdotes, opinion articles, and information on other movements that would appeal to the suffragette. Like its predecessors, it also catered to a largely white, well-educated and upper- to upper-middle class demographic. This can be inferred not only from the content of the articles, but also from the advertisements, which reveal the affluence of the paper’s audience. The Citizen often featured attention-grabbing cover art with an upbeat tone, especially as political victory was within grasp. The full volume is available to our readers in the Special Collections Reading Room in Canaday Library at Bryn Mawr College. Stop in to have a look!
