UPPER EAST SIDE — One hundred and forty-four years ago, another woman ran for president.
Victoria C. Woodhull, an Ohio politician in the Equal Rights Party, couldn't even vote yet, but she was seeking the highest position in the U.S.
She didn't win, but other women followed, like Belva Lockwood in 1884, Margaret Chase Smith in 1964, Shirley Chisholm in 1972, and this year, Hillary Clinton.
Their historic campaigns will be part of a new exhibit "See How They Ran!" which opened Wednesday at Hunter College's Roosevelt House on East 65th Street.
"It is a particular honor for the house where Eleanor Roosevelt once lived to acknowledge the historical significance of the 2016 campaign — the first major-party nomination of a woman candidate — by reminding visitors of the groundbreaking efforts by women who aspired to that achievement over the past two centuries," said Jennifer Raab, the president of Hunter College.
The show will be centered around Franklin D. Roosevelt's four campaigns between 1932 and 1944, highlighting the buttons, posters, broadsides, and radio broadcasts that his campaigners pushed, as well as those of his opponents' and their slights.
But rare drawings and materials covering women's presidential campaigns will introduce the exhibit, including a Harper's Weekly image of Woodhull as Satan, leading her followers to hell.
Dozens of buttons rooting for and against FDR, which include bold exclamations like "Dr. Jekyll of Hyde Park," "No more fireside chats," and "Eleanor, start packing the Willkies are coming," will also be on display.
In addition, visitors can listen to radio bits from the 1930s, including FDR's campaign speeches and campaign music. And the show will pay homage to Eleanor Roosevelt's work behind the scenes and to other campaigns before FDR's, including images from Abraham Lincoln's 1860 race.
Images courtesy of Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
The relics on display have rarely been seen before and a number of different museums across New York City and the Northeast loaned the museum their collections for the exhibit, according to Harold Holzer, the director of the Roosevelt House.
"We can’t think of a better time and place to situate this dazzling, nostalgic, informative, and instructive show than during yet another heated campaign for the White House," Raab said. "We are proud and excited that, nearly 85 years after his initial race for the presidency in 1932, FDR’s media-savvy campaign efforts will at last be recognized and interpreted in his own home for the first time."
Roosevelt House belonged to the Roosevelts from 1908 to 1941, and the family made the house their New York City headquarters during FDR’s first campaign, and converted it into their campaign headquarters prior to his first inauguration in 1933, Holzer said.
The exhibit will be open Monday through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and guided tours are available by appointment on Saturdays through Nov. 30. For more information, visit the museum's website.
Courtesy Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
